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  • From: "MARK A. ABNER" <wizard1 AT kih.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] The numbers are wrong/ Economics- sustainable ag?
  • Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 14:09:30 -0500

Howdy folks
I have been reading the posts and giveing some thought to what is
being
said and thought I would share some of my thoughts on the subject. I think
we have to look at a lot bigger picture to see the value of small farming
and how it is or can be viable.A lot I think depends on an idividuals
situation. If your land and equipment is being finaced by a morgage or
other loan that demands you meet certain finacial goals at certian times
your are forced to work it along the same lines as the big comercial food
market and that is very tough and will probably require outside income
untill the debt load is eleaviated. If your not bound to a bankers schedual
you have a lot more freedom to work things to suit your own situation.
The problem as I am sure you are all aware is that that kind of
markering
is controled by the big guys who only want you to exist as a form of self
supporting slave labor to provide them with raw matierial for processing at
a price that they control with seed stocks whether corn soybeans or feeder
pigs supplied only by them at a price they set. This it the main reason I
think that so many farmers have left the land in the past several decades.
Now lets look at some other parts of the picture. some of you focus on
your liveing expenses,now I dont have any idea what they are but I know
that a lot of house holds spend a large amount of thier paychecks on food.
If you can manage to produce the bulk of what you consume then the food
dollars saved go into the income collum in the real caluclation on the cost
vs profit figures on your farming interprise.
Another number to think about is health costs eating good quality
foods
makes for a healthier family. Before I got my milk cow the kids were sick
several times a winter many trips to the doctor now the fact that due to
low income medicaid paid for most of it doenst change the fact that it cost
somebody money also the stress and time lost from extra care required by
tending a sick child is a cost that has to be considered. In the past 3
years since I started feeding my family raw whole milk and makeing my own
butter trips to the doctor other than regular checkups and the like has
been exactly zero. My kids dont get sick anymore. If you further add the
health advantages of doing regular physical work on a schedual that you
control ( well you and the weather and the life cycle of what your
riaseing)with nobody breathing down your neck is very good for the body
as well as the soul.
You start subtracting doctor bill perscription cost time lost and the
$300.00 an hour therepist to lower your stress levels so you dont stoke out
from your high dollar corp life style and things start looking a lot more
fiscaly balanced.
Now I am going to embark on some of my observaitions of sustainability
itself from a farming perspective. To be more dependant on outside inputs
than you have to is bad policy. I am not saying if it is fiscaly practicle
dont do it just try not to be more dependant on it than you have to. If you
can produce the bulk of your fertilizer if you need to you are way ahead of
the game. If your profitability on your crops is dependant on fluctuations
in the pertoleum industry your liable to find yourself in a bind. A lot of
this comes down to haveing a big enough peice of dirt to produce a lot of
your inputs yourself. I have made some of these commenst on list before and
been blasted by folks that insist the 2 to 5 acres is more than enough to
make a good liveing farming on. A lot of it comes down to your
deffinitions. We are talking about sustainablility, with 5 acres your
pretty dependant of ouside sources for a lot of your inputs fertilizer hay
fuel and the like.
I think that to be practialy sustainable requires a lot more land
whether
yours or part of a networked comunity. I think the probaby 50 acres of good
land or 150 of marginal to poor land is the right sizes to look at. my
place is pretty marginal and according to usda evaluation not fit for any
kind of farming what so ever. But from the perspective of appropriate
application of use I can produce a good bit of profitablilty in time. of
the 125 acres I have about 80 acres is in very rocky grass pastures maybe 5
acres of that is hayable. and maybe 3 acres is tillable but thoes 3 acres
are not all contiguous. However by runing a moderate number of cattle on
the rough pastures and provideing the cows with a shady place to deposit
the end result of eating all that grass from between the rock I have
supplied my self with seveal tons of plant nutriant inputs every year
greatly reduceing the need for outside inputs to grow crops. . Plus I no
longer purchase meat or milk from outside sources lowering my annual food
cost a great deal.
I concentrate my production to areas that lend themself to
cultivation and
use rougher areas that have good soil charactersistics for permenant things
like perineal herbs. Haveing the river wrap around the place is a big
advantage for irrigation of cource but a well concived and maintained pond
can work as well. In addition to the food and fertilizer haveing severl
acres of woodland provides fuel for heating buildeings, consturcting
structures and additional income from havesting mature trees for sale as
vereer or lumber. What it really boils down to I guess to me is the more
you can produce your self at need the more sustainable you are. And
versitility is an important aspect as markets fluctate regularly. I have
many books written about the art and science of farming some of them
dateing back into the 1700s and there is one central theme that echos
through all but the few from the past 50 years that supports big comercial
agribussiness and that theme is " have something to sell every day" I
would add to that theme " grow what you eat, eat what you grow"
Now I am not saying that everyone who plans to farm sustainably has to
have a quarter section of thier own. A well networked community of small
farmers supporting one another is a very attractive alternitive. Sadly due
in part I think to comercial advertiseing programing most folks seem to
have forgoten how to look out for and work with thier neighbors. I think
rebuilding a sense of comminity is a key part of sustainablility. Out side
inputs from a fellow farmer that helps support his family and pay his
morgage is a lot differnt from a sustainability aspect than going to
corportate america for inputs. I buy the bulk of my hay from another farmer
because it is fiscaly more practicle at the moment for me to do so and
helps support my comunity but I am prepared to make my own hay if the
viability of buying it from him changes. I buy grain at the local feed mill
because it isnt practicle for me to grow a large amount of corn on my rough
ground without causeing errosion problems. However I am looking at maybe
growing an acre of alfalfa intensively to eleminate my dependance on the
feed mills grain. But as long as it is viable I am happy to support the
local grain farmers so they can keep feeding thier kids and buying my
veggitables.
Looking back over this I see that I have been rambleing on for some
time
so I will try so sum up. I think the keys to sustainability are to limit
the dependance on outide inputs, consume what you produce,produce what you
consume limit debt as much as you can maintain more than one market outlet
of more than one type of product, and try to have enough resources in
reserve to weather a severe fluctuation in either your input supply or your
market. If you can sit on your peice of dirt and keep warm and dry and live
on beans and taters and corn pone and veggies. milk from your cow and eggs
pork and beef from your own provender till things get better your
sustainable.

