Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[mdnagel@verizon.net]

Not enough data to make conclusions...

I believe that this point had been previously made (in other postings), that not all acres are equal.  50 acres in Ohio is different than 50 acres in Arizona/Alaska etc..

As a regular follower/subsciber of The Stockman Grass Farmer I'm pretty much convinced that livestock is essential for maintaining soil fertility, which would mean that farm sizes would likely need to be a bit on the bigger (not HUGE) size, though, once again, it depends on one's locale.


-Mark Nagel
Everett, WA


Oct 11, 2009 08:33:16 PM, livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org wrote:
> You're probably right, one acre through the seasons. But I have to agree totally, for 50 acres to support 50 people, they definitely would have to be on those acres. I think labor and transportation factors come in there. I think they'd have to be doing the work and not be someplace else. More thoughts on this?
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
>
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>
> On 10/11/2009 at 5:29 PM Dan Conine wrote:
>
> >>
> >> Always appropriate, isn't it. As for us here we grow for markets on less
> >> than a quarter acre. It's not a living of course, and with a short
> >> frost-free season, poor soil to start with and very low rainfall it's too
> >> much work for us.
> >My father acquired a 1300 acre farm for 100 bucks an acre in 1975. Being 
> >mostly swamp and tundra, it barely supported 100 milking head and the 
> >other supporting cast (pigs, calves, heifers, etc). I thought of it as a 
> >massive farm.
> >
> >I now own 50 acres, and I have learned to think of it as a massive 
> >place. It is a size which requires machinery, but even with machinery, 
> >one person cannot be on the whole place in their mind. Regardless of the 
> >labor, I have found that an acre is as much as one person can properly 
> >keep in useful focus throughout the seasons. More than that and the 
> >details suffer.
> >
> >I now understand how this farm could be 50 families' source of food and 
> >income, but they would have to BE here in order for it to happen. We 
> >have spent the last 100 years destroying that opportunity with petroleum 
> >and money as motive.
> >
> >Dan C.
> >
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