The official newsletter of the Land Stewardship Project
MAY/JUNE 1996 VOL. 14, NO. 2
EDITOR'S NOTE:
With this edition of the Land Stewardship Letter, we begin a series of occasional articles on farmers who are using Holistic Resource Management (HRM) to guide their operations. Each article will focus on a different aspect of HRM from the perspective of practitioners. In this issue, we are looking at goal-setting and family communication, the foundation of a successful Holistic Resource Management strategy.
Future issues will examine the holistic decision-making process, wealth generation, biological planning and monitoring of progress. We will also report on the management teams HRM alumni have formed to help them stay on track toward reaching their goals.
We're fishing for your thoughts on sustainable agriculture, sprawling development, the environment or anything else you see discussed in the Land Stewardship Letter. We welcome letters and commentaries (all submissions must be signed and include a telephone number; we reserve the right to edit for length and clarity).
Contact:
Brian DeVore, Editor
Land Stewardship Letter
2200 4th Street
White Bear Lake, MN 55110
Tel. (612) 653-0618
Fax: (612) 653-0589
E-mail: Brian.A.Devore-1@tc.umn.edu
Participants in the Bongers Farm proposal are looking for a farmer to come onto the land this fall and start dairying by next spring.
For information on applying for the farmer position, contact:
•Todd Lein (507) 645-9036
•Nancy Falkum, Nature Conservancy's Faribault office (507) 332-0525
•Jim Erkel, Nature Conservancy's Minn. office (612) 331-0756
Holistic Resource Management can help maintain the ultimate agricultural balancing act: people, land and capital.
By Brian DeVore"But lo! Men have become the tools of their tools."
-- Henry David Thoreau, Walden
There's little doubt Mr. Thoreau wasn't big on having a lot of extra gadgets laying around his modest home on Walden Pond. But what would that cranky 19th century minimalist have thought about an 18-foot gooseneck livestock trailer being pulled by a four-wheel-drive pickup truck?
When Tom and Irene Frantzen bought such a rig in 1982, they considered it a necessity for getting livestock such as hogs to market on a regular schedule. But a couple years ago, the northeastern Iowa farm family came to a harsh realization: the truck and trailer were taking more resources from the farm than they were giving back. From an economic point of view, operating the setup was costing more than $1 a mile bÔecause of high maintenance. It was also diminishing another valuable resource on the farm: the family's quality of life. Tom hated auto maintenance chores about as much as the three Frantzen children disliked cleaning out the trailer. Finally, time spent working on and driving the truck-trailer rig was time away from managing the farm. The Frantzens raise crops and livestock on 336 highly diverse acres using management-intensive, sustainable methods.
After considering all these factors, the family got rid of the setup and now hire all of their livestock hauling done.
"Now the minute we have that trailer gate closed, we turn to managing the farm," says Tom.
They replaced the hauling rig with a cart that's pulled behind a tractor. It's used to transport livestock to parts of the farm that provide good grazing but were too out-of-the way before to be utilized. At first glance, it may appear that the Frantzens simply traded one tool for another. But the way the family sees it, they dumped a tool that was getting in the way of sustainability for one that's helping them reach that goal. The new cart helps add value to the farm through better utilization of grass (and thus solar energy). Grazing also makes more efficient use of the family's time.
Considered separately, all the factors surrounding the way the Frantzens had been handling livestock may not have led them to make changes (sorry, but an aversion to pitching manure out of a trailer doesn't tip the scales by itself). But the family did something that isn't common on modern farms when a major decision is being wrestled with: they put quality of life and ecological sustainability on the same level as financial health. As a result, when considered as a whole, it became clear the use of the truck and trailer weren't helping them reach the goal of being economically, socially and environmentally viable.
That conclusion came after the family sat down and ran the usefulness of the setup through a unique decision-making process called Holistic Resource Management (HRM). Tom says for the past four years, HRM has proven to be an invaluable ally in helping the family take a look at the farm from a big-picture perspective and then determining which tools are helping them make it sustainable, and which are getting in the way.
Perhaps Thoreau wouldn't understand a trailer with a goose's neck, but he'd surely approve of a system that takes a hard look at the necessity of such a tool.
In general terms, Holistic Resource Management is a process of determining what resources are available, establishing a clear goal and then making decisions based on seven "testing questions." A user of HRM constantly monitors progress being made toward the goal, making adjustments along the way to help reach it. HRM is no silver bullet for failing farms. In a way, it is nothing more than a tool for using tools.
"I look at HRM a lot like a computer," says Brian Schultz, who uses the management tool on his southern Minnesota crop and livestock farm. "It really doesn't do anything new. It just puts it in a format that more people can use."
A recent cartoon in one of those glossy, urbane magazines captured the essence of what happens when people begin thinking holistically. It shows a disheveled man explaining his situation to a woman: "No, I like my job. I like my apartment. I like my friends. I like our relationship," he says. "I'm just not sure I like what it all adds up to."
Figuring out ways of paying attention to "what it all adds up to" is the central thesis of Holistic Management. In the world of HRM, everything -- from a family member to a field to a watershed -- is part of a greater whole. Thus, any decision that affects one aspect of this whole, has some kind of impact on the rest. "Holistic" is a philosophical term with Greek origins, and is often mistakenly thought to have religious, "new age" connections. Frankly, if it had been spelled "whole-istic," there would probably be a lot less confusion.
HRM has captured the attention of proponents of a more sustainable food and fiber production system in recent years because of its ability to help farmers through the tough decision making required to step out of the mainstream. Its creator, Allan Savory, did that back in his native Zimbabwe while trying to figure out a way to balance economics and social needs with protection of southern Africa's wilderness.
Savory imported this philosophy to America in the early 1980s, and until relatively recently it has been used mostly by western cattle producers looking for ways of profitably grazing fragile range lands. Savory is a proponent of using a resource available to all farmers and ranchers -- solar energy -- as efficiently as possible. It's no surprise then that many of the early HRM practitioners used planned grazing, a method of livestock production that rotates animals among paddocks so they can harvest their food and spread their manure in a more natural, low-input way. As HRM spreads in the Upper Midwest, it brings with it that emphasis on elements of sustainable grazing methods.
But HRM and grazing are not inseparable. Grain farmers, fruit and vegetable growers and even timber producers are using the decision-making model. People concerned about stemming sprawling growth and using land in a more sustainable manner find HRM to be a valuable tool. In fact, enterprises such as colleges and at least one ballet company have also adopted this management philosophy.
But one of the most exciting uses of Holistic Management is in the realm of sustainable agriculture. One significant shortcoming of modern farming is the tools of production often become barriers to sustainability. An example of this is when the extra profit a bigger tractor is supposed to produce through increased productivity gets eaten up by its high initial cost and maintenance expenses. This also happens when a new herbicide increases yields but reduces the quality of life of family members and their neighbors by damaging the environment. In one sense HRM can be an enforcer of one of the golden rules of sustainable agriculture: the solution to one problem should not create new ones along the way.
But farms are complicated organisms, and to realize how one decision can impact everything from profitability to time spent with children to water quality miles downstream requires the ability to look at the operation as a whole, rather than as a series of independent enterprises.
