Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Dan Conine <dconine@bertramwireless.com>]

> From: "John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>
> Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Big Ag hurts the small farm
>
>
> I fear oil and big machines changed that a bit Dan. Small scale is still
> more productive but not necessarily more profitable.
Yes, John, but that's only if we allow leadership to measure profits 
exclusively with money. When profits are measured in benefits to the 
future of our children, Big Ag will always come up short.
Money is king right now, but any particular empire follows a boom and 
bust cycle. Thanks to the cheap food of Big Ag, a lot more Petroboomer 
people are going to be affected when the collapse comes. That's the 
point that needs to be emphasized when the academic sycophants come 
around telling us how to care for the land.
The farmer isn't a businessman: he isn't a tool: she isn't providing 
food even. The farmer's primary purpose is to act as the interface 
between people and nature. Without farmers, everyone is at the mercy of 
nature's tooth and claw existence, and nature is at the mercy of 
Consumption Droid Industry.
Allowing a few food processing companies to pay for glorification of a 
few Extraction Managers (Big Farms) is a direct result of people falling 
for the Cheap Food is Good policies of an expansionist mindset in 
government.
When the expansion of the Imperialists begins to retract, we'll have to 
make room for a lot of people and their re-education, and even so, we 
won't be able to help very many at all (percentage-wise).

Dan C.

On 10/11/2013 11:00 AM, livingontheland-request@lists.ibiblio.org wrote:
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2013 00:49:30 +0100
> From: "John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>
> Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Big Ag hurts the small farm
>
>
> I fear oil and big machines changed that a bit Dan. Small scale is still
> more productive but not necessarily more profitable. A few years ago we got
> a letter from our Dep. of ag. in the letterbox explaining that we should aim
> to expand. An example was given from a huge beef farm where a man and wife
> team rounded up 450 beef animals per week by helicopter. They made just $5
> of profit per head but that still made for a few thousand $$ per week. We
> were told we had to aim for something like that.
> And indeed big farmers make small profits per head on huge numbers and the
> whole system is further geared to benefit them. For instance, we have a
> compulsory annual Tb test. A farmer with just 4 cattle will pay something
> like $160 for this or $40 per head. A man with 400 cattle will pay $300 or
> less than $1 per head.
> No wonder so many small ones are squeezed out of business. However, if oil
> gets too expensive it are the big ones that will get it in the neck while
> the small farms may survive. The question is how many small farms will be
> left by then though.
> John