There are external conditions which can be changed but until these
changes occur, not all situations can be salvaged. So work must be done
at two levels- the larger or global changes and specific interventions.
One simple issue is debt loading. Land trust and other models which take
the ownership of the land from an economic and not environmental
perspective, can do a lot to change the sustainability picture. Iwould
look at the theories of Henry George and others wrestling with this
issue. It is firghtening how fragile small farms are when confronted
with debt and yet how passionately ownership is maintained making
farmers both small businesses and giant speculators.
---------------
>Does the profitability deal with long term economics and quality of life on
> individual farms? Does the environmental aspect have to do with turning
> over farms and resources to future generations in better shape than we found
> them? And does the social aspects have to do in part with the vitality of
> communities because of a prosperous sustainable agriculture?
-------------------------------------------------
These are rhetorical? First, sustainability is dynamic. There is no
magic equilbrium on earth, anywhere except is the equations of some
model builder. the earth is changing and thus what we beleive to be
ecologically and economically viable will change over time. Even the
idea of "quality of life" changes from person to person. What was the
idyllic farm family during the 60's has changed in the 90's. The devil
is in the details. I don't think you can put 5 persons who farm in a
room and get the same answers to the questions today and have these same
answers remain constant over time.
> Isn't sustainable agriculture all about providing
> long term solutions for small farms?
-----------------------------
Family farms, small farms, sustainable farms are not all equivalent and
not all desirable by different folks. Even communities bound closely by
family and/or religious ties can't all agree. Do we now create "black
bumper" sustainers?
-------------------------------------------
Shouldn't we be arguing about the
> obstacles to moving the US livestock to a more sustainable system?
----------------------------------
We have low grain prices so we create livestock to eath the grain and
then we create consjumers to eat the meat and doctors to treat the heart
disease from the overeating of the meat which was raised to eat the
grain to keep the farmer on the farm. What's worng with this picture.
A person who lives by selling raw materials has to sell more to buy the
manufactured goods to meet a lfe style. As the demand goes up either
more must be sold or the prices go up driving the upstream prices higher
and not curing the problem. the raw material, commidity producer will
have to either get bigger or find a way to add value- beans to tofu, two
jobs or get bigger. raise the price of grain raises the cost of hogs
raises the cost of workers raise the cost of tractors
-----------------------------
I'm very
> proud of the fact that I support my family off from 100 acres with pasture
> hogs.
------------------------------------------------------
If I were you, I would be very proud too.
If you now expand your model, you now have to ask how many persons want
to have the lifestyle you have chosen and how many merchants in a town
can farmers such as yourself support? And all the other questions
surrounding the next generations.
----------------------------------------------
> >We see this at the country level where incomes are dependent on
> >extraction of minerals or agricultural commodities. Why should a farm be
> >different.
>
> Sustainable farms don't have to be mineral extractors.
-----------------------------------------------
Every unit of production carries minerals off the land, atom by atom.
the roots of the plants draw up micr nturients which are exported either
in the grain or the animals. Some is recyled, but if minerals were not
extracted, the food shipped off would be mineral deficient. More goes
off than just carbon hydrongen and oxygen. And erosion does occur. Care
can reduce but not eliminate.
------------------------------------------------
Even if I had
> 100% return from a soybean crop I still wouldn't come close to the income
> producing potential of pastured hogs. Pastured hogs over the average cycle
> hog cylce will NET more per acre than crop farms GROSS per acre.
---------------------------------------------------
Some farmers must be seeing a positive cashflow. Why?
-----------------------------------------------------
>
> The only solution the conventional farmers have found is expansion.
-------------------------------------------------------
this is not exactly a truism. I know several very large farm management
companies who have folowed organic farming developments and look
seriously at all the emerging practices. And today some of the largest
farms in the country are certified organic. if grass fed hogs prove to
be a viable option, you can bet the bottom line pencil pushers will be
looking at how to adapt these to managed operations. And from an
ecological perspective it is probably very good. What it means for the
small farmer is yet unknown. we are seeing many decentralized
manufacturing operations today. Even giant production lines can now
produce individual bicycles, suits of clothing etc.
I am not certain that the needs of ecologically sound agriculture and
the desires of a particular socio/economic life style have to be
incompatible. But I think creating limits as to the size of the
operation or other social constraints is an intellectual exercise that
may be raising false hopes for many, particjularly those with city mouse
tastes but wishing to have them supported on country mouse incomes.
That's the real challenge- particularly when the same infrastructure
demands are to be made for schools, hsopitals, roads etc. I don't see
such a model working when carried out in a systems view
thoughts?
tom
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with "unsubscribe sanet-mg".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".