When making decisions, HRM practitioners do just that by taking into account people, capital and their natural resource base. That recognition of the value of all resources on an operation is crucial for families working to stay on the land and pass it on to subsequent generations, says Barry Kurtz, a farm business management instructor in southeast Minnesota. He recently took an HRM course because many of his clients were using it.
Kurtz says too many times quality of life issues such as family relationships are overlooked in an attempt to keep a farm financially viable. But to be truly sustainable, an operation cannot separate its cash flow and water quality from a family's ability to communicate.
"I think farm families are going to have to think about it that way if they are going to survive," says Kurtz. "The large farmers are going to be so competitive I think that small farmers are going to have to become efficient by taking everything, the whole, into account."
By Jim VanDerPol
Can you make a decision that is economically sound but socially wrong or unacceptable?
Allan Savory, creator of the principles of Holistic Resource Management (HRM) was quizzing the 100 or so farmers, agency bureaucrats and interested citizens who had gathered recently in Alexandria, Minn. The crowd buzzed for awhile, a few yeses were heard, then some nos. Eventually the nos began to drown out the yeses and someone yelled out: "only in the very short term.
Savory then asked: Can you make a decision that is socially right or acceptable, but wrong for the environment?
The crowd, catching on quicker, responded with a resounding "no."
The reason, of course, is that HRM assumes that all human actions are involved with human values, and even more startling, that the health of the land depends on us to act upon our values. This, if you think about it, is one of those truths we should be hearing more about in church.
HRM insists that resources, including land, must be managed as a whole and toward a goal. The goal is in three parts: 1) what quality of life is desired by all people involved; 2) what the land should look like in the future, (seven generations down the line); 3) and the forms of production that will support that quality of life and that future landscape.
Managing toward that goal means becoming very intentional about every detail and every dollar spent. Every action must move you closer to the landscape and quality-of-life goal. It is a daunting task, and a fascinating one.
Savory's view of the significance of the land is truly breathtaking. It is pretty much unheard of, at least in my experience. His presentations started with several slides listing most of the afflictions of mankind, many of them connected with Africa, which is his birthplace, but increasingly applicable here in the U.S. The list included: hunger, crime, epidemic illness, illiteracy, social breakdown, centralization of power, weakening democracy, violence, erosion, siltation of waterways, war, overcrowding, sharp class distinctions, lack of shelter, rural poverty and urban drift. All of these Savory claims to be a direct result of the degradation (desertification) of the land and the life on it. For Savory, biodiversity is the keystone to a healthy land. He claims that America is desertifying faster than Africa, due both to erosion and our insistence in agriculture upon large monocultures. Monocultures destroy diversity. For anyone who insists that the ecological health of our land is getting better and not worse, Savory asserts that we are simply hiding the truth from ourselves with heavier doses of fertilizers and fuel.
So, can a sound economic decision be bad for the society? No. If it is, it is not sound. Can a good social decision be bad for the environment? No, for without a healthy environment, society ceases to be. So, can a good economic decision be bad for the environment? No, it cannot. This insight, if it is logical, and it seems to me that it is, has far reaching implications for American agriculture. It means we must change our view of what constitutes a good economy. Also, it requires that we pay attention to how we produce our crops as well as how we care for our livestock. We will need to mind our neighbors. And these neighbors are more than the folks next door: they are the community.
When thinking holistically, whole groups of unheard of questions spring to mind. Is this action, building, expense, good for the land? For the family? For the neighbors? Will it bring me closer to or farther away from the goal? Is annual cropping going to continue to be possible or worthwhile? Can animals be safely separated from the land? Can people? How many wild things can we destroy?
I am with Savory. I think we should stop treating economics as if it were a religion, and start making our economic decisions as if we had values. In the long haul, I can't see that we have much of a choice.
Jim VanDerPol farms with his wife LeeAnn near Kerkhoven, Minn. They've used Holistic Resource Management since 1993.
By Susan Maas
My spouse and I just bought a home. If many of our friends hadn't done the same recently, I'd worry that we were boring them all to tears: it's all we talk about lately. A year ago I'd have ridiculed someone for behaving as we do these days Ü triumphing over estate sale bargains, searching for the perfect curtain rod, haunting the aisles of Target with that glazed-over "I'll just charge a few more little things" look. I don't expect to be consumed by this stuff forever, but for the moment, it's fun. We've just made a formal commitment to our own little piece of Minneapolis, and now is sort of like the honeymoon period.
So if you ask us about our house, we'll happily talk your ear off. We can tell you when it was built, who lived in it before, and what a wonderful urban neighborhood it's in. But the question we seem to get most often isn't about the house or the neighborhood. It's about something that, to us, was virtually an afterthought. People ask, "So, do you have a big yard?" We've heard that question -- or variations of it -- five or six times now, and it's starting to get on my nerves.
No, we don't have a big yard. And the question isn't annoying because we wish we did: We don't. Neither of us yearns for more grass to mow come spring. The question is annoying because it implies that we should want a big yard. The spacious-lawn-as-status-symbol concept hadn't really occurred to us when we went house-hunting in the city.
We live in an older neighborhood, built before most Americans became obsessed with surrounding themselves by acres of personal space. Early in this century, before the plague of suburban sprawl, people chose to dwell in the city or the country.
Living sort of in the city, and vaguely trying to simulate the country by taking up unnecessarily huge tracts of terrain, was not an option. Now it's the fashionable thing to do for the middle class. It's no longer enough to walk a few blocks to the park for a therapeutic dose of green space; that requires effort, and you may have to interact with others. Better, if possible, to inhabit your own, private "park": the expansive, chemical-fed, greener-than-thy-neighbor's lawn.
When I was in college, a professor of mine asserted that lawns came into existence when medieval European nobles set out to flaunt the fact that they owned so much land they didn't need more than a fraction of it for growing food; planting acres of grass was the ultimate display of extravagance. Perhaps those lawns have their direct descendants in the 5-acre lots of outer-ring Twin Cities suburbs like Corcoran and Woodbury. Since the 1970s, lots for new, single-family homes have grown ever bigger and more impressive: While the average inner-city lot size is about 5,000 square feet (plenty of room for a child's swing-set and a barbecue party), new lots in outer-ring suburbs are typically 3 to 5 acres or more.
And these precious parcels of privacy are often created at the expense of agriculture. As the last issue of the Land Stewardship Letter pointed out: roughly three acres of Minnesota farmland is lost to development every hour. Struggling farmers can hardly be blamed for selling out to developers; it's usually harder and more costly for them to resist such seemingly inevitable "growth." What replaces farms (permanently, of course) are $300,000 houses on lots that, as they say, "are too large to mow and too small to plow."
It seems ironic that in an era in which most people are ecologically conscious enough to recycle, and small farms and genuine wilderness are dying resources, the presumptuousness of one family taking up so much space goes virtually unquestioned. Where does that sense of entitlement come from? It's sort of like two people walking into a restaurant and demanding a table for six. And it certainly doesn't square with many Americans' professed desire to restore "a sense of community." It's got to be hard to get to know your next-door neighbors when you can't even see their house from yours.
