Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Ken Hargesheimer <minifarms2@yahoo.com>]

Dear Johnny, 

 

 Here is the way to do it from the beginning to pay your bills.

 

Ken

 

GARDENS/MINI-FARMS NETWORK

USA: TX, MS, FL, CA, AR, NM, WA;  Mexico, Rep. Dominicana, Côté d’Ivoire, Nigeria,

Nicaragua, Honduras, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Haiti, England, India, Uzbekistan

minifarms@gmail.com

Workshops in organic, no-till, permanent bed gardening, mini-farming and mini-ranching worldwide in English & Spanish

 

Proven Practices for Profitable

Crop & Livestock Production

 

These are based on the internet, US & international agriculture magazines, experiences teaching agriculture in many countries, research and farmer experiences in those countries and a demonstration garden.  They are ecologically sustainable, environmentally responsible, socially just, economically viable and humanely managed.  There is unlimited, documented proof. [Farmers must get off government welfare and support themselves.  This will restore their self-esteem, dignity and pride.]  On mechanized farms, no-till reduced production cost 30% the first year and tripled profits in five years. [Argentine].  No-till requires a no-till planter and/or drill and a roller/crimper.  75,000,000 acres are organic and 200,000,000 acres in no-till, worldwide. 

 

Mechanized farms:  In 2002, A D Hughes [806-866-5667] decided to go no-till and purchased a no-till planter.  He planted the cotton, harvested the cotton, planted wheat, knocked down the wheat and he was ready to plant again.  His cost went to the basement.  Buster Adair [806-755-2532] has been no-till [cotton] for twenty years.  Steve Groff [cedarmeadowfarm.com] has been no-till [vegetables, corn] for 30 years.

 

Mini-farms:  Fukaoka Farm, Japan, has been no-till [rice, small grains, vegetables] for 70 years.  In 2002, I visited an Indian farmer has been no-till [vegetables] for 5 years, a Malawi farmer has been no-till [vegetables] on permanent beds for 25 years, a Honduras farmer has been no-till [vegetables & fruit] on permanent beds on the contour (73° slope] for 10 years.  In 2006 a Cal urban mini-farm of 1/10 acre produced 6,000 of vegetables [is not organic nor no-till].

 

No technique yet devised by mankind has been anywhere near as effective at halting

soil erosion and making food production truly sustainable as no-till (Baker, 1966)

 

 

1.      Willing to make changes  [first, in the mind and second, in the field & pasture]

2.      Restore the soil to its natural health.  [Contamination: inorganic pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, fertilizers, etc.]

3.      Maintain the healthy soil:   Healthy soil produces healthy crops, with highest yields, to produce healthy animals, to have healthy people and prevents most diseases, pest and weed problems. 

4.      Feed the soil; not the crop:  Inorganics feed the crop & poison the soil; organics feed the soil and its life.

5.      Increase the soil organic matter every year

6.      Maintain plant diversity  [with crops and with green manure/cover crops]

7.      12 months crop production [economical in most climates.  DIY cold weather equipment]

8.      Manage crops for highest profit per acre;  not the highest yield per acre

9.      Manage legumes & grasses for the least cost per ton/acre; not highest yield per acre.

10.   Manage livestock for lowest cost per pound; not the highest number of pounds.

11.   Manage dairies for lowest cost of production; not the highest level of production.

12.   Little or no external inputs [It is not necessary to buy anything from anybody.  Certain things are recommended]

13.   All bedding/manure recycled on the soil

14.   Leave all crop residues on top of the soil.

15.   No-till:  no plowing, no disking, no cultivating.

16.   Permanent beds  

17.   Sloped land  [Beds on the contour; no terraces]

18.   Permanent tracks [tractor wheels.  15% yield increase.]

19.   Tractor [small] & no-till planter and/or drill and crimper/roller, if needed.  [no lister, no plows, no tandem disk, no cultivators]

20.   Organic fertilizers  [probably not needed with healthy soil]

21.   Organic disease control.  [Probably not needed]

22.   Organic herbicides.  [Probably not needed]

23.   Organic pesticides.  [Probably not needed]

24.   Biological pest control.

25.   Attract beneficials  [bats, birds, toads, spiders, garden snakes, frogs, lizards, grasshopper mice, prairie deer mice, white footed mice, opossums, lacewings, ladybird beetles, syrphid flies, ground beetles and assassin bugs]

26.   Protect pollinators  [honey bees, native bees, wasps, yellow jackets, dirt daubers, butterflies]

27.   Protect soil organisms  [worms, dung beetles, micros]

28.   Soil always covered

29.   Feed the soil through the mulch.

30.   Organic matter  [Free.  When economically feasible, transport to the farm or ranch.  Use as mulch]

31.   Compost [Do not make.  Too much work and time.  Use OM as mulch.]

32.   Drip irrigation   [Purchase or DIY using poly]

33.   Greywater for irrigation

34.   Waste water for irrigation purified using ponds.

35.   Seed [open-pollinated]

36.   Muscovies & Guineas [should be on every farm and ranch]

37.   Grass-fed livestock

38.   Free range livestock

39.   Legume and grass forages  [annuals & perennials]

40.   Permanent pastures

41.   Rotational grazing

42.   12 months of grazing [possible in many places]

43.   Hay and/or silage for winter where necessary

44.   Seasonal dairying

45.   Small livestock in pens over forage beds

46.   Use artificial insemination

47.   Holistic animal health care

48.   Purebred/crossbred livestock

49.   Alternative livestock [miniatures, exotics. heirloom breeds, wild game]

50.   Marketing [People want to buy local, buy fresh, buy organic.  No contracts with multi-national corporations]

51.   Alternative marketing [think outside the box!]

52.   Value-added products  [very profitable]

53.   Agri-training and/or educational tours [train others, especially young people]

54.   Protect nature  [wildlife, native plants, streams & riparians, ponds & lakes, wetlands, forest and prairies.]

55.   Imitate nature. Most farmers fight nature. ¡Nature always wins!

 

Ken Hargesheimer

 

When Soil is Tilled

Dr. Elaine Ingham, describes an undisturbed grassland—where a wide diversity of plants grow, their roots mingling with a wide diversity of soil organisms—and how it changes when it is plowed.

A typical teaspoon of native grassland soil contains between 600 million and 800 million individual bacteria that are members of perhaps 10,000 species.  Several miles of fungi are in that teaspoon of soil, as well as 10,000 individual protozoa.  There are 20 to 30 beneficial nematodes from as many as 100 species. Root-feeding nematodes are quite scarce in truly healthy soils.  They are present, but in numbers so low that it is rare to find them.

 

After only one tilling, a few species of bacteria and fungi disappear because the food they need is no longer put back in the system.  But for the most part, all the suppressive organisms, all the nutrient cyclers, all the decomposers, all the soil organisms that rebuild good soil structure are still present and trying to do their jobs.

 

But tillage continues to deplete soil organic matter and kill fungi. The larger predators are crushed, their homes destroyed.  The bacteria go through a bloom and blow off huge amounts of that savings-account organic matter.  With continued tillage, the "policemen" (organisms) that compete with and inhibit disease are lost.  The "architects" that build soil aggregates are lost.  So are the "engineers"—the larger organisms that design and form the larger pores in soil.  The predators that keep bacteria, fungi, and root-feeding organisms in check are lost.  Disease suppression declines, soil structure erodes, and water infiltration decreases because mineral crusts form.  Dr. Elaine Ingham, BioCycle, December 1998.  (From ATTRA News, July 06)

 

 

 

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