Organic Boy

Around here, in Bethany and further, I am referred to as The Organic Guy. Indeed, some that I have talked with think of the organic movement as a kind of cult, a substitute for, or even a refutation of, Christ’s teachings. I can live with the moniker but it’s tougher when my buddies from back east flip it and call me organic boy.

Interesting that these farmers would view contemporary farming practices – copious use of fossil-fuel derived chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides to grow a very limited set of crops (corn, soybeans)– as the natural, preferred state of affairs. And the whole thing held together by govt. price supports which benefit Dow and ADM a whole lot more than the family farmer. Oh yeah, and then there’s Coke and McDonald’s, who essentially sell reprocessed (subsidized) corn. To view organic farming methods as anomalous is to turn history on its head. Organic farming is, by definition, the way the entire world farmed until we started refining oil for fuel and throwing the byproduct on our fields. The way others farm around here has been in existence only since the end of World War II. Coincidence? But don’t misconstrue my meaning – the farmers around here are hardworking heroes and I like them very much. I just don’t much care for the system they are all forced to work within.

The “business problem” of the organic farm is pretty straightforward: how do we use the ancient methods of natural fertilizers, grass feeding, crop rotation and heirloom seeds to consistently deliver a high-quality food that can be sold for a reasonable profit? “Sustainable farming” cuts both ways – it must be sustainable for the earth, but also sustainable economically. Industrial agriculture scales endlessly, which is one of the attractions for investors, but that is not true for sustainable agriculture. At what point do we optimize our profit while not damaging our earth assets? In places like Ireland, Argentina and New Zealand, there are concerted efforts to discover this “balance point” specifically for cattle farms. We will discuss some of those efforts in more detail in subsequent blogs.

The Business Process
I had to go to L.A. to discuss some financial business this week. I hated to leave here for three reasons: 1) I love the farm, 2) Spring is the busy, busy season, and 3) every time I leave something goes wrong. And this time was no different. Some of our very graceful cows broke one of the key water lines and we were stuck with limited water for a while. Oh well, we’ll fix it and keep moving.

The Human Process
A few weeks ago we bought a horse from the neighbor lady for Caitlin, a handsome black gelding named (Four-Legged) Max. She’s been giving him time to get used to her and hopefully will soon get a saddle on him and take him out for a ride. To watch those two try to figure each other out is pretty amusing.