I'm not some neo-Bolshevik urging everyone to burn their possessions, eat granola and move to a commune, although I'll take one of those over North Oaks any day (North Oaks is a Twin Cities-area suburb with no designated public property; you're trespassing if you walk down the street there). I respect -- I bought into -- the idea that individuals should be able to have a tangible stake in the city in which they live. The American dream of owning a home, and yes, a yard, is as important to me as it is to the Joneses in DeephavenƒI just don't understand why the Joneses' yard has to be so bloody huge.
Incidentally, my husband and I will be needing a lawn mower -- preferably used, and cheap -- soon. If anyone calls with such an offer, I hope they don't mind leaving a message on our machine. We'll be at the park, hanging out with the neighbors.
Land Stewardship Project member Susan Maas and her husband, Steve Scofield, recently purchased a home in south Minneapolis with a yard just big enough to string a clothesline.
Minnesota's property tax system isn't the only cause of wasteful, sprawling development, but it deserves much of the blame, say two public policy experts. It's also the kind of issue that intimidates citizens interested in stemming the tide of inefficient land use.
"The complexity of the tax system makes it difficult to have conversations on it," Pam Neary, a former Minnesota state legislator from Afton, told some 100 participants in an April 2 meeting at St. Paul's Landmark Center. The meeting, which also featured tax law expert John James, was sponsored by the Land Stewardship Project's 1000 Friends of Minnesota program. Co-sponsors were the Landmark Series and the St. Paul League of Women Voters.
Neary and James said that anyone interested in the urban sprawl issue must learn to understand the tax system and how it affects land use decisions. James said it's not the property tax system per se that's the problem, but rather the way it is administered. It often has little to do with a property owner's ability to pay, he said. For example, the average tax per dollar value of apartments is more than three times as high as the average tax dollar of value of owner occupied homes valued at $72,000 or less. Apartment taxes are paid largely through the rent of the tenants, and the average tenant earns less income that the average homeowner. Although the property tax on rental properties should be higher because of their ability to generate income for their owners, the rate is now so high that it deters the upkeep of property and the establishment of affordable housing, said James.
Neary said that because of federal and state funding cuts, local communities are forced to rely on property taxes as their major source of income. Thus, a situation has been created where communities only seek out development that will increase the property tax base, such as sprawling expensive homes.
Neary said communities must develop comprehensive plans that make them less reliant on the tax revenue created by sprawl. They must also recognize that people who take advantage of tax laws and other regulations to develop in open areas aren't necessarily the main culprits.
"They're not cheating at the game. They are simply playing the game we set up," she said. "To villainize any one player in the community totally misses the point."
The new farm bill is flawed, but it holds promise for sustainable ag
By Brad DeVries
The 1996 farm bill isn't a perfect piece of legislation by a long shot. For example, it pretty much excludes farmers who haven't been growing "program" commodities such as corn, but instead have opted for diverse, soil-building rotations that utilize forages and other cover crops. It also fails to close loopholes that allow large landowners to collect more than their share of federal payments and it does not target payments to the small and medium-sized operations that need them most.
In short, the new federal agricultural policy eliminates one of the most important elements of the old program -- payments that provide a safety net for farmers in years of low commodity prices -- while keeping one of the worst aspects of the old program -- disproportionate and practically unlimited payments to the biggest operators. This will likely fuel consolidation of land ownership.
But thanks to the efforts of the sustainable agriculture community (and a smidgen of good luck), the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act, commonly referred to as the Freedom to Farm Bill, is not the worst thing to be launched from inside the Beltway either. Signed into law on April 4, this law provides fixed, declining payments to farmers over the next seven years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will calculate a particular farm's check based on payment levels over the past five years. However, receipt of money during the next seven years will not be tied to production of any particular commodity, or to any production at all. What happens to the government's involvement in agriculture after this law expires is anyone's guess.
But for a few years at least, this law provides some opportunities for producers making the transition into a diverse, sustainable way of farming. For example, the bill eliminates restrictions on haying and grazing of acres enrolled in the farm program. Both the House and the Senate versions of the bill would have allowed haying and grazing on only 15 percent of a operation's farm program base acreage (thus continuing the federal government's bias against anything that's not an input-intensive row-crop). This proposal, which few farmers even knew about, would have wrecked the management plans of many highly-integrated farms that use livestock and forage crops to break up pest cycles naturally while building up soil quality.
The Land Stewardship Project and the Midwest Sustainable Agriculture Working Group joined forces with alfalfa producers and Midwest livestock farmers to fight this blot on the whole concept of "freedom to farm," and won. This victory on haying and grazing could have the most immediate positive impact on implementation of diverse conservation practices in the Midwest.
Another key victory for sustainable agriculture is the new "Conservation Farm Option." In pilot-project states chosen by the USDA, the Conservation Farm Option will set up a kind of "one stop shopping" system to combine commodity program and environmental incentive payments, along with land retirement options similar to the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Wetlands Reserve Program. The central idea of the Conservation Farm Option is to allow individual farmers to put together a conservation plan that makes sense for their farms, then make the federal programs fit that plan, rather than vice-versa. For example, CRP contracts could be tailored to support certain conservation practices even if they do not fit neatly within the existing CRP rules. The Conservation Farm Option should provide sustainable farmers and stewardship-conscious landholders with unprecedented room in setting up innovative farm plans.
The Conservation Reserve Program will continue at 36.4 million acres, and now includes much better standards for targeting the program to the acres that need it most. The new farm bill authorizes the Wetlands Reserve Program, including the use of voluntary permanent easements, which give farmers the option of protecting wetlands on their property without suffering economic loss.
But now comes the real work: Making sure the goals of this new law are not perverted by bureaucratic red tape and the influence of well-financed insiders. One example of how important it is to keep a close watch on how these policy reforms are implemented comes in the form of something originally called the Livestock Environmental Assistance Program (LEAP). At first, this program would have amounted to corporate welfare for large livestock factories looking to build multimillion gallon manure lagoons. In the end, Congress chose to include it in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which covers both crop and livestock practices.
However, while there is language prohibiting funds from going to "Large Confined Livestock Operations," no specific herd size limits are provided. As a result, heavy pressure is still on to allow operations with up to 10,000 head of beef cattle and 15,000 hogs to qualify for the $100 million in livestock assistance funds being made available annually. So, despite some positive changes, this program still has the makings of a federal subsidy for the construction of large-scale manure lagoons. Sustainable agriculture supporters want this money to be limited to smaller farms with no more than 1,000 head of beef cattle or 2,500 hogs.
Ultimately, the 1996 farm bill presents us with an opportunity and an obligation. For the next seven years, farmers will be asking serious questions about how to survive in the world of Freedom to Farm and beyond. It's up to all of us to go out and offer the answers that sustainable agriculture provides to these questions.
Farm Bill Guide
The Midwest Sustainable Agriculture Working Group has prepared an easy-to-understand guide to the new farm law and how it can be used on operations that are adopting sustainable agricultural practices. To order a free copy of Production Flexibility Contracts: A Guide to the New Flexibility Provisions of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, contact your local Land Stewardship Project office or call the White Bear Lake office at (612) 653-0618.
