I think we have to get past the corn, soybean, and green paint mentality in
the US if we really want to talk about sustainable agriculture. I think its
great to discuss the benefits of organic and sustainable vegetable
production. That has to be an intregal part of a sustainable agriculture
system. But should there really be any question on the need of management
intensive grazing as the cornerstone of sustainable livestock production?
Best wishes,
Greg Gunthorp
Free range hog farmer
PS Raising swine that act like ruminants on managed pasture and proud of
it! Let's hope they don't shut me out of the conventional market because I
still have colored and endangered breeds of pigs. (They claim they have to
skin all the colored pigs and they "skin" me on yeild on them!) I've
finally got some sows around here that will consistently have litters of
pigs with no gestation feed other than pasture and a mineral feeder. Just
to agitate, it kind of shoots holes in Dennis Avery's theory of confinement
pigs will save the rain forest because of increased feed efficiency. But
hey, isn't this board about unscientific attempts to ruin the agribusiness
industry. Couldn't resist that one. *grin* I don't have a job that relys
on towing the corporate line. Ain't it fun to not be a slave to the system?
Well thats enough of being on the lunatic fringe for one day. Hope I
didn't offend too many. Political correctness isn't getting us too far.
The farms are disapearing. Me and one other are going to be the last of the
independant hog farmers on my side of the county. The guy at the buying
station estimates 60% loss of hog farmers in our area from the latest crash.
The push for an industrial agriculture is grand! Take out the hogs and the
milk cows and my rural community is history. I'm afraid we are down to the
last generation of family farms unless something changes. I'm not sure the
sustainable agriculture movement started soon enough.
On a happier note, My wife and I and a few others in our sustainable ag
group start at the new Green City farmers market in Chicago next month. It
was started at the request of the chef collaborative in Chicago. Its going
to be all organic and natural foods. Anybody else going?
-----Original Message-----
From: Floyd Johnson <fjohnson@cillnet.com>
To: sanet-mg <sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu>
Date: Sunday, May 23, 1999 2:18 AM
Subject: [Fwd: No-till (Formerly FW: Farmers Part of the Global
WarmingSolution)]
>We are always talking about black and white which one is right. Does any
>one think maybe gray is the right answer? Steve mentioned that the
>moldboard plow has done a lot of damage, but is our only alternative
>No-Till? Could a shallow disking do the job? Just curious!
> Floyd
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