A timely article

[grassfarmer]

What an interesting, timely read in view of the ongoing discussions about corporate control of seed supply, limited farm profitability, too high input costs. Perhaps this is the different way that will bring more (financially) sustainable agriculture to farm families world wide? India is planning to have 6 million farmers on the program within 5 years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/opinion/farming-organic-nature-movement.html?fbclid=IwAR18qanu4v7jwMrwEr1uoaBvqPq TfCXapqXZ7KNOYPi1ZfON3sFyq6oKZYw http://https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/opinion/farming-organic-nature-movement.html?fbclid=IwAR18qanu4v7jwMrwEr1uoaBvqPq TfCXapqXZ7KNOYPi1ZfON3sFyq6oKZYw

Particularly interesting information is contained in this link to the Rodale Institute on their 30 year long comparison of organic and chemical agriculture. More profit, matching yields, improved soil - no wonder you try to keep it hush hush hobbyfarmer!

http://rodaleinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/fst-30-year-report.pdf http://https://rodaleinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/fst-30-year-report.pdf

[LEP]

Looks like a completely unbiased analysis....not.

As you know, I was an ag banker for 10 years and still know alot of senior people in the business. They call the switch from conventional to organic the last 5 years of a farmers career.

Personally, I am not opposed to organic, just the holier than thou attitude.

[ColevilleH2S]

Matching yields, Hahaha!!! You are delusional.

[furrowtickler]

Raising beef takes 10x more H20 to grow the same protein as peas . Hmmm
And your consistently pushing one side 🧐

[farmaholic]

Not one "old school" organic farmer prospered here, not one. They all quit.

It has to be more to it than not spending any money producing a crop. And in my opinion you had to be a good "conventional" farmer to succeed as an organic farmer.

Notice I emphasised "old school". Things have changed.

All I ever heard from my relatives was how much an organic bushel of grain was worth.....but never saw much, if any, progress. Did I mention they(everyone in the area) all quit?

[farmaholic]

Raising beef takes 10x more H20 to grow the same protein as peas . Hmmm
And your consistently pushing one side 🧐

The yellow pea protien powder I put in my shakes tastes like shit, I'd almost rather die of a heart attack eating beef! 😉

[Guest]

The yellow pea protien powder I put in my shakes tastes like shit, I'd almost rather die of a heart attack eating beef! 😉

Why don't you lynch it off with them negative waves

[farmaholic]

Why don't you lynch it off with them negative waves

Just sayin Austranada, just say in.

[malleefarmer]

Know 2 organic farmers.

Both been at it for hmmm maybe 35 years, one does whole chain grows it processes it sells it doing quite well but is the first to admit when he took the plunge into the proccessing phase it nearly broke him.

The other is just a grower and its becoming a struggle weedwise and yieldwise.

Respect em both.

Big growth here was organic livestock but has tapered off mostly because of price i think. Almost luxury item.

Still on livestock side the big winners are pastoral guys with 12 to 15 thousand ewes on 250,000 acres no need for drenches vaccines etc no fert so they slip straight into organic production without any real changes to managnement.

[pourfarmer]

Looks like a completely unbiased analysis....not.

As you know, I was an ag banker for 10 years and still know alot of senior people in the business. They call the switch from conventional to organic the last 5 years of a farmers career.

Personally, I am not opposed to organic, just the holier than thou attitude.

I am about 15 years into the last 5 years of my farming career. Interesting thoughts LEP 😂

[hobbyfrmr]

Not one "old school" organic farmer prospered here, not one. They all quit.

It has to be more to it than not spending any money producing a crop. And in my opinion you had to be a good "conventional" farmer to succeed as an organic farmer.

Notice I emphasised "old school". Things have changed.

All I ever heard from my relatives was how much an organic bushel of grain was worth.....but never saw much, if any, progress. Did I mention they(everyone in the area) all quit?

Agreed. Dont do it, there is no money in it.

[hobbyfrmr]

I am about 15 years into the last 5 years of my farming career. Interesting thoughts LEP 😂

Same thing here Pourfarmer. I like LEP’s line of thinking.

Everybody knows you cant grow a crop without the best seeds, fertilizer and spray.

[farmaholic]

Agreed. Dont do it, there is no money in it.

I included disclaimers in my post. Surely you picked up on them.

Here's another....not everyone survives conventional farming either.

Therefore, it may not be so much the farming method that determines success as much as the farmer.


Re tillage. I think before I would subject my land to the potential of wind and water erosion from widespread and sometimes frequent tillage to control weeds or plowdowns, I would do what Grassy does and cover it with mixed forage.

Or quit.

[hobbyfrmr]

I included disclaimers in my post. Surely you picked up on them.

Here's another....not everyone survives conventional farming either.

Therefore, it may not be so much the farming method that determines success as much as the farmer.


Re tillage. I think before I would subject my land to the potential of wind and water erosion from widespread and sometimes frequent tillage to control weeds or plowdowns, I would do what Grassy does and cover it with mixed forage.

Or quit.

Good. At least you are thinking.
The last thing I want to do is be right all the time. Any occupation reliant on nature has constant challenges.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

First of all, since Grassfarmer likes to nitpick the smallest details in anyone else's posts( well mostly SF3's, and they usually are large glaring details...), but what is timely about an article from June, in November?

Regarding the short life span of organic farmers,I would suspect there are two different types of operations that would make the switch. I expect it is much like the intensive grazers around here. There were some well run operations who successfully adopted intensive grazing, and extended grazing seasons, increasing their profitability, reducing equipment hours and workload. Then there are all the rest, who were at the end of their leash, land wouldn't produce hay or crops any more, no money for fertilizer or diesel or equipment, so in a last ditch effort, they put electric fences across everything, sold the machinery and expected it magically to become productive and profitable overnight. The former are still successful farmers, the later bought a few more years before going completely out of business, and the list is long.

I'm sure there are organic farmers in the latter category as well, already virtually broke and unproductive, who can't afford the inputs to increase productivity, so making the switch would be a last ditch effort. With obviously expected results. Then there are those ( the majority from what I know) who were good managers to start with, and transitioned productive land into organic, sparing no expense in time and money along the way who make it work very successfully.