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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] the ways that best sustain the farmer/ Efficiency
  • Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:14:57 -0700


Barb tossed out a couple thoughts on it I have to pass on. They weren't
usually high paying jobs, true. But - and it's a big but - their cost of
living in those communities was much lower. Few families needed more than
one wagearner. They didn't have long commutes, and didn't have to shop all
over a city for necessities. And most of what they earned was spent locally
and recycled through the town's businesses - a big plus to support local
businesses.

As for HOW sustainable food production can create lots of good income in
local communities, the answer lies in methods that first sustain the
grower. Not being locked into taking the middleman's price is numero uno.
Next is cutting costs. Gross minus expenses equals profit. Retailing to
the locals gets the whole dollar for the grower. Holding costs down comes
from recycling free organic wastes to build healthy, pest resistant soil,
and avoiding the rising cost of fossil fuel-derived fertilizers and
pesticides. For vegetables it may mean avoiding high land costs by growing
intensively on small acreages or plots and double cropping where climate
permits. Permanent, no-till mulched beds can cut the cost of amendments,
water, and labor, and easily double production over larger fields. Season
extension techniques can double your gross sales for the same land area,
without increasing costs proportionately. Don't go into debt for machinery
- payments can eat up profits. For cane and tree crops it may mean
perpetual cover crops like clover to feed nitrogen to berries or peaches
and conserve soil moisture. With small livestock for example, it may mean
space for free range and growing grains for poultry to cheat the
feedstores out of outrageous chicken feed prices. The list goes on.

PLUS these approaches also protect the land, air, and water and rural
prosperity. That's the beauty of it. Contrary to all the gobbledygook from
armchair experts, the ways that best sustain the farmer also sustain the
earth.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 12/26/2007 at 8:01 PM Liz wrote:

>At 09:03 PM 12/25/2007, you wrote:
>
>>create millions of good
>>paying occupations and restore rural prosperity,
>
>This is what I keep coming back to when I talk to people about buying
>locally, and about the false economy of "efficiency" (as it's usually
>defined). The use of machinery to do jobs previously performed by
>people is touted as one of modern society's great benefits. I say
>it's one of the worst things that has happened to modern society.
>Yes, machinery has made some occupations much safer than they used to
>be, and good for that. But in the hands of people whose only
>definition of efficiency is a greater profit margin, mechanized
>labor, particularly agriculture, has eliminated millions of jobs.
>They weren't high paying jobs. But they put food on the table,
>dignity and a sense of accomplishment in people's souls, and
>sustained a stable local economy for thousands of small towns and
>villages across the country. That's the true American dream.
>
>Liz in SW VA
>http://life-as-a-spectator-sport.com
>
>_______________________________________________
>Livingontheland mailing list
>Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland








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