So my thought is that there might be a role for the cooperative organizations
to grab a hold of. The Granges are one. Another is cooperatives organized
through the Ag Extension Services in each county of each state. Hence by
pooling resources the cost per farm would be highly reduced.
Is there anyone out there already doing this?
My role in agriculture is not really that one though I understand what is
going on. I am more of a chemist that has performed many pesticide analyses in
food and environmental areas. Groundwater transport in karst areas has been my
specialty area for the past 5 years, and I have done atmospheric transport,
too. If there are any organizations that need some consulting in this area,
let me know; I need the salary at this time...
Dave Kurtz,
Sr. Research Associate in Environmental Chemistry
Pesticide Research Laboratory
University Park, PA 16802
814-863-4436 FAX: 814-863-0845
email: Dave_KURTZ@AGCS.CAS.PSU.EDU
_______________________________________________________________________________
From: Tom Armstrong on Wed, Aug 30, 1995 23:23
Subject: Re: High Tech and the Family Farm -Reply
To: sanet-mg@amani.ces.ncsu.edu
> For the social aspects, precision farming is essentially no different
than
> the housing and related technologies that made large-scale poultry and
> swine production possible, i.e., it may help to make the large-scale
> systems workable (in a context of cheap energy and social harmony). As
> such it can be expected to continue the trends toward the elimination of
> families in farming and decline of rural communities. Right now,
> precision farming technologies are very expensive and are not
> economically feasible for the average family farm. Those who will
> benefit from the technology will most likely be the suppliers of
> see no reason to believe that this would not lead to continued erosion of
> the social foundations of agriculture as I see little or no room for small
> and medium scale farm units in this technology.
> I am not yet convinced that public funds should be used to promote this
> technology as there should be a great deal of incentive for commercial....
I am a fourth generation family farmer.
This is the first year I have not planted a crop since 1961.
I farmed over 100 acres of CCOF Certified organic land since 1990
As an organic farmer I was required to keep specific records of inputs to
each field. I found this very complex, my system was far from perfect.