"Why can't all farming be organic? Numerous people on this page have been asking this question. Farmers and ranchers, how would you answer this? Could all farming be organic? What would be the pros and cons of trying to make all farming organic? What are the limitations in your experience? This is a question that people who care about food discuss quite a bit. What is the farmer and rancher perspective?"
The above question was asked by U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance on Facebook and judging by the numerous comments it must be a truly important question on the minds of people. I felt like adding my two cents to the question.
When I first got involved to the day to day operation of father cattle ranch about 10 years ago, it was an organic cow calf ranch. (Basically a cow calf ranch has mother cows that raise calf until 9 months of age and then sold to feedlots) I didn't use any pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizer on the land and no feed antibiotics or hormones in the calves. Today I can not say the same thing.
So why did things change?
In regards to the land management and the use of herbicides and fertilizer the weather conditions forced my hand. The weather pattern went from dry drought year to wet rainy ones. One winter would be mild and the next extreme cold. There has been no consistent weather. It has been from one extreme to the other. Weeds and harsh brush have taking control of the land.
Extreme harsh brush mesquite, weeache, black thorn, rose hedge, devil thorn, thorn ash, broom weed, and wild sun flowers. Wild sun flowers and broom weed release toxins that prevent grass from growing. The others are the worst plants on the face of the earth. Thick thorns that go through anything tires, boots, chaps. You name it. The drier and hotter the faster and bigger this hell brush grows.
A few years ago this was all that is growing in the pastures. With no grass for the cows to eat, my back was against the wall. I had no choice but to start using herbicide and fertilizer. I have made progress in restoring grass but I am years away from lush green grass pastures with no thorns. If the rain would start helping, the green green grass of home will be back in two years.
As far as the feed antibiotics and hormones, they work. Now I don't feed every calf antibiotics but those that are weaned from their mothers and are eating feed do. Since I don't have the grass that I used too, I can still produce profitable amount of beef with fewer cows. Smaller amount of grass equals smaller amounts of cows to raise calves, that lost of revenue is reduced with the use of hormones and feed antibiotics. The bank wants their land payment, truck payment, and the electric company won't give me power for free.
Could I go back to organic?
Once I get the pastures back and the weather levels out with consistent rain fall, it could be possible. I would consider it because fewer input cost means more money. A penny saved. In general I don't think the whole of farming can. People want to pay the very least they can for beef. They might say different but they buy the cuts on sale.
Think about it. If you wanted organic truly free range chicken, you could drive out to the country and pay a farmer 10 bucks for a chicken, pluck it, gut it, and fry it up. But guess what no one will do that. They will go to grocery and buy what's on sale.
I agree that the way you're doing things now relies on chemicals, but organic farming is about setting up systems on your farm that work to improve soil fertility and maintain animal health without chemicals. If you do want to stop using chemicals (and they are a major expense), you will need to experiment to find methods that work for you on your property. I recommend that you read a couple of books by Peter Andrews, an Australian farmer who restored a very weedy and infertile property, just be slashing the weeds and managing infrequent water flows. Also Joel Salatin, who uses his cattle rather than the tractor to mow the grass. We use similar methods on a small scale and have seen that they work. The challenge is adapting it to your situation. If you have the will to learn and to take up the challenge, there are certainly ways to farm organically for all, and I can't see why we couldn't all be organic (and I think we will be forced too eventually when chemicals are too expensive).
ReplyDeleteThanks Liz,
ReplyDeleteI am going to look for the books by Peter Andrews sounds interesting. I have read some Joel Salatin books and know of his MOB grazing success. My problems can not be grazed away. The mesquites, rose hedge, and weeache all have root balls below the ground that cows can not get to which grazing makes the problem greater. Boom weed and wild sunflowers both have toxin to prevent grass growth and cattle will not consume. Their growth rate is faster than cattle could keep up with if they would eat it. I have cattle eat many weeds and brush these they won't touch. My neighbor's goats won't eat them either.
Fascinating, realistic post. I guess our food production needs also take away large scale attemtps to farm organically. Waiting out some of the problems would cause starvation! But, it is great to see farmers talk about having done both organic and adaptive farming with assistance from advancements. The trick I guess is to figure out what methods truly advance us and which might harm us just because we're in a hurry. This has been very thought provoking. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteLana
Great post about the reality on the ground. It is easy for urban folks to say that they want this or that, but have no idea of the challenges of growing food. There is little thought about how it gets to the pink tray in the grocery store.
ReplyDelete