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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Growing sustainable models

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Growing sustainable models
  • Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2010 22:42:52 +0100


Paul, here in Ireland the days that you could sustain yourself by producing and selling any kind of food are long gone. It began to go pear shaped after the last WW and it has been going down hill ever since.
Producers were forced to try and produce below the world market price which was always a sick proposition for Europeans (and other non Americans) since we have been paying at least four times as much for our oil than you for ever. (a gallon of petrol costs between $8-9 here in Ireland and over $ 10 in Germany at the moment)
When I started farming some 25 years ago there were on average 400 small European farmers giving up every day and that was for the same reasons that it is even worse now to try and make a living from selling food. In real terms food prices have been dropping here for some 70 years.
If you want to make a living from selling lettuce, eggs or lambs, you better produce them in the thousands or hundreds of thousands since you can not expect to make more than a few cents per piece and quite often you will have to sell below cost to sell at all.

There were many organic growers selling vegetables on the Bantry Friday Mart 20 years ago but they have all gone. Much more money in giving courses telling other people how to start growing organic vegetables, graft apple trees, build a clay oven or do basketry. And I have explained the reason above.

Does not mean it is not a good idea to try and be self sufficient. We have from the beginning involved our children in the farm and with plentiful super organic food they grew fast and strong and capable of taking any job going. If they did not like the job any longer they could always be certain of a full belly at home while looking out for something else and better. We are feeding three generations here at the moment and can these grand children eat!
My son especially is a bit unusual these days He can lift more than a hundred kilos and run with it and he has no fear of heights and he can do work usually faster with hand tools than an inexperienced person with a big machine (although he can work with big machines too and is even good at repairing them). Only thing is that he needs high class sustenance in large quantities. I have seen 8-9 Lb of meat disappearing in a few minutes as a snack. And why would I worry about that seen the pitiful price I would be able to make if I could sell that same meat.

Lets start with that.

John

To be sustainable, the growing system must first sustain the grower.

This site is about the Hitts who apparently make a living selling what they grow. Their story is interesting for their evolving strategies for growing and marketing.
http://www.sare.org/publications/naf2/hitt.htm

This is my main concern - how families in various climates can grow sustainably and make a decent living at it. Information on this is hard to come by, possibly because so few have found a finacially sustainable model. I've looked into three cases but each leaves questions. My own system in a difficult climate can be profitable, but is probably not scalable or practical for many growers in this region.

I'm interested in anything on this topic and will pursue it as long as I'm able.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net
------------------------------------------

"Clearly, our present ways of agriculture are not sustainable, and so our food supply is not sustainable. We must restore ecological health to our agricultural landscapes, as well as economic and cultural stability to our rural communities."
- Wendell Berry & Wes Jackson

"All of the debts for society's century-long industrial fiesta are coming due at the same time. We have no choice but to transition to a world no longer dependent on fossil fuels, a world made up of communities and economies that function within ecological bounds. How we manage this transition is the most important question of our time."
-- Richard Heinberg

"How do you move from a system which has built in destruction of the planet and built in devastation for local communities and local economies and transition back to systems which formerly worked and new environmentally sustainable systems? That's the project of our time."
- Jerry Mander

"Many types of jobs will cease to exist: public relations executive, marketing directors, et cetera. I think work will be very hands-on, and a lot of it will revolve around food production."
-- James Howard Kunstler, 2003





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