Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[<mdnagel@verizon.net>]

I recently subscribed to The Stockman Grass Farmer 
(www.stockmangrassfarmer.net) and have found its advice to be unequaled in 
common sense.

The editor -Alan Nation- in the last volume stated that one has to view one's 
operation as profit per acre (accounting for each separately used/managed 
acre) and not output per acre.  Also, and this will make people here happy, 
he stated that the goal is to maintain or improve soil fertility.

The more I read up on what these grass farmers are doing the more I'm 
convinced that a symbiotic environment in which crops (grass or otherwise) 
and animals work together is the way to go.  Clearly, however, it takes a 
little bit of land, though not necessarily as much as one might imagine.


-Mark Nagel
Everett, WA


>From: Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net>
>Date: 2008/07/03 Thu PM 02:49:33 CDT
>To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
>Subject: [Livingontheland] Future Organic Farmers of America

>
>I see what you've answered to Ken there, but I'm going to throw cold water 
>on it. You want to grow several acres of organic vegetables, but you don't 
>have the equipment for that much area, you don't want to use manure, you 
>don't have the rainfall for cover crops to build soil OM, and you can't take 
>it out of production to build soil. I'd say you've answered all the 
>questions. You're asking how to do it when all options are ruled out in 
>advance. 
>
>So you're dryland farming acres of vegetables conventionally, using 
>machinery, fertilizers, and probably herbicides and pesticides, without 
>replenishing organic matter in the soil, losing topsoil to wind erosion, and 
>most likely your costs are eating up your sales. I'd sell out and move 
>somewhere better for growing. There are plenty of places in this country 
>where people simply shouldn't farm at all. Farming in those places just 
>degrades the soil and bankrupts the farmer.