Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>]

I could not agree more that high volume for a low price is a dead end for 
all concerned but if you don't want to go that way you are not much liked 
here and on the border of illegal.
And direct to customer sale is also fraught with traps and pitfalls here. I 
did exactly what you did Paul and had to give it up.
You can't just put down a stall here. Every Friday there is Bantry market 
where there are people selling organic vegetables and many other things. But 
it is necessary to set up the stall Thursday evening or you wont have a 
space. Most vegetable sellers just buy in stuff and pass it on cheap. The 
ones that grow vegetables themselves often go home with less than $50 worth 
of trade. There are other farmers markets but there you have to pay for a 
place. And that is often more than you make.
Why? Well for one thing the majority (native Irish) have mostly a great 
distrust of organic. A few years ago an organic seller was taken to court 
because a customer found a caterpillar in his produce and he was fined 
around $20,000 for that in compensation.
Also, I used to have a vegetable round and I would get a call at night to 
immediately deliver 4 heads of lettuce (and nothing else) to a restaurant in 
Goleen which is almost an hours drive. Petrol costs over $10 per gallon 
here. And I got something like 25 cent per head for the lettuce.
So at the moment we just grow for the extended family and anything left over 
goes to our animals.

Just to let you know you are lucky.
john
> Interesting abt those high volume low profit margins. I say that's a dead 
> end for all concerned. The other way is low cost low tech on small land, 
> hand labor, natural inputs & direct to customer sale, with up to 90% 
> profit margin. If I can do it millions more can do it, & in these times 
> every bit of supplemental income helps. It's not get rich quick in this 
> high cost of living but it may mean survival on the downside. The time to 
> learn is not on the downside. It's too late then.
>
> tnx for fascinating comments, people. (I've got into spelling shortcuts 
> somewhat, call them Twitterisms maybe)
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>
> On 5/15/2012 at 12:19 AM John D'hondt wrote:
>
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> >  From: henry walden
> >  To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> >  Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2012 5:04 PM
> >  Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] We already grow enough
> >
> >
> > At the risk of setting myself up, I would like to respond to this. This
> > "horse race" between conventional vs organic farming is useless. The
> > question has to first be posed to our host, namely Mother Earth, "how do
> > you feel about supporting 10 billion human inhabitants?"  You won't force
> > her to do it, she'll shake us off like a December flu. Never the less here
> > we are on the down side of the bell curve giving it a go.
> >
> > Hear,hear!
> > john
> >
> > And I could say more. Was listening to a farmers program here in Ireland
> > and the story was grass fed beef. (supposedly that is good) How important
> > it is to get a cow back in calf two weeks after calving since every day
> > she is not in calf costs about $11. There is now a machine available that
> > you put on the cow which releases hormones to get the cow in season and
> > will time exactly when AI is best given. Every minute counts.
> > And of course the grass is fertilised to the hilt. Cows are grazed on
> > paddocks and it is extremely important that they "finish" every last blade
> > of grass before they are moved because otherwise the farmer will have to
> > go in with a mower to top and that costs $25 per acre.
> > It is all about pennies and money and supreme efficiency because that is
> > where the penny profits are.
> >
> > We are told as farmers that efficiency is everything for even when you
> > make 2 cent of profit per broiler chicken that you rear, you will still
> > have a good income if you can finish a million of the poor suckers every
> > day. Same with every other "commodity", pork and beef and potatoes.
> > And we are supposed to improve that efficiency further to feed 10 or 12
> > billion people. (really to be able to compete in the free market)
> >
> > Really, this is all just an effect of cheap oil and when oil is no longer
> > cheap the merry-go-round stops.
> >
> >
> >
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