Brad DeVries is an LSP staffer based in Washington, D.C., where he works as the media coordinator for the Midwest Sustainable Agriculture Working Group.
Here are Good Tools for an Important Job
By Mary Schulte
Even the most basic kind of food production requires tools, whether it be a hoe, portable fencing or tractor. When considering a type of farming that's as innovative as sustainable agriculture, perhaps the most valuable tool is information -- the kind that helps individuals, community groups and congregations learn how this form of tilling the land can bring them closer to the source of their food.
That's why the Land Stewardship Project has assembled a "tool kit" for groups wanting to learn more about land and food issues, the benefits of sustainable farming practices and what can be done to support a more sustainable and localized food system. The kit -- it's actually a large Tupperware container -- is brimming with booklets and videos which we hope will make learning about ways of connecting with the land and food production provocative and fun. Let's take a little inventory:
In addition, there are activity sheets and discussion guides on such things as field trips, scavenger hunts, lawn care, making an earthworm farm, holding a soup gathering and water erosion.
Tool kits may be reserved for a six-week period for $10, or purchased for $125 (shipping not included). To reserve a kit, call me at (612) 653-0618.
In addition, the 1996 directory of CSA farms in the region is available. For a free copy, contact our Twin Cities office and ask for Minnesota and Western Wisconsin Community Supported Farms: Providing Healthy Food and Sustainable Agriculture for Coming Generations.
Mary Schulte is a program organizer in LSP's Twin Cities office.
LSPers Make Gathering More Than a Meeting
By Meridith Levy
Winter in the Land Stewardship Project's southeast Minnesota office is synonymous with "The Meeting Season." If you can't be in the field, what better way to spend a bleary winter day than in a warm, hearty meeting? Sure enough, January meetings, assuming the weather holds out, are usually well attended with eager crowds. But after a month or two of LSP meetings, Sustainable Farming Association meetings, church meetings, Grass Feeders Anonymous meetings, etc., the meeting goers start experiencing the "I've been to more meetings than there are minutes in the day" phenomenon. Symptoms include: excessive daydreaming; an unexplainable need to drink seven cups of coffee at any given meeting; a well-designed schedule which lets you leave early; and a sudden desire to start corn planting before the frost has even left the ground.
In light of this, we feared the Lewiston LSP "Knitting It All Together" gathering set for mid-March might be the meeting that broke the camel's back (or, at the least, its seat-sitting muscle). But despite spring-like weather some 45 eager LSPers gathered at the Church of the Brethren to share stories and experiences with each other, partake in workshops on various topics, gain an overview of how all of the work we've been doing fits together, and finally, to enjoy a potluck of seemingly infinite desserts.
Dan Looker, author of Farmers for the Future and business editor of Successful Farming magazine kicked off the gathering by talking about the opportunities and challenges facing beginning farmers. The Campaign for Human Development's Renee Brereton then explained the role of her organization in funding groups like LSP.
In addition, a panel of LSP members -- Arlis Ellinghuysen, Joe Finley, Bev Sandlin and Marie Meyer -- explained the workings and accomplishments of our various committees.
We then broke up into small workshop groups and discussed Holistic Resource Management, factory farming, story-telling and the media. LSP hopes to use these workshops as a kickoff for a series of gatherings that will draw on the knowledge and talent of our southeast Minnesota membership. Judging by the success of our latest Knitting It All Together event (after all, not one person fell asleep under their hat) we've got plenty of energetic, productive meetings in store.
Meridith Levy works in LSP's southeast Minnesota office.
Unique environmental partnership offers opportunity for a beginning farmer
Roughly 100,000 people visit southeast Minnesota's Nerstrand Big Woods State Park annually. Most of them have certain ideas about where nature begins, and agriculture, which surrounds the park, ends.
"They think a park's a park, and they look and see a farm and think a farm's a farm," says Tony Tonga, manager of Nerstrand Big Woods. "So maybe we can show there's an alternative out there."
The alternative is establishing sustainable farming practices on a 70-acre tract of land the park is in the process of obtaining from the Nature Conservancy. If successful, the establishment of this farm could serve as a kick-start for a producer who wants to gain experience in sustainable dairy production and build equity without going deeply into debt.
It could also serve as an example of how private landowners, public agencies and environmental organizations can work together on sustainable land use.
The 70-acre tract is part of a 200 acre farm that was sold to the Conservancy a few years ago. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials plan to reforest the 70 acres, extending the 1,200 acre stand of hardwoods that make up the park. The Conservancy has worked with DNR officials in the past, buying land for parks and other natural areas and holding it until the state has the money to purchase it.
Jim Erkel, director of land protection for the Minnesota Nature Conservancy, says this tract, known as the Bongers Farm, was set to follow the traditional route of being passed into the hands of the state and then immediately locked up as a natural area. However, in recent years the Conservancy has come to realize that preserving a chunk of land does little good if neighboring acres are destroyed by bad farming practices or sprawling development. Across the country the Conservancy has been looking for ways to encourage environmentally friendly land use on acres bordering protected natural areas. In farm country, that means promoting sustainable agriculture whenever possible, says Erkel, who serves on the Land Stewardship Project's board of directors.
Soon after the land was purchased, Todd Lein, who at the time was an organizer in LSP's Cannon River office, approached the DNR and the Conservancy about adding an extra step between land acquisition and the return to its natural state. A proposal was subsequently hammered out by a team of area farmers, local officials and representatives from private organizations. It calls for renting the 70 acres to a dairy farmer at a significantly reduced rate during the period it will take the DNR to reforest the tract -- five to 10 years. During that time, the land would be farmed using management intensive grazing, an innovative type of grass farming that rotates the cattle among paddocks at a rate that benefits the soil and landscape, while naturally distributing manure. At the end of the rental period, the farmer may have the option of buying the remaining 130 acres of the farm from the Conservancy. The Bongers Farm has a house as well as a machine shed and large dairy barn that a producer would have use of while farming the 70 acres.
Lein, who farms a few miles from the park, says he got the idea for combining a park and a livestock operation while working on the Monitoring Project. That project is gauging, among other things, the environmental and economic sustainability of management intensive grazing on six southeast Minnesota farms.
Dodge Center, Minn., farmer Dan French says his participation in the Monitoring Project has convinced him that livestock can be raised in a profitable manner than improves the environment.
But French, who also serves on the LSP board, says one of the most exciting possibilities offered by the Bongers Farm proposal is its ability to help a beginning farmer. When compared to conventional livestock production, the start-up expenses for grass-based farming can be half the cost or lower.
Lein says renting the 70 acres will allow a farmer to learn sustainable agriculture and build up equity with a dairy herd without having to buy land, an expensive proposition -- especially near a park that is within commuting distance of the Twin Cities. And if the farmer eventually is in a position to purchase the other 130 acres, it will be made more affordable by easements that restrict such activities as construction of subdivisions.
But, Lein warns, this proposal does not guarantee success for a beginning farmer. The land has already been seeded down for grazing, but fencing and a livestock watering system are needed. In addition, the farmer will have to provide the cow herd, and the milking parlor needs to be renovated (one estimate is that $3,300 would be needed for fencing and the establishment of a watering system; renovation of the milking parlor could run as high as $10,000). The farmer will be responsible for these improvements. Arrangements for reclaiming the cost of these improvements will be worked out as part of the rental agreement.
