• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

A Farmers' Obligation

Help Support Ranchers.net:

P

PureCountry

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 25, 2005
Messages
2,684
Reaction score
0
Location
Edgewood, BC, moving to Hardisty, AB
Thought I'd share this here. I'm sure it will stir up some debate, but that's why I wrote it - to make people think about the consequences of our farming actions. I'm very tired of uneducated folk bashing farming, but I am equally tired of farmers saying there is nothing wrong with the way we farm, as if there is no room for improvement.

The folks at the Ethical Omnivore Movement liked this piece and published it on their site as a blog. They're a group of people promoting sustainable farms and farming practices. Feel free to let me know what you think.
http://www.ethicalomnivore.org/a-farmers-obligation/
 
Pure Country, your story is interesting. You got caught up in some hard times, surely not all of your own making (the bse deal was way more panic and mismanagement, trashing of science in favor of expediency, imo).

Something troubling to me is it appears too much of 'one size fits all' and the 'prophets' leading the charge in the "sustainable ag movement". Costly (assumption based on previous experiences on my part) worshops to teach others 'how to do it our way' sort of thing.

What is the definition of "sustainable" your group is using, and where did it originate? We see the term frequently in recent years, yet rarely a definition.

You may be a little young, but what I've observed from two previous generations, mine being G3 on this ranch ranch, with a young 'crop' of G6 growing along with the baby calves this spring, and reading of other families experiences, change has been the major constant factor in US agriculture virtually from the beginning. Not always for the better, but such a mix of experience, stories from the past, education in animal and plant sciences which has 'grown up' with the country, so to speak. I believe it is extremely rare to hear a farmer say "I'm going to do things the way I always have, like grandpa did". Few people with that attitude have survived through generations of 'hard times' which seem to come along fairly often.

No one is always right, but current emphasis on learning how to manage the land we have to work with, adapting practices with an eye always to improving the land while making a reasonable living raising quality food just makes sense to me. The varied soils, harsh climate, low precipitation, hot summer winds, and somewhat rugged terrain we have here in the upper mid-west dubbed 'TheGreat American Desert' many years ago, will not support the same management of the same crops as the southeastern USA, for instance.

And I weary of hearing the word "profit" being used virtually as a curse word! Whether it is a modest family farm, or one of the rare truly corporate farms, the need to make a profit is real. Without it, how are we to raise our families, let alone purchase the equipment and material necessary to carry on the business?

I don't mean this as argumetative, but covering some points rarely raised in what I read on this broad subject.

mrj
 
I agree FH, good thoughts mrj. I think some people get caught up and forget to see the big picture. Successful ranchers are by nature good stewards of the land and good caregivers to their stock. If they are not they are naturally weeded out and someone else will take their place. Good stewards and caretakers are always looking for ways to improve all facets of their operation. I weary of those that pound their drum saying we need to do this or that.... if it works for them that's great. But so often I see folks even around here that like to lecture on how to be profitable and ethical and yet they won't even give Ivomec to their cattle. I am one who thinks that it is not a matter of "wrong" vs. "right" with the way we farm, it's an evolving work in progress. People love the words "sustainable" and "profit". I tell you what, if what we were doing wasn't sustainable or profitable we would have been off this land generations ago and I think that applies to most of us on this board.
 
Being I'm short fused and Ill tempered under educated I ERASED EVERYTHING i WROTE After this spot. Calm Down Denny.
 
I always find it amazing how those unsustainable farmers keep improving their yields.......and feeding the planet. Shame on them. :roll: Let's chide them for working hard. Let's blame them for perceived overpopulation.

It also seems like much of the Alan Savory HRM material I've seen anymore has something about manmade global warming thrown in it. As with everything, they have the solution to it, of course. :lol:

Don't get me wrong. I think Savory and company have some good points, but not to the status that some hold him to.
 
