The Beginning Farmer

Yesterday I ran across an interesting article on CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture) and the normal risks involved with farming in general. The article is titled, “When things go very wrong: Community Supported Agriculture and shared risk“, and is the cover article on the New Farm website. I thought it was a pretty interesting article detailing some of the risks involved in CSA’s and market garden farming. The idea is where does the “community support” come into the CSA? CSA’s are supposed to spread the risk out for the farmer by bringing in some money up front. But, what happens when disaster strikes at the farm?

That is a good question to ponder and there are probably lots of thoughts that could be kicked around. Many of the CSA farmers mentioned in the article said they didn’t really pass on all of the “risk” to their customers and did buy in food or refund money if there was something like a late frost or flood. But, that isn’t really what got me thinking after I read the article.

What got me thinking was the idea of a beef/pork/poultry/etc. based CSA. I know these exist in some places and there are something that I would be interested in learning more about. But, the main reason they interest me is the idea of spreading out the risk (and I don’t know how I really feel about that from a business standpoint). How would it work for people to buy shares of a beeve or pig? What would sharing the risk look like in that case?

Of course if you were going to give people a weekly subscription of meat then you would need plenty of storage of prepared cuts. On the positive I suppose you could do a better job of distributing all of the cuts and ground meat. Maybe…

So, what are your thoughts on meat/livestock CSA’s or CSA’s in general? I would love to hear what everyone thinks!

Thanks to a couple of chainsaws, our tractor, my wife, and a ton of help from my mother-in-law and father-in-law we made a LOT of progress on the farm this weekend. Before we would just spend a couple of hours out there doing little things and laying out our plans (needed to be done), but this weekend we got some serious work done on the fence lines and we couldn’t have gotten so much done without their help. As you can see from the “before” picture above and the “after” picture below there is quite a difference. Also, you need to factor in that the “before” picture was taken in the winter/early spring before the growth kicked in.

Despite the rainy weather on Saturday morning we were able to make it out to a mushy farm in the afternoon and get in about five hours of work. My wife and her dad started clearing the trees and the brush in the fence line that either didn’t have old fence in it, or in the places we had already pulled the fence. There was a lot of work to do in those old fence rows that haven’t been used for YEARS! My father-in-law would cut everything down and then my wife would stack it all in the ditch. Sometime after the brush dries out and compacts down we will come back through and clean up the ditches, but that is for another time … after we get a lot more done.

While they were doing that I went to finish pulling out the old fence. The section that was left was pretty short, but it was the most difficult to get out because it was wrapped around and in lots of trees and the wires were really buried underground. After lots of cutting (about ruined a pair of wire cutters) and pulling with the tractor I finally got it all out so we could go home and have supper!

Sunday was super hot and humid, but we didn’t get any work done on the farm because I spent the day going to graduation and the subsequent open houses … lots of good food …

Monday morning we were out at the farm in the morning and we got in about five good hours of work to finish a little more than a 1/4 mile of the fence line. The pictures don’t really do it justice because there was all kinds of brush, bushes, and trees that had to come down … maybe I should have taken some more pictures of the full ditches! It was great having the in-laws there because we were able to get so much done with the help of my father-in-law and with my mother-in-law watching the kids.

Now we are going to hopefully get some more family help soon, from my dad, and mow along the fence lines after we get the rest of the posts pulled. The mower will take care of some of the scrub and the tall grasses and then we should be good to go! Things are really starting to take shape and we are having a lot of fun…

I am passionate about farming and all that goes with it, but I also have a deep love, respect, and passion for the history of these United States. I am thankful for the life that I am able to live here and for the life and future my children will have. Despite the our complaints or fears this nation is and was built upon a strong foundation by those who have come before us. Memorial Day (or Decoration Day as it was known earlier) is a day to remember those that have fought and died for our freedom. It began as a day to remember those who fought to keep this country united and grew to honor all those Americans who died in battle on this soil and abroad. If you would like to read more about the importance of the day check out this article from Wikipedia.

The video below is of the reading of Sullivan Ballou’s letter from Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary. Many have probably heard hundreds of times just as I have, but it still tugs on my heart and mind every time I hear it.

Just a quick farm update this morning. Earlier this week we started pulling out some of the old hedge posts still in the fence row. This is pretty easy work with the loader and a chain, but it does take a little while as we move from post to post and hook up the chain. We are checking over the posts and saving back the ones that we think we can reuse. As for the old fence (three barb wired strands and some woven wire), that is just being pulled out and rolled up for scrap. Some of the better woven wire may end up being used on some grapes or berries or something, but for the most part it is pretty used up.