"It's not a completed package where we're just looking to insert a farmer," says Lein. "But it could be used as a stepping stone for a farmer who has some resources and the willingness to work."
Epitaph for a Peach
Four Seasons on My Family Farm
By David Mas Masumoto
Published by Harper, San Francisco
1995
233 pages
$20.00
Reviewed by Dana Jackson
Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm is a gentle story in four parts, based on the four seasons in the life of a California peach and grape farmer. It is gentle in the sense that the story has no cunning plot, no dramatic scenes, and only a mild sort of suspense. It unfolds slowly, quietly as we read the thoughts of a modest, but resolute third-generation Japanese-American farmer named David Mas Masumoto who has decided not to bulldoze out the 350 remaining Sun Crest peach trees on his farm. The original field of 1,500 Sun Crests planted 20 years before had paid his college tuition, but now they are obsolete, primarily because they turn golden when ripe instead of the "lipstick red that seduces the public."
The reader's mouth waters as Masumoto describes the act of biting into a luscious ripe peach with the sticky sweet juice gushing out and down one's chin -- that is, if the reader has been lucky enough to have had such an experience. Most Americans have only eaten the hard, crunchy red peaches that rot around bruises before they ripen; but, unlike Sun Crests, these peaches last for weeks in storage and have a long shelf life.
Masumoto is different from his peach farmer neighbors, not so much because he stubbornly hangs on to good tasting peaches, but because he has abandoned herbicides and "clean" fields and revived the practice of planting cover crops between rows of trees and allowing the "natural grasses" (formerly "weeds") to germinate and grow. He concedes that he planted his first cover crop because his wife, Marcy, would be home with a new baby and she longed to see green in the orchard, instead of bare raw earth. Later he learned from organic farmers the agronomic benefits of a diversity of cover crops, such as adding organic matter that holds moisture in the soil and providing habitat for insects. As nature takes over the farm, he feels life and energy, and thinks of himself as "managing chaos."
This California peach farmer, like a famous Wisconsin wildlife management professor and a Massachusetts naturalist before him, observes closely patterns and eccentricities of nature: the succession of "natural grasses," the timed appearance of blossoms and leaves on his trees, the abundance of flying insects, the taste of dust from his farm, the mysteriousness of fog. He muses over what he sees and acknowledges that "farming is only a temporary claim on a piece of earth, not a right; farmers borrow the land from nature to squeeze out a living."
Masumoto builds houses to attract owls (necessary when few barns remain) and delights in the sighting of egrets.
Since his college major was sociology, and his scientific knowledge is limited, the author consults an entomologist friend to help him understand the peach twig borer. But he strikes out on his own to test the efficacy of compost versus commercial fertilizer. The experiment was a mixed success: the compost didn't fail, but each block had different results, good and bad, so he could make no scientific conclusions. However, he decided that the best part of the experiment was regularly walking through his orchards to observe the trees.
The value of walking through his orchard and making observations is a point the author makes repeatedly. Just as graziers in other parts of the country place value on walking their paddocks to check plant diversity and density, the activity of earthworms, and the presence of nesting bobolinks, Masumoto and his entomologist friend agree that "walking may be the best management tool for farmers and researchers. Nothing replaces the personal and intimate sensibility of walking a farm, feeling the earth, seeing and smelling an orchard" (or pasture).
As appreciative as Masumoto is of nature, he must use it to make a living as a farmer, and he says unsentimentally, "Those of us who battle nature all year must ultimately accept the hand we're dealt." No matter how skillful a farmer is, the harvest can be stolen by hail, rain at the wrong time, or an infestation of an insect or fungus. The harvest is also vulnerable to a scarcity of laborers, low prices or lack of markets. "Bitter harvests of the past do not easily fade from memory," Masumoto writes.
Anxiety is present or always just under the surface of this orchardist. He knows disaster is only a bit of lost luck away. Masumoto reduces his risk with crop diversification; in addition to peaches he grows grapes and dries them in the sun to make raisins. But if it rains in September after the grapes have been picked and placed to dry on paper trays between rows of vines, then the fruit molds quickly and most of the crop is lost.
The despair and hopelessness a farmer feels when he or she knows the harvest is lost is the same whether the crop is grapes, peaches or wheat. As I began to read Masumoto's description of clouds coming in and the sound of raindrops, I wanted to stop reading to avoid reaching the inevitable page where he would acknowledge that his raisin crop was ruined. I've had this experience as a gardener, when I watched helplessly as grasshoppers chomped down everything, even onion and garlic tops, in my half-acre of vegetables. What can one do? Nothing. Start planning for next year.
The title of this book is taken from a piece Masumoto sent to the Los Angeles Times when he had decided that he must get rid of the Sun Crest peach trees. Responses to his article made him change his mind, and this book is a chronicle of the following year when he nurtured the good-tasting peaches to one more harvest. His wisdom is as delicious as the Sun Crest peach must be; I'm glad this gifted farmer allowed readers to harvest it.
Dana Jackson, the Land Stewardship Project's associate director, can't wait to bite into her first garden-fresh tomato of the season.
Farm family uses holistic planning to take then into a sustainable future
It's tough making the transition to a more sustainable agriculture, especially in the midst of corn and soybean, get-big-or-get-out country. It's one thing to have those conventional neighbors looking down their collective noses at you, applying peer pressure in wagon-sized portions. But even more daunting are the internal doubts and fears that accompany stepping out of the mainstream of agriculture.
That's why Brian Schultz carries around a pocket-sized piece of cardboard torn off the back of a notebook.
Written on it is a reminder of why he and his wife Carol are making their 300-acre plus southern Minnesota crop farm a more diverse operation that includes such alternative enterprises as organic grains and grazing livestock. That reminder is in the form of a holistic goal (see goal box) that takes into account "quality of life," "production" and "future resource base or landscape" aspects of the farming operation. The couple wrote a version of this goal while taking a course in Holistic Resource Management (HRM) four years ago. Those statements haven't had much of a chance to gather dust.
"I don't think a goal should be locked up like an important legal document," says Brian.
It's a good thing their holistic goal is not sitting in a safety deposit box somewhere. During the past few years it's become a valuable partner in the challenge to take their farm and family beyond the conventional norm. Brian and Carol were already implementing input-lowering practices such as chemical-free crop production when they chose to take the HRM course. They say the decision-making model attracted them because it put the environmental health of the farm on the same level as economic viability. Having a goal to guide them provides the grounding they need when the expectations of more conventional farming clash with the dreams of being profitable while preserving their resource base.
It's not always easy, concedes the couple. Brian, 36, has been farming his family's land since he was 17. In that time he has acquired a taste for large equipment. In other words, there are times when a new implement can become a goal in itself, rather than a tool to help achieve the overall, holistic goal.
"I was a heavy metal fanatic. In some ways, I still am," says Brian sheepishly. "It was not only a business, but a hobby for me. Even now I try to talk myself into things and HRM keeps invading my mind and saying, `Now, do I really need that?'"
