Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Emery Mitchamore <emitch@att.net>]

"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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