From logcabinorchard@cyberus.ca Mon Jul 19 11:44:58 1999 Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 21:10:14 -0400 From: Gord Hawkes To: "'sanet-mg-digest@ces.ncsu.edu'" Subject: Re: The real problem with farming--conventional, sustainable, or organic [ The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set. ] [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ] [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ] Greg. Has this thread not appeared over the last year under a number of different subject lines? We all have our own views and opinions and I respect every last one! However, the new sustainable/organic farmer is more than a steward of the land - he/she is a revolutionary with revolutionary approaches to all facets of farming. Contemporary economics has little to no meaning when applied to sustainable agriculture other than at the most basic levels i.e. "supply and demand". At one time demand had to be cultivated and nurtured and brought along in a gentle fashion using almost maternal techniques. But demand for organic healthful produce has steadily increased to the point that it is overtaking supply. What is more, the growing concern over estrogen inducing growth hormones and the overuse of organophospate insecticides is raising awareness in the aging baby boomers - they want health giving foods and are establishing ralationships with growers directly. Faith Popcorn in the Popcorn Report and David Foot in Boom, Bust & Echo have both identified that small farms producing healthful quality produce and products will pave the road in meeting the growing demands of the aging boomers - quality will win out! Greg you indicate that you believe that very few farms are supporting families. I believe some are and in many cases off farm income is required. This is based on choice in some circumstances and necessity in others. I work off the farm but my wife works on the farm allowing her to raise our children and manage the day-to-day affairs of the farm. The farm allows us to cultivate in our children the graces of nature, respect, interaction with the public - it also provides them with a sense of and appreciation for hard work and a source of income. Most urbanite family units have both parents working outside the home, their children are raised by caregivers, they have little time and ability to appreciate the simple pleasures of life and in most cases both adult members of the family unit work as a result of necessity. Who is nearer the poverty line? If we chose to develop value added product lines to our farm operation and endeavoured to market our products with a bit more effort I am convinced that our farm operation could largely support our family. We must realize that gone are the days of sow, grow, harvest and sell. Marketing now plays a major part in the small sustainable farm operation - this is reality! New Zealand went through a turbulent period with lamb production a number of years ago maybe not as severe as with hogs in N.A. but they were able to turn the corner with marketing zeal and the use of other creative means. Please don't get me wrong - I have not walked a mile in your mocassins so I am entirely unaware of your situation but I believe in the adage that when a window appears to close ever so quietly a door is opening. Best regards, Gord Hawkes Log Cabin Orchard Osgoode, On Canada demand.been overtaken by demand as a result of nand motherly fashionAt 09:27 PM 7/11/99 -0500, you wrote: > This latest thread on social and political aspects of agriculture has >been interesting. However, I think the real problem out here with >agriculture is the fact that very few farms are actually supporting >families. I would think that sustainable and organic farms are doing at >least as good of a job in this aspect as conventional farms. Any research >on this? Unless I am an excellent marketer(I'm not!), I have no choice >but to figure out how to make a living within this industrialised >agriculture system. Unless I could convince my family that money was not >important, I have to make a decent profit. > I think the sustainable agriculture movement has made some great strides >in forcing us to question why we would even want a place in this current >industrialised agriculture. But we will never really change the fact that >sustainablity has to include enough profit to keep the farm going and >transferred to the next generation. That isn't exactly an easy task in >this current ag situation. Should living close to poverty be a necessity >to farm? (I guess that is better than filing bankruptcy like a large >percentage of the hog farmers in this area already have!!!!) And if we are >an extremely low cost producer with very little debt should we really have >to direct market? And can we pretty much expect absolutely no help in the >midwest on marketing and small farm support? Do you think my land grant >read that one? > I'm afraid we are down to the last generation of family farms in this >country unless something changes drastically and soon. The sustainable and >organic community might win a few battles but I'm afraid the war is going >to be lost to the industrial giants. >Just my 2 cents and rambling, >Greg Gunthorp > > >To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command >"unsubscribe sanet-mg". 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