Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

Oh I can relate, John, we have our market challenges. With your situation you 
do well feeding your own, & a lot more of us should learn to. As for the 
selling we're finally settled on a couple markets that bar those resellers 
outright; if folks can get the same stuff at China-Mart there's no reason for 
a market. We do have a unique problem here with some markets, UNdocumented 
exploited labor from Mexico which is in direct competition with yours truly. 
I won't work for 50 cents an hour. Hauling their produce up from the lower 
Rio Grande & undercutting us forces our prices down if they get away with it. 
Not to mention illegal. Another: we know a big local CSA claiming organic yet 
their stuff comes from corporate California farms, nothing local. People can 
get the same exact produce at Whole Foods corporation, so why bother with a 
local market? Fortunately our main market threw them out some time back.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 5/17/2012 at 12:23 AM John D'hondt wrote:

>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.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>Livingontheland mailing list
>>>Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
>>>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Livingontheland mailing list
>> Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland
>>
>>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Livingontheland mailing list
>Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland