DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know that grazing wheat or alfalfa stubble with goats reduces wheat and alfalfa pests the following year? Who knew?

Did you know that grazing animals on certain forages can reduce the intestinal worm burdens sufficiently that medications may not be needed? Who knew?

Well, my Grandfather, for one.

Did you know that grazing animals on harvested fields can reduce fertilizer requirements the next year significantly? Who knew?

My other Grandfather . . . and just about every living person born prior to 1945.

I smile at some of the research being generated by S.A.R.E. (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education). Not because it is wrong, but because they are discovering what almost every person knew when most people lived on small farms.

When the federal government subsidized corporate farms following WWII they killed the small farmer. Then as the corporate farms plowed from fence row to fence row, dumped on petroleum based fertilizers, destroyed natural habitat for productivity, and in general turned food production into agricultural factories we are discovering that this doesn’t work.

Farming is basically a nurturing process. It works best when there is a love for the land, an understanding of the natural order, and the patience to live in that world. Unfortunately this nurturing process is often pitted against millions of dollars.

Growing animals that fertilize the crops that feed the animals (including humans) is as important as growing crops that feed the animals that fertilize the crops. Growing more than one crop, rotating them, and including animals in the products enhances the health of the land, the plants, the animals, and the humans.

I applaud S.A.R.E. for their efforts. However, the efforts are doomed until public policy ends subsidies for large farms and provides incentives for the small nurturing activities. These can only succeed if we decentralize food production and processing. The big money will see to it that that never happens.