Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Barbara Fischer" <cen12205@centurytel.net>]

I still have the "family" farm in central Illinois....owned it since
1869.....still going strong.  We are not organic and raise corn and
soybeans.  I am about ready to get a new family to live in the house and
have gardens, etc.  I have been reconditioning the old house for the last
two years.  Wish I could afford to leave it empty and go up there
occasionally and my sons could use it the same way too.  But empty houses
attract vandals, etc.

Barbara
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 09, 2006 12:08 PM
Subject: [Livingontheland] Letting go of the family farm


>
> These  AZ newspaper articles highlight what's been going on all over the
> country for decades. Three more articles like this are linked at the end.
> In most cases farmers freely admit they can't survive by farming, and
> developers and banks take over. One focus on our list is the profitability
> of growers and ways to make it work, and why so many have been forced out
> with traditional chemical agriculture.
>
> paul, tradingpost@riseup.net
> ---------------
>
> Letting go of the family farm
> Work boots or iPods? Plowing or yoga? How families' choices are forever
> changing a Valley tradition
>
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0709farmingfuture0709
> 1.html
>
> Lisa Nicita
> The Arizona Republic
> Jul. 9, 2006 12:00 AM
>
> Today's farmer listens to his iPod as he marks his field using GPS
guidance
> to plant perfectly straight lines. He carries a cellphone. He might even
> toss a PDA into the air-conditioned cab of his John Deere tractor.
>
> He knows real estate. He may do yoga. Sometimes he flies off to rock
> concerts across the country.
>
> Today's farmer isn't your grandpa's farmer. Today's farmer sees Arizona's
> growth and he is gradually following the trend that is leading him away
> from its agricultural heritage.
>
> Today's farmer is in transition.
>
> As more than 240 family farms a year in Arizona succumb to developers, so
> does the decades-long heritage of a rural life accented by dirty hands,
> work boots, tractors and supper. Sons are leaving behind the profession
> they watched their fathers and grandfathers work so hard to succeed at.
>
> But they're not getting out because they can't see themselves riding high
> on a combine.
>
> Arizona just isn't a good place to be a farmer anymore. It's not as
> profitable, and it costs too much to get started. Besides, master-planned
> communities are the real cash crop.
>
> But at the same time, the Arizona Farm Bureau said the profession isn't
> lost among the younger generations. The bureau sponsors a Young Farmer and
> Rancher program, which is holding pretty steady with 209 members ages
> 18-35.
>
> "It's not dying," said Jim Klinker, executive secretary for the bureau.
"We
> have our challenges, but it's not dying."
>
> It's just changing.
>
> "This generation is changing the hat from farmer to developer," Klinker
> said.
> ---------------
>
> http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0709farmingSossaman07090.html
> http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0709farmingJRayner0709.html
> http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0709farmingRayner0709.html
>
>
>
>
>
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