On Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:30:16 -0400 Thomas Shelley <[email protected]>
writes:
Hows
> does one go about talking to a conventional farmer to get them to
> begin to think about a becoming an organic farmer?
For that matter, how does one go about talking to an 'organic farmer'
about the difference between that and sustainable agriculture?
After years of mostly failed attempts to address these questions at every
level from consumers to scientists, I am greeting the coming energy
descent as the heaven-sent helper that will make necessity the mother of
persuasion, solving the problem by gradually wiping out less sustainable
forms of agriculture.
I like to bear in mind that of the official count of 2 million US
farmers, most are too small to affect the food economy or way too large
to be sustainable in the future. That leaves a bunch of family-scale
farmers, most of whom are over age 50. The few new farmers, many of whom
drawn from non-rural backgrounds into organic farming, take decades to
adapt to the point where they have anything like the accumulated
experience of an unbroken generational line of farmers that are
practicing a form unsullied by agribiz and landgrant propaganda. That's
pretty scary. For weathering the future, I have higher expectations for
the semi-subsistence farming communities on the periphery of the
industrial world than for society here in the center of things.
Karl
Karl North
Northland Sheep Dairy, Freetown, New York USA
www.geocities.com/northsheep/
"Pueblo que canta no morira" - Cuban saying
"They only call it class warfare when we fight back" - Anon.
> Dear Friends--By conventional farming I mean the use of lots of
> chemicals--herbicides, pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, etc. Hows
>
> does one go about talking to a conventional farmer to get them to
> begin to think about a becoming an organic farmer? Or at least to
> not use Round Up and the like on everything in sight? Can anyone
> point me to Web sites, articles or other resources that would be
> useful to start such a dialogue? I realize this could be difficult
>
> because died-in-the-wool conventional farmers tend to be generically
>
> conservative and securely locked into the mind set of chemical use,
>
> thinking that this is actually a good thing. Any pointers would be
>
> greatly appreciated. Thanks. Tom
>
> ******************************************
> Tom Shelley
> 118 E. Court St.
> Ithaca, NY 14850
> 607 342-0864
> [email protected]
>
> Learn more about the Sustainable Chicken Project at
> http://steephollowfarm.wordpress.com/
>
> http://www.myspace.com/99319958 (Last updated 6/13/09.)
> http://www.facebook.com/129295929#/home.php (Last updated 6/13/09.)
>
> Compost Educator and Sustainability Scion*
>
> What Does Zero Waste Mean?
> "If it can't be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished,
> refinished, resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be
> restricted, redesigned, or removed from production."
> Berkeley Zero Waste Resolution
> See http://www.cityofberkeley.info/council8/newsletter.pdf
>
> *noun: a shoot or bud of a plant, esp. one for planting or
> grafting
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