Mark Abner
BriarPatch Farm
Ritner KY zone6b


> [Original Message]
> From: Tradingpost <tradingpost AT gilanet.com>
> To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: 12/21/2005 11:41:09 AM
> Subject: [Market-farming] The numbers are wrong/ Economics- sustainable
ag?
>
>
> Sad yes, but more like an engineered extermination.
>
> Agribusiness pundits are fond of pointing out how much more productive
big farms are now with all the machinery, chemicals, improved seed
varieties, etc, and how few people it take now to produce our food. But the
numbers are simply wrong. What has happened is, most food processing that
used to be done on the farm or close by decades ago is now done in
corporate factories, and all the low wage employees in food factories
aren't being counted as part of the whole process. Nothing gained.
>
> For decades the powerful corporate agribusiness interests have told us to
"get big or get out". That bad advice deceived millions of farm families
into bankruptcy where they were gobbled up by the banks and corporate
growers on contract to middlemen and processors, Cargill, Kraft, General
Foods, Nestle, Tyson, and on and on.
>
> Meanwhile produce quality and nutrition continued to decline under big
agribusiness. Topsoil loss has continued despite "conservation" programs
that mostly benefit big agribusiness. Ongoing depletion of soil organic
matter continues to accelerate erosion and compaction, breaking down
healthy soil structure by excessive tillage and chemical quick fixes. Every
new chemical seems to breed a new strain of pest.
>
> Many of our family farms left now have to rely on land that's been
degraded by decades of taking expert advice from agribusiness and its
shills in colleges and extension offices. Production isn't what it would be
from good land. Their fossil fuel inputs and other costs are controlled by
the same "get big or get out" interests that have done them so many favors
already. They're left listening to USDA pushing niche markets and value
added products just to stay on the farm.
>
> That's not good enough. Sooner or later we'll have to relearn the lessons
of Albert Howard and other soil science pioneers, and start rebuilding our
soil to make small family farms highly profitable again. Or go under with
the rest of our kin.
>
> paul tradingpost AT gilanet.com
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Soilmakers/
>
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
>
> On 12/21/2005 at 9:06 AM Wiediger, Alison wrote:
>
> >Ah, you could be right. Either way, sad news for farmers. I guess the
> >good
> >news is that there are a lot of us farming anyway because we love it!
> >
> >Alison
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> >[mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of JOHN A
> >HENDRICKSON
> >Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2005 9:04 AM
> >To: Market Farming
> >Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Economics- sustainable ag?
> >
> >Alison,
> >
> >Excellent point. It is not just market growers who struggle to make a
> >living from farming. There is also the factor of government programs
> >that contribute to supporting conventional crop and livestock farms. I
> >could be wrong but I think the statistic is that 90% of farms rely on
> >some off-farm income (rather than 90% of farm household income coming
> >from off farm, as you stated). In other words, only 10% of farm
> >households earn 100% of their income from their farm. I too, however,
> >am not sure about this "factoid"...so don't quote me.
> >
> >-John
>
>
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