Today was supposed to be a big day of work, but 1/2 an inch of rain decided to elude the wisdom of our local TV weather forecasters so we are going to see if it dries up a little bit my lunch time. I doubt we will be able to plow up the garden like I had hoped to do, but most likely we will still be able to do some work tearing out fence and preparing for the new fence line. There are some trees to cut down and brush to clear before we can put up the new fence.

So, the weather has set us back a little, but we will have to just wait it out. Hopefully I’ll have some more updates next week with less rain! I know my wife is really excited to get the garden in!

For the most part this is a strictly farming blog. I write about my farming experiences, research, current events in agriculture, and even questions that I have. But, life has been dreadfully busy lately both at home, at the church, on the soccer field, and even at the farm! I can tell that it has been busy because here it is after 9:00 am and still haven’t posted yet today … and my hair is still wet from my shower! So, today I thought I would just take a moment to give an update on the unglamorous side of farming. In doing some research for an Epi-Log post the other day I came across a statistic that says over 52% of farmers work off the farm … I guess I’m just another statistic now!

Home – The house we live in now is on 6/10ths of an acre in town and serves dual purpose as our house and as our youth center. But, now it is for sale (by the church) so we need to make sure everything is spic and span. You can read about it on my wife’s blog, but basically I was up until 1:30 am on Wednesday (into Thursday) cleaning house for a showing on Thursday afternoon.

Church – This is a deceptive time of the church year. On one hand it seems like it should be winding down because our weekly youth meetings are ending (Sunday and Wednesday) and summer is right around the corner, but on the other hand Vacation Bible School is just a couple weeks away and so is a pretty big (for our town) Christian music festival. Always lots to do…

Soccer – The season is 10 weeks long and this year it has seemed twice as long for me because there is always pressing stuff that I could be doing somewhere else. I really enjoy coaching the girls and getting to know people in the community, but it has seemed like a long season. We are a slightly disappointing 5-6 right now, but have had to battle injuries, a girl missing games because of a college class, low numbers, and sharing some of our top players with track. Despite that I think we could still end up with the best season in school history.

Farm – We bought out the CRP earlier this week so we are now allowed to do anything we want on our land. I just wanted to go out a dig a hole because I could! Besides that we have started pulling out some old fence and fence posts that were still on the perimeter and I’m guessing we will be done with that after tomorrow if the sun comes out. We spent about 3 hours each day there on Wednesday and then again on Thursday doing some work and meeting with a couple people and it is finally starting to feel like things are getting done. We will clear out the fence rows and then I believe the fencing is the next big project … bye, bye money …

One of the readers over at the Epi-Log turned me on to an article/post from Grist.org (my first trip to the site). The post is by Tom Philpott and is titled, “Da yoots take over Maverick Farms”. In this short post Mr. Philpott, who is one of the founders of Maverick Farms, talks about something they are calling a “farm incubator”. There is a little video included in the article that mostly talks about CSA’s, but there is also an interesting link to the Farm Incubator and Grower Program on the Maverick Farms website. This is what I found most interesting … and a bit noble!

Basically they have created (or are refining/creating) an intensive two-year internship program that is hands on in planning, farming, marketing, and everything else. Then after the people have completed the program they receive help in finding land and building their own small-scale farming business. This whole incubator idea has been around in the business world for a while now, but it does seem like the perfect fit for the small-scale farming world.

I think this is a pretty exciting opportunity, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to jump in a car with my wife and two kids and join in the fun anytime soon. Nevertheless, this “Farm Incubator” idea made me think … shouldn’t all farms (especially the outside-the-box and successful ones) be “Farm Incubators”? Maybe not every farm will take on interns, I understand that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but shouldn’t they all take on this lofty goal of encouraging, preparing, and helping the future generation.

The fact that many farm kids left the farm in recent and past history has been kicked around a LOT on this blog in the posts and in the comments, so I won’t go into it in too much detail. But, I believe we need to make sure that our small-scale family farms are just like this “Farm Incubator” program, except we can use our own children. As a father of two I want to pass on my love of farming, my passion to work outdoors, my satisfaction in working in God’s creation, and my wonder in the beauty of the business and the workings of the farm to my children so that they can share in it also.

