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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: Emery Mitchamore <emitch@att.net>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Growing sustainable models
  • Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:43:45 -0500

"Are there ways to undercut the global imports or compete on quality,
freshness, or to sell to a clientele that wants organic?"

When I see a question like this, I always think of Joel Salatin and Polyface
Farms, where a high degree of integration between systems is the key to high
productivity. My reaction to what they do is amazement; they must be
superhuman. I can't imagine myself having that much energy or accomplishing
that much.

E. E. "Mitch" Mitchamore
www.hillcountrynatives.net



On Aug 10, 2010, at 10:39 PM, Tradingpost wrote:

>
>
> I'm glad to get a post like that to reply to. I believe you, every bit,
> since family farms have similarly gone downhill here for decades and
> apparently for the same reasons. Tho we seem to have some leeway to sell
> locally without losing it all.
>
> On our list info page I wrote:
> Intensive, organic soil building is basic to growing much more in less
> space with better nutrition, more profitable growing through less bought
> inputs, less need for water, fewer losses from pests and disease, and less
> vulnerability to fossil fuel problems now or in the future. What ways this
> can best be pursued in different soils and climates leaves a lot of room
> for discussion. We deal with the widespread problems of loss of soil
> minerals, humus, nutritional content of produce, and loss of topsoil
> itself, as well as the cost-price squeeze faced by real organic growers,
> the shrinking supply of affordable land for growing and irrigation water,
> and the need to increase the supply of nutritious food while making healthy
> food more affordable in general.
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland
>
> I'm focusing here on the part, "more profitable growing through less bought
> inputs, less need for water, fewer losses from pests and disease, and less
> vulnerability to fossil fuel problems now or in the future."
>
> I appreciate the detail you put into your account of growing in Ireland,
> and your production for the family is important. But how does the price of
> petrol figure into the cost of growing? Are you saying globalization of
> food undercuts local food producers?
>
> On to deeper questions, and trust me, I don't have all the answers. Are
> there ways to undercut the global imports or compete on quality, freshness,
> or to sell to a clientele that wants organic? Are there ways to cut growing
> costs enough by adopting certain crops and not others, by changing the
> scale of land cultivated downward, by avoiding animals, by growing
> intensively, or by doing without the cost of machinery, labor or bought
> inputs?
>
> Sometime in the not too distant future the cost of fossil fuels is going to
> stop global trade in low-return bulk goods and crops. It could be nearer
> than anyone expects.
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
>
>
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
>
> On 8/9/2010 at 10:42 PM John D'hondt wrote:
>
>> 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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