That doesn't mean the family shuns all machinery--they're well-stocked workshop/machine shed would be the envy of any gear-head. But it does require some compromising. They say the holistic goal helps deal with difficult decisions not only because it provides guidelines against which to check their plans; it also improves communication. That's because Holistic Management gives Brian, Carol and even their four young daughters a common language to work with. Carol, 35, says although she started dating Brian in high school, it was often difficult to communicate on the farm because the language he used in the field was different from the way she'd describe situations in the home.
"You can be saying the same things and saying them in different ways and never figure out what the other person is saying."
Now, says Carol, instead of just saying, "what's the problem?", HRM-related phrases like "weak link" and "cause-and-effect" are used a lot in their daily lives to help them get at the crux of a matter.
"Before, he'd say, `Should I buy a new planter?' And I'd say, `I don't care.' Now we can talk about whether it fits with our goal," says Carol.
Buying that planter may increase yields and save soil, thus fitting in with the goal of being "productive." But what about "quality of life?" Will it contribute to a farm family's goals of being "debt free" and "nearly self sufficient"? Those are questions the family must answer if it's to make decisions based on the operation as a whole system.
For example, a few years ago Brian, who is equally good at welding and scrounging, fashioned a 6,000-gallon capacity manure hauler out of a semi-tractor rig and two underground fuel storage barrels. He wanted the modified hauler so he could use manure from his neighbors' livestock operations on his fields, which are planted on specially constructed "ridges" to save soil. It was so successful that Brian soon found he could make good money hauling manure on a custom basis. Thus, the hauler added immediate cash income while increasing fertility and contributing to the long-term biological health of the soil. Besides, it was fun to build and drive the rig, says Brian.
The farmer figures he could probably make more money quitting farming and hauling manure full-time. But that would make profitability a priority at the cost of the couple's goal of making a living on the land and spending time with their four daughters: Katie, 11; Jenny, 9; Sarah, 5; and Laura, 1. As a result, the manure hauling enterprise will only go as far as the overall goal of the farm allows.
The couple rewrote their goal about a year after taking the course to make it less "textbook-like" and more applicable to their situation. Both Brian and Carol say coming up with a goal they could both agree on was relatively easy, because they see things in much the same way. To help them create a holistic goal, course participants are asked to imagine what they would want people to say about them at their own funeral.
How often the Schultzs look at their goal varies from a couple of times a month to daily. Whenever he attends a meeting or field day, Brian takes the goal along so he can compare it to ideas other people have. They also bounce their goal off the three other farm families that belong to an area support group for Holistic Management practitioners. The couple says they are willing to change their goal to fit different situations or new ideas, but they also are on guard against making it too vulnerable to "phases" or "fads."
The Schultz family will undoubtedly be referring to their goal more in the future as they explore other options for diversifying. Besides their chicken and hog enterprises, they are grazing Holsteins for a neighbor and are experimenting with "exotics" such an long-horned cattle and buffalo.
In addition, Brian and Carol recently sketched a map of the farm's landscape that includes how they'd like to see it take shape in the future. Those plans call for replacing more cropland with pasture, protection of a marsh and establishment of trees. Brian says taking on such challenges will make a good decision-making tool even more valuable.
"You can't practice HRM part of the time. You have to practice it all of the time on all parts of the farm."
Developing a unifying goal to guide a farm's operation is considered a fundamental first step toward managing more holistically, says Audrey Arner, who coordinates Holistic Resource Management training for the Land Stewardship Project. This goal goes beyond the usual year-to-year production objectives many farmers use as guides to success.
We're talking about a goal that is going to determine how you are going to live your life, not goals related to how many bushels of corn you want to raise," she says.
That means the goal must also go beyond the "dreaming" stage and take into account three areas considered crucial to managing a farm -- or any collection of natural resources for that matter -- as a whole: quality of life, production and future resource base:
By Audrey Arner
W hen Richard Ness joined the Land Stewardship Project's Stewardship Farming program in 1989, he brought a new approach for planning and decision-making called Holistic Resource Management (HRM). With his leadership in 1991 we sponsored the first HRM training in Minnesota, taught by Allan Savory, the founder of this process. Ness left LSP a couple of years ago to follow his farming bliss, but he left behind an enthusiastic core of practitioners who have gone on to make this information available to others.
Seventeen LSP-sponsored HRM introductory courses later, more than 300 Upper Midwesterners are walking around with this experience influencing their decision-making. Who are these people? They are dairy farmers, livestock producers, Community Supported Agriculturalists, cash grain farmers, farmland owners, urbanites considering a rural shift, public lands managers, clergy, agriculture educators, teenagers, researchers and lenders. As an indicator of HRM's increasingly widespread appeal, consider the variety of agencies and organizations that have assisted with LSP's training program's in recent years: the Minnesota Department of Agriculture's Energy and Sustainable Agriculture Program; the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources; the Diocese of New Ulm, Minn.; the School Sisters of Notre Dame; the Redwood Clean Water Project, CROP Walks; technical colleges; farm management programs; soil and water conservation districts; and community education programs.
LSP recently took its Holistic Management education program one step further by bringing together a team of trainers and proponents of HRM. This team provides direction for our training program and is connected to the growing global network of HRM educators. It gives introductory overviews of HRM to groups which request them, supports follow-up sessions for new trainees, and brings to the table new ideas for how best to communicate the key concepts of Holistic Management.
Now HRM is making its way into other areas of LSP's work. For example, the work of the Monitoring Project, coordinated by LSP, is rooted in HRM's ability to help us gauge progress toward (or regression from) sustainability.
Currently, LSP is working on several levels to ensure that HRM is considered in the "whole farm planning" studies and applications going on around Minnesota.
Do you want to know more about HRM? Call us at (320) 269-2105.
Audrey Arner coordinates LSP's HRM training program.
HRM gathering Aug. 16-17
The Land Stewardship Project will be co-sponsoring the 1996 Center for Holistic Management International Annual Gathering, Aug. 16-17 in southeast Minnesota. This event will feature sessions at Rochester's Kahler Hotel and bus tours of area farms practicing HRM. For more information, contact Audrey Arner, LSP, 103 W. Nichols, Montevideo, MN 56265;
tele. -- (320) 269-2105.
CSA slots are still open
Many Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms have sold all their membership shares for the coming growing season. However, procrastinating produce-eaters may still have a chance to join a farm if they act soon. For a free guide on CSA farms in the Twin Cities-western Wisconsin region, contact Mary Schulte at the Land Stewardship Project, (612) 653-0618. p
The Land Stewardship Project needs a volunteer coordinator for its Twin Cities office, beginning in July. It's a volunteer position, but a small stipend is available.
For more information, contact: Rebecca Kilde, LSP, 2200 4th St., White Bear Lake, MN 55110; tele. -- (612) 653-0618.
The new Land Stewardship Project T-shirts are just the anecdote for hot summer weather. A natural beige color with the LSP logo emblazoned in green on the front, they're 100 percent organic cotton, grown and sewn in the U.S. They're available in medium, large and extra large. Short-sleeved shirts are $12 and long-sleeved shirts $15. If ordering through the mail, add $3 shipping and handling for each shirt.
