WOW 40,000 acre organic Waldron sask

[malleefarmer]

Is it possible to do this well on such a large scale


https://www.producer.com/2018/03/40000-acre-farm-goes-organic/

[iceman]

Sounds like a lot of rock picking involved.

It's ironic how you break up pasture because you can turn it into certified organic quicker.

Iceman Out

[Sheepwheat]

I think there are ways to do it. Not the way that has been tried though. There are better ways to make it work, than what most of us see from the road.

[GDR]

I bet Hobbyfarmer is that big too! He just doesn't want us to know so always tells us about his old equipment and weed problems.

[seldomseen]

Wishing him the best but that is most likely not the best land if it was pasture. If it is light land and he has to do a lot of tillage and it is dry he will know why it was pasture.

He will likely have extra bin space.

[SASKFARMER3]

Son of the x Deere dealership owner in moosimin I’m thinking. just saying follow the money

[STRNGR]

Strngr

Think that a lot of that land was in Alfalfa/hay. 3 years , then can call organic

[bucket]

He's backstopped by a very large landowner in Canada.....

[iceman]

It would be quite a thing if he added 40 000 head of cattle for manure. Interesting thing to watch anyways. I think organic food has its place in society but at this time I don't want anything to do with growing it.

Iceman Out

[malleefarmer]

Im not anti organic if you can make it work.

A guy not to far away drier area his yields at best 2/3 every body elses often only half but geez he cleans up price wise and his bottom line may not be much different. Smaller farmer but works for him and hes not a chest beater gotta do it this way save the planet type, got asked by someone heck maybe 25/30 years ago maybe even longer can you grow me 20t of high quality wheat with no chems.

Ok i will give it a go, no accreditation as such back then and the flour mill paid him from my fading memory in excess of triple the going price and it all stemmed from a off the cuff request.

Organic meat doesnt command quite the premium and wine the same. But grain legumes canola gangbuster prices

[furrowtickler]

S/F did you come from a JD dealership at one time? I could be wrong in asking , but just asking .

[AlbertaFarmer5]

From the article: “Conventional doesn’t make sense unless you have the best land in the area"

That seems to be completely backwards to me. In my experiment, the best land can handle the repeated tillage much better, has more nutrients and organic matter to burn, and is worth investing the time and money required to transition to organic. But I may be looking at it wrong.

I'm not very familiar with the area, it may be excellent soil, but looking at google earth, there is so many potholes that anything bigger than a 10 foot cultivator wouldn't fit between most of them. Although the image may have been taken during one of the extended wet years lately? That might be part of the reason why some of it was in pasture.

He is probably correct that he would need 40,000 cows to make enough manure to fertilize 40,000 acres, but that won't leave many acres for crop land, if each cow needs 4 acres for pasture and winter feed, that is 160,000 acres for the cattle, 40,000-160,000= -120,000 acres left over to grow crops on. Negative acres aren't all that productive. Grassfarmer, you appear to be very productive and use intensive grazing, how many acres per cow year round? Can you pasture and raise feed for 160 cows on a quarter section?
My conclusion is that the only way organic is remotely sustainable on my soil, is to have enough cows to be able to keep most of the nutrients from leaving the farm.