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market-farming - RE: [Market-farming] RE: seed starting and gen'l farming philosophy

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  • From: "Rick Williams" <mrfarm AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: "Barb Berst" <berstperkins AT earthlink.net>, "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: RE: [Market-farming] RE: seed starting and gen'l farming philosophy
  • Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 16:40:36 -0600

Barb Berst wrote:
> There are actually many farmers who earn full-time livings for entire
> families on a fraction to 15-acres in the US, this includes free-range
> livestock, and their numbers are growing.

Could you explain how this can be done?

There are limits on the number of livestock you can have per acre. You could
do it with poultry perhaps, if you did not produce the feed yourself and
"imported" it. You would have to do as we do here at Misty Ridge Farm and
use this as part of the fertility program. However, the days of importing
excessive quantities of nutrients are coming to an end for ALL farms as we
move toward implementing the AFO requirements.

Still ... if you pencil the numbers, (and this is practically my other
avocation:), and had ruminant animals, which are a must for much of
sustainable agriculture, you will find that even one AU per acre is pushing
it pretty hard and likely to not be allowable. Dairy farms, for example are
closer to 4 tillable acres per cow.

> I've followed their growth in numbers over the last ten years.
> Just returned
> from visiting yet another, and I've visited hundreds in the US. I
> have also
> visited Africa and Europe and have witnessed the trend there.

I can understand the idea working for a subsistence farm, as I mentioned the
type of farm that was popularized by folks such as John Vivian. But this is
not a farm earning a reasonable family income. My idea of reasonable is
something in the $50,000 a year net income range which is roughly comparable
to a $30,000/annual salaried job.

> They use methods such as bio-intensive, biodynamic, succession
> cropping and
> selling direct. They succeed better than ever before in history, but this
> isn't the 1st time in history for this. The Incans fed 15 million with a 3
> to 7-year surplus, the Chinese fed one billion on less than 10% of their
> land base.

Call me skeptical that those techniques are that much higher in production.

In fact, as a grass based farm, I can tell you what kind of production we
get using basically "o" techniques. And it is a bit lower than the folks who
use chemical fertilizers, such as moderate N applications spaced throughout
the season.

Sincerely,

Rick Williams
Misty Ridge Farm
Direct marketed dairy beef and produce
(also dairy heifers and beef stockers)
Viroqua, WI





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