I think I can sort of see both sides, and neither is 100% right or wrong.
Is it sustainable to be putting on evermore fertilizer on? Even when yields are higher seems like the price goes lower much of the time. They say the Ogalla is dropping fast, is it going to sustain continuous pumping?
I'm not in favor of starving a profit out of a cow even though I have grazed cattle all winter, Should I run so many cows that I use up all my grass in the summer so I have to feed all winter? I know some live where they have to feed all winter so it makes sense to use all the summer graze and put up feed but I can grow native range and not so good in the hay department. So have I found a version of "Sustainable".
I wonder if some of they way Grandpa did it maybe isn't the way to go. In this area some of the ranches are longer sustained then many farms.
 
It's funny people pay large amounts of money to go to seminars and workshops to listen to these types of speakers brag about how much money they make and save farming/ranching. If you knew they make this money speaking and putting these events on.

Not all of these ideas are bad and some work but several are regional or "here" things.
 
4Diamond said:
It's funny people pay large amounts of money to go to seminars and workshops to listen to these types of speakers brag about how much money they make and save farming/ranching. If you knew they make this money speaking and putting these events on.

Not all of these ideas are bad and some work but several are regional or "here" things.
Click to expand...

There's lots of Experts once they get 50 miles from home..

My favorite here was a couple that did a speaking engagement at a pasture walk. The had 30 cows did the intensive grazeing speech then come to find out both work for the federal government making $80,000 each per year telling full time farmers how easy it is yeah right. Maybe a job in the oil field would help my ranching income.
 
We all know some "experts" but what about the guys that are rotational grazing a couple thousand yearlings? Is he blowing smoke?
I think what PC was getting at is the farms that are shortening rotations covering up problems with chemicals. How many corn growers have Alfalfa in the mix anymore? They had to legislate a three year rotation for potatoes in Prince Edward Island because of disease in potatoes.
One side has the "experts" and the other side has the money of the chemical companies to buy advertising in every farm paper and some even put out their own publications. What about somewhere in between?
Some say we can't do it like Grandpa but do you think G'pa wouldn't use Ivomec if he had it? It was so much fun running cattle through the dip tank or watching them fail every spring to warbles. Or die from Blackleg for the want of a cheap vaccine.
I've been to the meeting where a guy from Arizona shows up in southern Sask in the dead of a tough winter wearing white pants and penny loafer shoes trying to tell guys they should just let the cows run loose and live off of the "survival of the fittest" and just shook my head but I did learn a couple of things that I could use. Woe the person that can't learn something from somebody, even if how not to do something.
 
Read my last line. I try to take something from each of those events I attend, but to call farmers and ranchers out that are making a living doing it their own way is not right IMO. More than one way to skin a cat.
 
Something to think about, Sustainable is a word tht is sometimes over used. I believe it is proper to produce all we can, but without gluttony or waste. It is difficult to find a balance between what we need and what we can produce and still assure we have what we may need at some later time. I believe though, that he who planed all things has found a way to put back what we have used I have observed and studied our native prairie, how many years has it sustained itself?
 
You're right Clarence, the word Sustainability is over used and the definition seems to change with who is using it.
The Global Round Table on Sustainability had major sponsorship from Dow and Elanco. You mentioned the native prairie, Dow would like everybody to "Increase" their grass with the use of Grazon. It might increase your grass but what about the forbs and the Western Snow Berry and wolf willow and the trees in the coulees that provide homes for wild life, Slow the wind, catch snow and in the case of Wolf Willow fixate nitrogen.
 
Big Muddy rancher said:
You're right Clarence, the word Sustainability is over used and the definition seems to change with who is using it.
The Global Round Table on Sustainability had major sponsorship from Dow and Elanco. You mentioned the native prairie, Dow would like everybody to "Increase" their grass with the use of Grazon. It might increase your grass but what about the forbs and the Western Snow Berry and wolf willow and the trees in the coulees that provide homes for wild life, Slow the wind, catch snow and in the case of Wolf Willow fixate nitrogen.
Click to expand...

That would depend entirely on where you live and what your local conditions are. Which gets back to it being hard to paint anything as "unsustainable" with one brush.
 

Latest posts

Top