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Steve Ela is an organic fruit grower in western Colorado who relies on compost to nourish his heirloom tomato crop each year. Ela knows first-hand how central compost is to his organic farm—and all organic agriculture. But he’s concerned that a new proposal to rewrite U.S.
A few days ago I had the distinct pleasure of spending time with Andy Caygeon Junkin, author of Stubborn and guru of succession and restorative farmfamily harmony. His main mission is to save familyfarms by helping them work together better. Only dimwits would want to take a dead-end commercial conventional farm.
In the months before Patrick Brown was born in November 1982, his father, Arthur, lay down on a road near the familysfarm to prevent a caravan of yellow dump trucks from depositing toxic soil in his community. Patrick currently operates Brown FamilyFarms on the land that Byron worked as a sharecropper once he was freed.
Plants welcome me in their leafy grace, As part of a process, essential to embrace. I confess to being a recovering engineer, but this is a useful way to conceptualize an invisible process that’s happening in crop fields and in pastures. Our familyfarm in Northeast Iowa with 3% SOM in the top six inches has about 67,000 lbs.
Farm Hounds Familyfarms often struggle to stay profitable as agriculture becomes more concentrated. There were 141,733 fewer farms in the US in 2022 than in 2017, according to the Census of Agriculture. Like the hog tails, hides, organs, and hooves that aren’t always suitable for compost. Farm Hounds jerky.
Together, last spring we visited both rural and urban farms like Kern FamilyFarm in the Sierra Foothills, and Red H Farm and Singing Frogs Farm in the North Bay. Project collaborators Sara Tiffany (left) and Cole Rainey (right) partition soil samples by depth at Singing Frogs Farm.
Treehouse Almonds sources nuts from roughly 50,000 acres in California’s Central Valley, and Gardiner’s familyfarm provides about 20,000 of them. The farm has changed a lot since his grandfather ran it and grew tomatoes and potatoes. Photography courtesy of Burroughs FamilyFarms. Sheep grazing in almond groves.
Through their Resource Center programming, the Alliance offers trainings and workshops; volunteer and labor support; compost, tools, and equipment; and capacity building grants. They also bring local government leaders together to develop plans that integrate urban agriculture into city planning processes.
Despite the resilience of family [farms], the mega-trend is undeniable,” says Raudabaugh. Despite competing for land and water, the region’s orchards and milk farms have developed an unlikely partnership, says Sumner. And because the fresh fluid is costly to transport, dairy processing is highly regional, says Sumner.
The program will increase access to necessary farm equipment for health soil practices, on-farm conservation practices, storage, and processing. The program will also offer essential technical assistance to farmers around the maintenance of tools, tool demonstrations, and developing farm cooperatives.
On a sunny afternoon in September 2021, Michael Langford was moving compost with his compact John Deere. The front bucket was half full as he drove the tractor forward on a gentle slope of his 10-acre produce and poultry farm in Greensboro, Georgia. Suddenly, the 53-year-old felt a tire slip under him. “I
At Fifth Crow Farm, she has obtained NRCS funding to plant native hedgerows which she intends, “to provide habitat and travel corridors for beneficial insects and pollinators.” She also employs cover crops, composting, and reduced tillage. The farm is profiled along with other conservation-minded farmers here.
In the race to reduce such food waste, some farmers are turning to technologies to conserve resources and cut losses before produce even leaves the farm. They are using composting systems and anaerobic digesters to turn waste into fertilizer for the next planting. My farm routinely has trouble finding workers,” he wrote.
Language around streamlining the process for establishing interim practice standards, assessing the potential for mitigating emissions, and allowing for greater regional variability is especially appreciated. However, NSAC is disheartened to see no reference to establishing composting as a national practice standard in the RPFSA.
The Perry’s also source manure from neighbouring feedlots to compost and mix into the soil. They wouldn’t go to the processing plants. It supplies our farm with electricity needs — and three times as much.” The excess energy is then sold directly back to the Alberta electrical grid system.
At the same time, the US is losing small and mid sized familyfarms at a rapidly increasing rate. Many practices can lower a farm’s greenhouse gas emissions, including alternative manure management techniques and the use of renewable energy. The effects of climate change on farmers are becoming ever more apparent.
Add to the mix a profoundly divided Congress and big challenges around addressing the climate crisis and hunger facing the country, and it becomes clear why this year’s farm bill process has faced additional stumbling blocks. The National FamilyFarm Coalition and Rural Advancement Foundation International support this bill.
Add to the mix a profoundly divided Congress and big challenges around addressing the climate crisis and hunger facing the country, and it becomes clear why this year’s farm bill process has faced additional stumbling blocks. The National FamilyFarm Coalition and Rural Advancement Foundation International support this bill.
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