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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Prof Ikerd Tells How to Grow and Why
  • Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 08:48:01 -0700

Prof Ikerd Tells How to Grow and Why
paul tradingpost@lobo.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

American farmers, on average, receive only about 20 cents of each food dollar
spent. The remainder goes toward the expenses of processing, packing and
distribution. Farmers who sell food direct to local customers, on the other
hand, receive the full value for their product cutting out the costs to
middlemen.

- My Top Ten Reasons for Eating Local, John Ikerd
http://web.missouri.edu/ikerdj/papers/Alabama-Eat%20Local.htm
John Ikerd is Professor Emeritus, University of Missouri - Columbia, MO
----

“Get big or get out” is a refrain with which American farmers are all too
familiar. Small farms are seen as being too small to survive, and thus,
unworthy of serious consideration. For example, government programs,
including publicly funded research and education, tend to focus on large,
commercial agricultural operations as the future of American agriculture. In
fact, the opposite is true. Most large, commercial farming today are too big
to survive. Small farms are the future of farming in America. "

- Many Farms Are Too Big To Survive, John Ikerd
http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/faculty/jikerd/papers/SFT-Too%20Big.htm
-----

"However, by managing more “intensively” the new farmers are able to net far
more profit from each dollar of sales. They reduce their costs of purchased
inputs through diversification, increase the value of their products through
niche markets, focus on the things that they do best, and work together to do
the things that they can’t do as well alone. As a result, their net return
per dollar of sales may be 40 to 50 percent rather than the 15 to 20 percent
for a conventional farm. Thus, the net returns on a farm with $100,000 in
annual sales may be $40,000 to $50,000 and even a farm with $50,000 in annual
sales may net $20,000 to $25,000 to support the small farm family. The
bottom line is that 10 acres, intensively managed to produce high valued
products, may generate more profits than 1,000 acres used to produce bulk
agricultural commodities - corn, cattle, wheat, cotton, etc. Many small
farms make some fairly big profits."

- Farming for Profit and Quality of Life, John Ikerd
http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/faculty/jikerd/papers/SFTkeynote.html
-----

"Sustainable farming systems must be ecologically sound, economically viable,
and socially responsible. All three are essential; more of one cannot offset
a lack of either of the other two. The three dimensions of sustainability
are not a part of some formal or legal definition, but instead, are a matter
of common sense. If the land loses its ability to produce, the farm is not
sustainable. If the farmer goes broke, the farm is not sustainable. And if
a system of farming fails to support society, it will not be supported by
society, and thus, is not sustainable.

- The Family Farm on the Cutting Edge, John Ikerd
http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/faculty/jikerd/papers/YakimaFamilyFarms.html
-----

"The highest priority for American agriculture should be on reducing the
fossil energy dependence of food production. Our current food system,
including food processing and distribution, claims about 17% of total U.S.
fossil energy use, with about one-third of this total used at the farm
level.[9] In fact, we use about ten kcals of fossil energy for every kcal of
food energy produced, not counting the energy use in final food preparation.
This means that even at the farm level, American agriculture uses about three
kcals of fossil energy for every kcal of food energy produced. In a world of
rising population and dwindling fossil energy, the first priority of
agriculture should be producing more food with less fossil energy.

- Agriculture after Fossil Energy, John Ikerd
http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/faculty/jikerd/papers/Iowa-FmUnion-Energy.htm
-----





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