Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

We don't really disagree - by treating it as a business I mean paying
attention to what goes into profit and loss. Because if you don't you'll be
*out* of business very soon. And one more grower won't be providing good
healthy food to people.  I believe if you look at the big picture,
agribusiness is a rather a corruption of business, a nasty collusion among
corporate criminals and criminal government, taking our tax money and
passing it out mainly to the biggest donors to campaign coffers. This is
far from the honest grower simply working to make a businesslike profit
with a good product and willing buyers.

Some excellent points though that bear repeating. Agree, farmers can't all
move near a good market, and the usual prices don't reflect all the costs
of production - including all the subsidized fossil fuels embedded in the
system. 

However, until scarcities and serious contamination problems become
commonplace, growers who aren't near a good market probably shouldn't be
growing. Or should move elsewhere if they want to meet their market. In a
pinch we can probably grow something that will sell locally no matter where
we are. Can't guarantee we'll make a living on it in Hardscrabble, Nevada,
but the fact is most people like to eat three meals a day. And food is
numero uno necessity of life. Then water, shelter, clothing, and Dish
Network ;-) 

I think  your last paragraph there was most perceptive but I'll stop here
to get back in the garden before the clouds get any darker. Right now I'd
give a lot for some way to transplant tomatoes and squash without getting
down on my knees. It's the getting back up that's slowing me down, even
with a good knee brace. 


paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 5/24/2007 at 12:19 PM Dan Conine wrote:

>1
>>
>>   Time for more detailed reply now. My reply follows below.
>>
>>   paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>>   -------------
>>
>>   The demand is there and growing with every report of recalls and
>>   poisonings. The problem is not customers who won't buy. The problem is
>lack
>>   of growers who can treat it as a business. And market growing is a
>business
>>   simply because it offers produce in return for money. 
>>
>>   When you treat it as a business  you don't blame the customer; you
find
>>   what works and put it into practice. Or find a different business or
>>   location. Like any business there are infinite ways to get it wrong.
>As in
>>   any business it helps to have some background and experience with it,
>like
>>   growing your own at home - not industrial farming. 
>>   
>
>Yeah. Right.  I don't often disagree with you, Paul, and I'm not exactly 
>disagreeing with you now, but treating growing as a business is exactly 
>why it became "Agribusiness."
>Treating it like a business also means knowing when to exit the 
>business. I'm taking this year off from losing money at the markets to 
>restructure and plan for my own survival. One of the factors was that a 
>farmer I know out East gets 4 (yes, FOUR) times as much for his 
>vegetables as I can charge at the local market.
>I can double my prices if I go to the Big City here, but at the rate of 
>fuel increases and labor costs, it only gives a wash at this point.
>I agree that someone who tries it one year and says customers don't 
>understand their produce is probably making some mistakes. Large 
>cucumbers are not the norm at a market. If yours are too big, then they 
>didn't get picked soon enough. That takes extra labor to keep them under 
>control, and a first-year farmer won't know how much labor until after 
>the year is over.
>Organic produce doesn't have to look weird or otherwise less than 
>perfect. The farmer has to figure out how to put labor where petroleum 
>and hybrid seeds used to go.  What is fine for you to eat isn't 
>necessarily a marketable product.
>More people will have a better chance at market farming as store prices 
>increase. The current prices are nowhere near what they should be when 
>all the costs are paid, and the nutrition isn't counted as the real 
>value yet (overfed people don't care about nutrients, only convenience). 
>A box of cereal is a 4 dollar box, with a couple of cents of grain 
>tossed into it. As the costs of the boxes go up, more people will look 
>for ways to buy in bulk and buy grains direct. Just as they did in the 
>'70's when inflation hit. Back then, there was a lot of 'wiggle' room to 
>consolidate the grocery chains and economize on storage and shipping. 
>Since the present state is all WalMart Economized, any more 'squeeze' 
>put on suppliers will just put the farmers out of business.
>Farmers can't all move near a good market, and some places are 
>stubbornly attached to cheap food prices. Many of the 'making it' 
>factors are not under the farmers' control, while a few of them are. IF 
>a farmer is near a good market area, then yes, a good manager/farmer can 
>make a living at it. If they are not, then they have to go to extreme 
>measures to create a market, whether through CSA, certified organic, or 
>value-added processing. These all take extra investment and management 
>by the farmers themselves, unlike starting a business making widgets, 
>where there are several paths to get money, management help, and advice 
>from other business organizations and the government.
>
>The rub with being a small market farmer: if you are successful, you 
>become self-sufficient. The System of Systems wants you to do things 
>that make you MORE dependent on the System, not less. Smaller means less 
>cashflow for the usury-mongers. That's why a milk-flooded market still 
>provides incentives for farmers to expand:the System makes more money on 
>the interest for the expansion loans than on the milk itself. The milk 
>is only a marketing tool for the concrete contractors. Just as ethanol 
>is only a marketing tool for the factory builders.
>
>Dan
>
>
>
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