Send orders to: LSP T-shirts, 2200 4th St., White Bear Lake, MN 55110.
Community Supported Agriculture: Making the Connection: A 1995 Handbook for Producers is a how-to manual for farmers that describes many aspects of forming and running Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs. This 198-page publication includes information about getting started, designing CSA farms, recruiting members, creating production and harvest plans, setting prices and legal issues.
For a copy, send a check for $31.81 (make check payable to the Univ. of Cal. Regents) to: UC Cooperative Extension, Attn.: CSA Handbook, 11477 E. Ave., Auburn, CA 95603; tele. -- (916) 889-7385.
Women in Sustainable Agriculture (WISA) is collecting photographs of women participating in various aspects of agriculture in southeast Minnesota. WISA will eventually put these together as a traveling exhibit that will be displayed at elevators, libraries and other venues.
The photos -- black and white or color -- can either be snapshots taken recently or historical prints from family collections. Prints, slides, or negatives (negatives are ideal) are welcome; copies of all photos will be made and the originals mailed back. Please include a self-addressed stamped envelope with the photos so they can be returned safely and promptly. WISA is also looking for any "stories" that may go with the photos or could stand alone as part of the exhibit.
For more information, contact: Diane Milan, Hawks-View Farm, 28351 Foliage Ave., Northfield, MN 55057; tele. -- (507) 645-8282.
My Father's Garden is a very personal 57-minute video that examines two different "revolutions" in agriculture through the eyes of farmers and their families.
The filmmaker's father, Herbert Smith, was one of the pioneers of the chemical age that took agriculture by storm after World War II. His story is contrasted with that of another kind of agricultural innovator, Fred Kirschenmann, whose North Dakota grain and livestock operation is proving that organic agriculture can be sustainable on an ecological and economic level.
In a user-friendly manner, Garden also gives a brief history of agriculture and a view of some of the problems it faces today.
For information on purchasing or renting the video, contact: Bullfrog Films, Inc., P.O. Box 149, Oley, PA 19547; tele. -- 1-800-543-3764.
A Midwest Gardener's Cookbook contains advice on harvesting, cooking and storing garden-fresh produce. The author, Marian K. Towne, also includes nutritional information about various fruits and vegetables. The cost of the 256-page book is $17.95. For information on where to obtain copies, call 1-800-842-6796.
The Sustainable Agriculture Network is offering a free brochure on the results of sustainable dairy production research projects throughout the country. It focuses on rotational grazing, innovative marketing strategies and nutrient management techniques. A list of resources is included.
To order a copy of Profitable Dairy Options, contact: Andy Clark, SAN Coordinator, Rm. 304, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705-2351; e-mail -- san@nalusda.gov
Organic Dairy Farming is a primer for farmers who would like to practice organic milk production or learn more about improving herd health while reducing the use of antibiotics and synthetic parasiticides.
For a copy of the 87-page book, send a check for $4.50 to: CROPP Cooperative, P.O. Box 159, LaFarge, WI 54639; tele. -- (608) 625-2602.
A hands-on training workshop on using soil as an indicator of improved management will be held July 17-18 in Ames, Iowa.
For more information, contact: John Gardner, NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center, Box 219, Carrington, ND 58421; tele. -- (701) 652-2951.
Environmental Enhancement Through Agriculture summarizes a conference held last November in Boston on how agriculture can enhance the environment and not merely avoid conflicts with it. It contains 36 papers -- including "Sustainable Farming Practices Benefit Minnesota Landscape," written by the Land Stewardship Project's George Boody and Dana Jackson -- that describe real-life examples of farming systems that contribute positively to environmental quality.
For a copy of the 343-page book, send a $20 check made out to Trustees of Tufts College (that covers postage also) to: Center for Agriculture, Food and Environment, School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155.
Airport move crashes
Minnesota lawmakers have ended attempts to move the Twin Cities International Airport into rural Dakota County.
In April, the Legislature voted to end research on building a new airport, instead calling for the current airport to be expanded. Gov. Arne Carlson signed the law, which also prohibits the Metropolitan Airports Commission from acquiring land in Dakota County for a possible future move. The Legislature's action came after similar votes by the Dakota County board of commissioners, the Metropolitan Airports Commission and the Metropolitan Council.
Opponents of the proposed airport relocation, including the Land Stewardship Project, argued that moving the facility 15 miles from its current location in the Twin Cities would destroy prime farmland, pose an environmental threat, drain public financial resources and in general accelerate sprawling development. One group, Stop Our Airport Relocation (SOAR) estimates that 6,200 acres of prime land would have been paved over for the new airport and $5 billion to $15 billion of Minnesota tax money siphoned off from transportation, education and human service projects.
Supporters of the airport relocation say expanding the existing facility will increase noise problems in neighboring residential areas. As part of a compromise deal in the Legislature, $185 million will be provided by the Metropolitan Airports Commission for noise reduction at the current airport.
New Jersey is implementing a land use plan in an effort to stem the tide of wasteful sprawling growth. Rutgers University's Center for Urban Policy predicts that the plan will have several positive effects over the next 20 years, including:
Three firms account for 81 percent of the cattle slaughtered in this country, according to a recently released U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) study. That and other findings have convinced USDA officials that the red meat packing business is concentrated in the hands of a few. However, the study, which was actually based on seven different examinations of the industry, failed to prove that such concentration is driving down prices paid to farmers, according to USDA officials.
To further investigate concentration's influence on market prices, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman has formed an advisory committee consisting of representatives from the transportation and food industries, as well as meat business heavyweights like Ken Bull of Excel Corp., and Gary Evans of Farmland Industries, Inc. Also on the committee is family farm advocate Marty Strange of the Center for Rural Affairs. A Land Stewardship Project staffer and an LSP member testified before the committee in March. The committee is expected to make recommendations by June 7.
For those hoping a successor to New Farm will rise out of the ashes of the old magazine, here's a message from the Committee for Sustainable Farm Publishing: don't give up hope. However, don't begin writing subscription checks, either.
The committee, formed by former New Farm staffers shortly after the Rodale Institute dropped the popular sustainable farming magazine last year at this time, has found that a viable successor could be launched and made self-supporting within six years. But the Institute's hesitancy to release the magazine's list of subscribers is slowing efforts to launch a new publication, according to the committee.
As a result, the Committee is examining other options, such as utilizing the mailing lists of organizations and publishing on the Internet.
The committee welcomes comments or suggestions on how to produce a New Farm successor. Contact: Chris Shirley, CSFP, 609 S. Front St., Allentown, PA 18103; e-mail -- CDShirley@aol.com
Biotechnology has spawned more than corn resistant to disease and soybeans that are not damaged by herbicides. The technical and fiscal resources required to develop genetically engineered plants has also produced a spate of marriages between chemical seed companies.
The Des Moines Register described the situation recently: "Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., for instance, has committed $51 million to Mycogen Corp. DowElanco, a company owned jointly by Dow Chemical Co. and Eli Lilly & Co., is acquiring 46 percent of Mycogen. And Monsanto Co. is investing $177 million in DeKalb Genetics Corp.ƒ . In Europe, the parent companies of Ciba Seeds and Northrup King Co. are merging, as are the conglomerate that owns ICI Seeds and a Dutch company."