In order to do that I think we need to be deliberate in the steps we take to help our children. Get the involved in the work, not just from the age old, “there is work to be do so you better be doing it,” standpoint. But rather from the, “you can have ownership and input into this,” line of thinking. If we get our children involved, connected, and excited about what is around them on the farm then we can incubate the next generation of farmers! A lofty and noble goal…

**We are a little late because of the lack of power this morning…**

After the video I posted on Monday, my thoughts I posted yesterday, and the comments in both of the posts this article from the May, 2008 issue of “The Stockman Grassfarmer” comes at a great time. The article by Bud Williams (he has a recently new column in the publication) is titled, “Grass Farming Must Grow By Giving People What They Want”. Mr. Williams’ basic premise is spelled out plainly in the title, but he also concludes that there will always be a need/desire for the factory farms because that is what the people want.

In the article Mr. Williams asks,

“As a nation, we went from small farm to family farm to factory farm. How did this happen? Was it because of… Evil corporations taking advantage of us? A government conspiracy to keep food prices low? Cheap oil or any of the other things blamed? No, it was none of these things. It was caused by more people and people wanting more.”

I like the path that Mr. Williams is going down. I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist or glass half empty kind of guy and I do agree to a point that if people want to do factory farming because that is what they want to do it is okay. And I do agree that growth in the grass farming world needs to come from public demand for grassfed beef. People need to want it because of the taste, because of the environmental concerns, and because it is just natural.

But, with that being said I don’t think the answer is that simple. Evil corporations taking advantage of us … well, I might not go that far, but it is evident that big ag companies do work with the Universities to make sure their products get used. A government conspiracy to keep food prices low … not really a conspiracy, because it was totally out in the open, but keeping food prices low was the main thrust of what Earl Butts did. Cheap oil or any of the other things that are blamed … I’m all for cheap oil, bring it on! No really, sure that contributed to the industrialization of agriculture because now that oil is high we see things changing towards energy conservation.

One more thing, I don’t think we went from small farm to family farm to factory farm. Because the small farms were family farms. I think we went from subsistence only family farms to family farms that because of advancements could sell the extras and then to factory farms. The factory farms came at a time when a lot of America’s business was being ramped up so it isn’t like they became factory farms on their own.

The article continues with more good information and thoughts from Mr. Williams, but ends with the thing that I probably agree with the most,

“If we can’t change the factory farms at least we can supple the people who want grass-based products. Make a profit and enjoy what you do, then you can Smile and Mean it!”

Yesterday I posted THIS VIDEO from Montana. It was produced for a conference on food production and needs that was held in 2007. I don’t know what the outcome of the conference was, but I think this video provides a very compelling argument for changing the structure of our agricultural and food system. One thing that is clear to me after watching this video is that having locally produced food is not just about jobs for the farmers, but also about jobs for processors and sellers. If you haven’t had a chance to watch this yet carve out ten minutes today and watch it.

Here are a few more thoughts after watching the video a couple of times:

-This video is produced by and is about Montana, but I think you could easily insert Iowa or any other mainly agricultural state and come to the same conclusions. In fact I believe a system like this would be applicable in most of our country, even some of the more populated areas … with some differences of course.

-One of the craziest things about food in the United States is that if you grow/raise it in your state for human consumption it will most likely leave your state before it comes back to be consumed. Granted, I’m only 28 years old and only have an Associates degree … but, that just doesn’t make sense!

-In 1910 Montana farmers received 60¢ of the food dollar … now it is 7¢!?! I have heard this statistic in various forms and have commented on it in the past, but every time I see it is just blows me away. If I was a full-on commodity farmer I think it would be enough to drive me to depression. How have we let this happen to ourselves? How can we reverse the trend?

-“A lot of times we take on risks that maybe a normal business wouldn’t take on.” That was the quote from the farmer in the video. Yet, if you want to farm outside of conventional wisdom it is considered crazy?

Those are just some of my thoughts on the farming side of the video. I could go on and I do have some thoughts on the consumer side, but I think this is enough for today because it does have me stirred up. Watch the video! And then let us know what you thought.

It has been awhile since I have been over to the ATTRA website, but yesterday evening I was looking for some information on their site and I came across the video below. It was created for the Montana Governor’s Summit on Food and was pretty interesting. It is about 10 minutes long and I would say that it is well worth the time … if nothing else, but to make you think. Watch it if you get a chance and the let me know what you think. Tomorrow I will throw out some of my thoughts and observations.