There are a lot of catch words out there that are used to describe how a crop is grown or a product is produced: natural, naturally grown, organic, beyond organic, sustainable, ecological. They have been used so extensively (especially in advertising) that they have lost meaning. If you asked most people to distinguish between these terms and to explain what it really means about their food, most of us would find ourselves stumbling over words. Our farm philosophy is based on the concept of organic farming as originally defined by Lord Northbourne in Look to the Land in 1940: we think of our farm as a “organism” where each part plays an important role in the whole, one part supporting another part to create a functioning whole. On our farm, it looks like a cycle (although it isnʼt yet a perfect cycle).
 |
| Spring vegetables: broccoli and beets. |
The foundation of our farm is our soil. We like to think of it as a pro-active approach, nurturing the soil to avoid having to use fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, or fungicides. Each year we only cultivate crops on half of our cultivatable acres. The other half is in "cover crop," which is a crop (typically a combination of a grass and a legume) planted to improve or maintain soil fertility, improve soil tilth or quality, reduce erosion, suppress weeds, control pests, provide nectar for bees, and increase biodiversity. We seed cover crops as our fruit and vegetable crops finish to maintain soil health and prevent erosion. This rotation also allows us to break weed, pest, and pathogen cycles, which makes it easier for us to grow without the use of any herbicides, fungicides, or pesticides (organic or conventional). As part of the cycle, our cover crops act as food for our chickens and goats, who free range on our cover-cropped land like pasture crop. Their manure, along with the nutrients provided by our cover crops at till-in (largely nitrogen, although also potassium, phosphorus, and other micro-nutrients) allows us to rely very minimally on external fertility.
Our goal was to be essentially organic fertilizer-free by 2014, and I think we can say we are essentially fertilizer-free. In 2014, we will use Harmony organic fertilizer on just our broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussels sprouts (or 8% of our fruit and vegetable acreage and only 4% of our total cultivatable acreage). Together our cover crops and our animals feed our soil and thus in turn feed our crops. We then harvest our crops to feed our shareholders, our animals, and ourselves. We are currently tilling in our crop residue and then seeding each plot back into cover crop, but we would like to create a design where our chickens and goats could also feed on the crop residue, reducing at least our need to use the tractor to mow it down. (We are trialing that right now!) We would probably still integrate crop-residue with a rototiller to prevent the spread of plant disease pathogens (unless of course we got a pig).
 |
| A field seeded into winter rye, hairy vetch, and red clover. |
This philosophy implies environmental and human (farmer) sustainability as well as self-sufficiency, and we try to address each of these in all the decisions we make on the farm. That said, complete self-sufficiency is not one of our goals, as we want to be part of a larger community where we are able to both purchase locally and sell locally. Currently, there are several limitations that make environmental and human sustainability (and even economic sustainability...they are intricately tied together, and the balance is difficult) challenging. Our three largest external inputs are gas and diesel, seeds, and electricity. We can address each of them to an extent.
We are in the process of electrifying our 1947 Allis Chalmers G, which will mean less gas and less gas emissions but more electricity. We hope that some day we will be able to rely on alternative forms of electricity, but that still leaves the gas and diesel we use in our larger tractor (which we use every day), our farm vehicle, and our pump. It is much harder to imagine eliminating these elements. We could, for example, have a lot more employees but that would exponentially raise our cost of operating (50% for every employee we hire), or we could have work horses, or we could go no-till. None of these ideas really seem very feasible for us (especially anytime soon). Similarly, we only save/reproduce a few varieties of our own seeds each season. All of our cover crop seed and most of our fruit and vegetable seed comes from external sources, and although we continue to increase the percentage that comes from regional sources (VA, MO, NC), the reality is that many organic seeds are not available in our region, especially in large quantity. We donʼt expect this to change in the short-term or even the next 5 years.
We are in the process of electrifying our 1947 Allis Chalmers G, which will mean less gas and less gas emissions but more electricity. We hope that some day we will be able to rely on alternative forms of electricity, but that still leaves the gas and diesel we use in our larger tractor (which we use every day), our farm vehicle, and our pump. It is much harder to imagine eliminating these elements. We could, for example, have a lot more employees but that would exponentially raise our cost of operating (50% for every employee we hire), or we could have work horses, or we could go no-till. None of these ideas really seem very feasible for us (especially anytime soon). Similarly, we only save/reproduce a few varieties of our own seeds each season. All of our cover crop seed and most of our fruit and vegetable seed comes from external sources, and although we continue to increase the percentage that comes from regional sources (VA, MO, NC), the reality is that many organic seeds are not available in our region, especially in large quantity. We donʼt expect this to change in the short-term or even the next 5 years.
So, can you call us sustainable, self-sufficient, or truly organic (as Lord Northbourne defined it)? That is for you to decide. We try to be as responsible as we can be to our land, ourselves, and our shareholders, adhering as much as possible to the principles and ideals that underly our farm. We also try to be as open and honest about it as we can.
We do adhere to Certified Naturally Grown and national organic standards, following Certified Naturally Grown standards where they are stricter than the organic standards. All of our seed is certified organic, naturally grown, or ecological except for some rare heirlooms that are not be available as such. We do not grow any GMO crops and follow EU standards for brassica crops (which are stricter than US standards). Our potting soil and fertilizer are certified organic, as is the supplemental feed that we feed our chickens and goats. You are always welcome to learn more by visiting the farm.
We feel it is the best way for you to really know how your food is grown and produced. We want you to ask questions about how we do things, about what you are eating each week, about anything you wonder, question, or doubt. We want you to be responsible consumers and make sure that you feel good (satisfied/content...) about what you are eating.
We do adhere to Certified Naturally Grown and national organic standards, following Certified Naturally Grown standards where they are stricter than the organic standards. All of our seed is certified organic, naturally grown, or ecological except for some rare heirlooms that are not be available as such. We do not grow any GMO crops and follow EU standards for brassica crops (which are stricter than US standards). Our potting soil and fertilizer are certified organic, as is the supplemental feed that we feed our chickens and goats. You are always welcome to learn more by visiting the farm.
We feel it is the best way for you to really know how your food is grown and produced. We want you to ask questions about how we do things, about what you are eating each week, about anything you wonder, question, or doubt. We want you to be responsible consumers and make sure that you feel good (satisfied/content...) about what you are eating.
*Certified Naturally Grown produce standards available at
http://www.naturallygrown.org/programs/producestandards
No comments:
Post a Comment