A corporate system of producing food is wrong. The idea that big is better and that the corporations are best suited to produce our food is wrong. The corporations sell us the idea that we would starve if not for corporate productivity. This is a myth. This myth is dangerous.
Corporate agribusiness is dangerous. It is dangerous because it strives always for material profit and control. Corporate agribusiness is usually focused on higher yields and ignores the long term costs of these higher yields.
Monsanto for example is a corporation on a quest to patent and control all seeds, trees and plants. Monsanto is a prime example of unfettered corporate greed. Monsantos thirst for profit and power is killing people. Monsanto is not the only monster hiding in our fields, but it is one of the meanest and greediest.
Corporate agribusiness is dangerous because it is an extraction industry. This industry takes from the land and never gives back. In the process, it poisons the land, the water, the air, the animals and the people. The corporate consumption and contamination of our natural resources cannot be sustained.
Corporate agribusiness is based on the assumption that nature, land, insects, disease and even the plants themselves can be manipulated and subdued. This is a false assumption. Working on this assumption is causing harm. There is a place for science and discovery in our agricultural system. But science must work with nature, not against it.
Sustainable agriculture differs from corporate agriculture because it recognizes that nature does not need to be subdued, it needs to be understood. Sustainable agriculturalists recognize that people are a part of nature and that people are healthiest and happiest when they live in harmony with the natural system.
THE SUSTAINABLE FARMING SYSTEM AT MESA FARM
I was born and raised in South Dakota, my roots are in family farming. Back in 1971 I came across a magazine published by Robert Rodale, "Organic Gardening And Farming". Robert recognized the impending demise of the family farm and worked to document many of the sustainable farming skills learned over generations. When I read the stories of the farmers I knew that I wanted to become a sustainable farmer. For the last 16 years I have had the great fortune to be living my dream. I work everyday to improve on the sustainability of the farm and to demonstrate the viability of the system.
We work with fifty acres at Mesa Farm. We have one 45' x 25' greenhouse. We use this greenhouse to grow our vegetable transplants and also for the production of early tomatoes and other assorted vegetables. We also have one 75' x 24' high tunnel. We produce early greens and lettuce in the warm protection of this structure and later turn it into a shade structure where we are able to produce greens and lettuce in the cooler environment it offers.
We have three acres of irrigated pasture where we grow the plants that provide substantial nutrients for the dairy goats. This pasture is maintained using a management intensive system. We use a net fence to enclose an area. The dairy goats are confined to this area. When the plants have been grazed to the optimal level, we move the fence and the goats to the next area. We move the goats several times each day. This management system mimics the natural system and serves to enhance the health of the pasture as well as the health of the animals. The goats are also allowed to free range on an additional area of brush and trees.
We also have a movable chicken coop. The movable chicken system follows the goats movement within the pasture. The chickens take nutrients from the designated area and then return nutrients to the pasture.
We have one acre that is dedicated to vegetable production. There are approximately thirty 325' rows within this one acre. We use the manure manufactured by the goats to feed the soil of the garden. We use drip irrigation to water the garden.
We have one acre of fruit trees. The orchard contains fifty fruit trees. Fruit is tricky around here, but if we are lucky we get some really tasty peaches and apples by mid summer.
The process of establishing a truely sustainable farm is amazing and the projects that we are working on and envision for our future are endless. There are many lessons and there is great beauty and peace available within a sustainable system.