What is “Sustainable Agriculture”???

Assignment #1

Exploring the meaning of sustainable agriculture through

reading profiles of sustainable ag practitioners

Read 3 profiles from 3 *different* sources

For each profile:

1) Identify the person and profile source

2) Track down contact info

3) Describe several interesting things you learned from

reading the profile

4) Write 3 questions that you would like to ask the person if

you had a chance to meet them.

After considering the 3 profiles, your personal experiences,

discussion in class this week…etc., explain what

sustainable agriculture means to you.

“Illinois is blessed with many excellent farmers. Those

appearing in this publication do not constitute a complete

list. For the purposes of this book, parameters were placed

on the definition of “innovative.” There are many innovative

grain farmers in Illinois. They are characterized by a

willingness to try the latest technology, always pushing to

improve their production efficiency, and do an excellent job

of managing their operations. This book is not intended to

take anything away from them, but that was not the kind of

innovation sought out for this project. Instead, the farmers

included in this publication are engaged in alternative

entrepreneurial enterprises outside of (or in addition to)

conventional corn and soybean farming. Most are adding

value and marketing their products directly to consumers.

Most do not have off-farm jobs.”

Introduction

Farmers profiled in “A Different Field…”

> 1500 families are “members” of this CSA farm!

~ 50 CSAs profiled in this directory

Some of

these #s

seem hard to

believe !

4 weeks of produce from Good Hope Gardens CSA in 2010

Barefoot Gardens CSAJohn and Karen Curtis

Jack ErismanCurrently ~ 2500 acres

of grains, forages and

beef in Pana, IL

Student from a 4000 acre farm in MO inspects Jack’s air drill

“I think farming is

going in the wrong

direction” David

says. ”My grand

father told me, “If

you want to stay in

farming “you’ve got

to diversify”

David took this

advice to heart. Now

instead of looking to

get bigger he is

looking for

alternative crops and

products that he can

take on to make a

living-wage while

continuing to farm

on a smaller scale.

Hailing from small

vegetable farms, large

grain and livestock farms

and even larger ranches,

the 60 producers profiled

in The New American

Farmer, have embraced

new approaches

to agriculture.

They are renewing profits,

enhancing environmental

stewardship and

improving the lives of their

families as well as their

communities.

Terry Taylor’s

continuous NT corn

w/ hairy vetch system

in IL

Now 17 years after the Farm Crisis

Center was established each week

she still speaks with ~ 18 farmers,

mostly in the evening hours. Her

phone will ring, and in some cases

she will go to them. Sometimes she

will be the one to take the gun from

their hand.

Student in

the first class

I taught

IATP Food and Society Fellow 2002-2004

IATP Food and Society Fellow 2002-2004

What do all

of these

people have

in common?

innovation??Are they “early adopters” ?

adopt ≠ adapt

vs.$

innovation??stewardship

What is

?

Excellence in Agriculture

Interviews with 10 Minnesota farm families

who are stewards of the land, edited by

LSP founder Ron Kroese, with interviews

conducted by Patrick Moore, Doug Nopar

and Joe Paddock. 1988 - 105

pages. $5.00

Twilight Tour – Fall 2008

Allison Organic Research Farm

The passing of Norman Borlaug in fall 2009 led to an unplanned

investigation of his life including contrasting the message in

obituaries with his own words in historical interviews

Most farmers are using methods which do

not allow production flexibility. American

agriculture of the conventional type "works"

only when the throttle governing energy and

input flows is pulled all the way out. Farmers

lack the option of switching-either

permanently or temporarily-to an alternate

system that performs well when conventional

production is not profitable.

Paraphrased Robert Rodale quote that caught my attention back in the 80s

Imagine if you got in your car one

day and discovered that it could

only be driven with the gas pedal

all the way to the floor… you

might be able to get to your

destination really fast… if there

were no curves in the road, no

pedestrians out for a stroll, no

deer, no inclement weather…

Student: What is the future of the small

farm?

WIU Faculty: There will always be small

farms, but it will be difficult to impossible

to make a living from only the income

generated from a small farm. Off-farm

income such as teaching or driving a

school bus will be needed to augment

farm generated income.

This is not the way it needs to be!!!

• When individual farmers have

financial problems, it may be

reasonable to conclude that these

farmers are poor managers

• When most farmers have financial

problems, it is reasonable to

conclude that there are problems

with farm policy

Personal farm management problems

vs.

farm policy problems

Rather than recognize the failure of 5

million farms as a social problem, US

farm policies have been based upon

the belief that this was a personal

problem i.e., that farm failures resulted

primarily from bad management.

Rather than recognize and address

the deficiencies in the structure,

conduct, and performance of the farm

economy, most policies focused on

individual rather than group behavior.

Adoption of new technology by

individual farmers has been

emphasized with little regard to

implications for farmers as a

group.

Get big

or get

out!!

Plant fence

row to fence

row!

The

Russians will

buy all the

surplus!

God put the

worm in the

apple… man

took it out !!

EARL BUTZ

It is not possible to squeeze the cost of

production enough to consistently

generate a profit at all price levels.

Persistent below-cost of production market prices for corn and soybeans

Source: USDA ERS Web site

Policy Problem – Low Prices

$0

$2

$4

$6

$8

$10

$12

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

in 1

98

4-8

6 d

oll

ars

Corn

Soybeans

$26.32 in the year 2008

has the same "purchase

power" as $2.45 in the

year 1920.

http://www.measuringworth.com/

Most valuable bushel of wheat

during the last century

The

Stewardship

Spiral

Sustainable

agriculture