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A farm to teach the world to live without oil
Rebecca Hosking, Daily Mail
Now my farm will help teach the world to live without oil, says woman who banished plastic bags from her town
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Non-farmers tend to romanticise agriculture. When I tell people I grew up on a small South Devon farm that has been in our family for seven generations, they picture an idyllic childhood spent gambolling with spring lambs and wandering through freshly cut hayfields on golden summer evenings.
Ours is a traditional livestock farm, worked for the past 50 years by my father and his brother, Phil, and, in reality, what farm life means to me is hard work bordering on drudgery. Dad says farmers are just ‘glorified lavatory attendants’.
I may not have especially fond memories of cleaning out steaming cattle barns, but I did have a wonderful childhood. It was the farm’s wildlife, rather than the cows and sheep, that fascinated me.
.. I was under no illusion that being a farmer would be easy, but last year’s fuel crisis, with oil prices continually rising, was a wake-up call for me.
Our costs went through the roof – animal feed, diesel for the tractors, agricultural contractor bills – but the biggest rise was in the price of fertiliser. We use very little chemical fertiliser, but many farms were driven to bankruptcy.
With this in mind, I decided to make one last BBC documentary to find out if, and how, modern farming could survive the 21st Century.
By seeking advice from experts, pioneer farmers and growers, I heard plenty of dispiriting news, but also discovered how nature holds the key to farming in a low-energy future.
All farms, even organic ones, run on fossil fuel, particularly oil. It powers the machinery and is used to create the fertilisers and pesticides on which modern agriculture is so dependent.
(15 February 2009)
Peak farm equipment?
James B. Kelleher, Reuters
Deere in the crosshairs as recession hits farmers
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… For 172 years now, [Deere & Co’s] products — with their leaping deer logo and distinctive green and yellow iron — have stirred something like love in the farmer’s breast. Generations have come to count on Deere’s plows, planters, tractors and harvesters to make their jobs a little easier.
Today, especially during the summer months, it is common to see small convoys of vintage Deere tractors, lovingly restored by retired farmers, popping and wheezing down rural roads in rallies that are rolling reminders of the brand’s appeal.
… With the [Department of Agriculture] estimating a 20 percent year-over-year decline in net farm income, [JP Morgan analyst Ann Duignan] declared “2008 ag machinery sales were likely a peak.”
… Confronted now by a slowdown in its key farming market, where sales of high-horsepower tractors and combines have risen by double digits for five years now, it is hard to see where the good news is likely to come for Deere in 2009.
(15 February 2009)
New frontier in Colorado agriculture, HOPS (audio)
Crop To Cuisine via GPM
In this episode of Crop To Cuisine, we take a look at a new frontier in Colorado agriculture, HOPS. Colorado is produces more beer than any other state, and more craft beer for that matter. But there is no hops industry in the state, which is weird considering Colorado’s great climate and landscape. Hops supplies have been falling in recent years, causing the price to skyrocket. But the new generation of farmer is here to fix the problem. The people from Rocky Mountain Hops share their plans for a burgeoning hops industry in Colorado. We also revisit this years Stout Month Homebrew Competition at the Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery. Nate Watkins of the Mountain Sun talks about the judging process, and we hear about the winning stout from the winning brewer, Don Blake.
For more information about our guests, additional resources on local food and agriculture, or some kickin’ recipes, visit www.croptocuisine.org. I’d like to know how you experience your food.
(14 February 2009)
