Market Farming

["Rick Williams" <mrfarm AT frontiernet.net>]

Robert Farr wrote:
> Yes, Rick - I'd argue that the small dairy farm is still viable.  And
> would be more viable if the government would stop preventing farming.

The recently passed MILC program does what? It rewards smaller producers at
the expense of the larger producers. It was not a neutral act. Please
explain how the government is preventing farming compared to say 20 years
ago, 50 years ago?

> For example, government regulations prevent the sale of raw milk.  Read
> Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" to see why this is inherently
> flawed.

As much as I appreciate cheerleaders like Sally Fallon, I do not find her
arguments to always be with full scientific merit. Way before my lifetime,
raw milk was not permitted to be sold in Wisconsin. And at one time we were
the leading dairy state in the U.S. The rules were not from some imagined
evil corporate cabal, but because too darn many people got sick and some
died. Eventually, there was a ground swell from the public to do something.
And government acted to prevent raw milk sales, except for "incidental"
amounts which have never been defined.

> Raw milk - should you choose to drink it (I don't) - is what we
> should be consuming.  Same with raw milk cheese.  Same with fresh
> (unpasturized) apple cider.

The truth is we really don't know. I wish we did. I would like to see many
replicated studies of Pottenger et al. The unpasteurized apple cider
unfortunately has had similar problems to raw milk ... namely, illness and
perhaps some deaths. This was mostly e. coli contamination from windfalls
from what I understand. Raw milk cheese is doable with extreme care by
having it cured properly to kill or at least neutralize the pathogens. This
can be done.

If raw milk is as good as you say it is, (or say others claim it is) then
why are you not drinking it?

By the way, there still is the concern about Johne's transmission to humans
and until we know for sure I am concerned about this. I did have some raw
milk as a child and also some later on when we had a goat for our yogurt and
milk for a short period.

> The failure of the small farm is caused primarly by government support
> for factory farms - and the spread of the capitalist system which seeks
> to drive down prices while exploiting the land and the lower classes
> (the three, of course, going hand-in-hand).

Whoa!!! Wait a minute. You are a socialist or even further to the left? I
thought you folks championed Jefferson (as I do)and now the truth comes out
little by little? You come across as opposed to the capitalist system.

What do you want to see replace this capitalist system you are attacking?

> Of course, in order to stay viable in such an economy, the small farmer
> must add value to his or her product - value that the factory farm
> simply can't add.  Grow organically.  Grow specialty crops.  Make a
> value-added product or products (that's how we do it).  Get to know your
> customers.  Invite them to your farm.  Etc.

You really are attacking the large farms aren't you? You despise the
successful folks who want to have some decent quality of life and have
expanded their farm beyond the family? Many of the things you mentioned
above can and are being done by the larger farms such as value added. In
fact, the larger farms in some cases, have the economies of scale to operate
a value added farming enterprise such as a market. They certainly can grow
organic and grow specialty crops. The smaller farms may possibly be able to
have that personaly contact but that is of limited value in terms of 90% of
the population. Those kinds of farms (like ours) can only get to a certain
size and that size may not be able to support a family.

> We also need a Right to Farm law - which would allow all farmers to sell
> what they raise on their farm to the consumer - including meats which
> were butchered on-site.

We have a Right to Farm law in Wisconsin (primarily because of the lobbying
efforts of the Farm Bureau) but it is not what you describe, of course:)

The laws were changed years ago due to food safety issues. It will never be
possible to go back without inspection.

To put it in perspective, it is not possible for a small farm to afford to
set up a processing plant on farm. The cost for the rails alone run in the
near million dollar class. What we are really worried about is much more of
a long term problem. And that is that if any small processors go out of
business, or if anything happens to disrupt them, such as we have seen in
some parts of Wisconsin with a fire, they are gone, never to rebuild.

Is that because of some evil corporate interests stopping them? No. It is
real world economics that escapes at least some of you folks. As much as
they might want to do it, they can no longer build a small plant as a new
facility unless it is large enough to sustain such an operation. And that is
many, many, times larger than current plants operate. Otherwise, they would
have to charge a huge percentage of the total retail value of the meat. It
is quite high as it is. And many plants are maxed out on the total amount of
processing that they can handle.

It takes 2 to 4 months of scheduling in advance for us to get a slot for one
or two beef at our local processor.

Even the folks who are trying to set up cooperatives for many farmers in a
group, the economies of scale just do not seem too good.

Does anyone know of any processing being done by a farmer owned cooperative
that was built in the last few years?

Sincerely,

Rick Williams
Misty Ridge Farm
Dairy heifers and dairy beef graziers
Viroqua, WI

www.mistyridgefarm.com