One industry analyst quoted by the Register called it "the seed industry's version of free love."
LSP Takes 'Stop Factory Farms' Message to St. Paul
Nearly 200 farmers and other concerned citizens from 31 Minnesota counties converged on their state capital Feb. 28 to express concern over politicians' support of corporate-controlled factory farming. The rally was one of several that took place at state capitals around the country in late February under the auspices of the national Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment. LSP is a member organization of the Campaign.
Dennis Timmerman, who has a 120-sow operation near Boyd, Minn., told the crowd gathered at the capitol rotunda that the policies being promoted by Gov. Arne Carlson's administration as well as lawmakers such as Rep. Charles Berg, DFL-Chokio, and Sen. Steve Dille, R-Dassel, are destroying the very family-farm foundation that makes the state a great agricultural area.
Rally speakers, which included farmers and other rural residents who live close to large hog factories, said such policies are based on the myth that corporate-controlled livestock operations are more efficient than independent family farms. Rural and urban residents must join forces and call for policies that level the playing field while ending welfare for corporate agriculture, said the speakers.
Rally participants marched to the Carlson's office and presented his staff with a jar of liquid hog manure, a bouquet of flowers and a large "greeting card" signed by protesters. Carlson's office turned down a request to meet with the citizens. Later, State Attorney General Skip Humphrey met with LSP staff and about 100 of the rally participants to discuss the need for better enforcement of Minnesota's corporate farm law. Humphrey asked for further documentation of abuses of the law and agreed to meet again with LSP staff and members.
Rally participants also met with Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) staff and requested a meeting with its director, Chuck Williams. As of the end of April, Williams had not agreed to the meeting.
The impact of the rally was felt the next day when the Senate Rules Committee voted to strip language inserted by Berg that would have granted tax breaks to absentee owners of farming operations. Later in the session another Berg proposal to limit an agricultural corporation's liability was voted down in the Senate.
For the Land Stewardship Project, perhaps the most significant federal policy accomplishment of late (see story, page 7) has not come in the form of new laws or legislative reforms. Rather, it has been the creation of a grassroots-based process for developing and promoting sustainable agriculture policy, says Mark Schultz, LSP's Policy Program Director.
This process was developed mostly through the work of six farmers who make up the LSP Farm Bill Committee. They have spent the last two years researching, discussing, forming and promoting policy options. The Committee members -- Dwight Ault, Dan French, Paul Homme, Jennifer Rupprecht, Dave Serfling and Paul Sobocinski (as well as other farmers who joined committee activities from time-to-time) -- got in on the ground floor of homegrown policy work early on by talking to other farmers, calling their representatives, visiting Congressional field offices and writing commentaries for local and regional newspapers.
But perhaps most importantly, policy makers have had an opportunity in recent months to see sustainable agriculture firsthand. Last August, the Serfling farm in southeast Minnesota hosted aides from the offices of Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.
That kind of hands-on experience with sustainable agriculture is crucial, says LSP member DeEtta Bilek, who farms with her husband Tom near Aldrich, in central Minnesota. Sustainable farmers in her area were able to get a representative from the office of Sen. Rod Grams, R-Minn., as well as a Wellstone aide to attend a farm tour last summer.
"In Washington, there's getting to be different definitions of what sustainable agriculture is," she says. "We need to educate them on what it is out on the farm."
A pilot project for easing the transition of farms to the next generation was line-item vetoed by Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson in April.
The proposal, which was part of the Environmental and Natural Resources Appropriations package, would have granted $25,000 to the Extension Service office in southeast Minnesota's Wabasha County for the establishment of a program that would bring retiring farmers and beginning producers together. The pilot program would have, among other things, worked with local and statewide agricultural groups in developing and implementing an educational farm management and peer support program for farmers involved in transitions.
In an effort to make sure land remains in the hands of family farmers as the current generation retires, the Land Stewardship Project has been working with local government agencies, other organizations and farmers to create a "Farm Beginnings" program in southeast Minnesota (see the July/August 1995 LSL). This grant vetoed by Carlson would have provided a significant shot in the arm for the program, says George Boody, LSP's executive director.
According to Carlson, the pilot project would duplicate the work already being done by the Passing on the Farm Center, based in southwest Minnesota.
But Boody says because of its emphasis on beginning farmer outreach and training, the Wabasha County program is unique and would actually compliment the work being done through the Passing on the Farm Center.
Carlson also axed a proposal to provide $150,000 to the Minnesota Institute of Sustainable Agriculture (MISA). The program would have established leadership teams at each agricultural experiment station in the state. Each team would consist of farmers, researchers, public agencies and other local community representatives. Their duty would have been to identify local problems and develop an understanding of the agricultural system as a whole. The team would then come up with common goals for the experiment station and create five-year action plans to address those goals. Through such collaboration, experiment stations could better serve the communities in which they are located and research would no longer be driven as much by narrowly focused for-profit interests as it is now, says Boody.
But Carlson says such goals are already being accomplished by existing university and state programs.
"I think he is simply wrong," says Boody. "The ag experiment stations are only beginning to function in true collaboration with the community. This is a whole new model that deserves a chance to be tested."
Another initiative vetoed by the Governor included $20,000 for establishment of a Minnesota dairy producers board. The board would have broadened representation in the dairy industry to sustainable farmers and consumers.
By Rebecca Kilde
A big "thank you" goes out to the 200 or so LSPers who returned our membership survey. We haven't fully analyzed the results, but here are some preliminary findings:
Thanks also to those of you who responded so generously to our fall membership mailing. Two more mailings have gone out recently: a postcard reminder to lapsing members, and spring letters to members due to renew as well as those new to our mailing list. If your membership has been sent in already and these mailings passed at the post office, thank you in advance. If you have concerns or questions about your membership status, don't hesitate to contact me at our Twin Cities office.
With the help of designer Mark Odegaard, we recently put together a new general brochure and an updated resource catalog. They're available at any Land Stewardship Project office; or you can contact the Twin Cities office and we'll mail them to you. Call any of our offices if you'd like multiple copies of these resources to take to a meeting or gathering. We just finished our annual report for fiscal year 1994-1995, which is also available at any LSP office.
Finally, just in time for this year's produce season, we have available Minnesota and Western Wisconsin Community Supported Farms: Providing Healthy Food and Sustainable Agriculture for Coming Generations. This directory lists Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in the region and provides information on what they provide, share options, etc. Copies to individuals are available free from the Twin Cities office.
Rebecca Kilde is LSP's Membership Coordinator.
MAY 16 -- Planting in the Dust performance, 7:15 p.m., Minneapolis Friends Meeting, 4401 York Ave. S; Contact: Jay Robinson (612) 638-3062
MAY 18-19 -- 5th Annual CURE Minnesota River Observation Trip; Contact: LSP, Montevideo, Minn., (320) 269-2105
MAY 20 -- Steering committee meeting of the LSP Congregational Network, 9 a.m., St. Martin's Table, 2001 Riverside Ave., Minneapolis, Minn.; Contact: Mary Schulte, LSP (612) 653-0618
MAY 21 -- Monitoring Project soil quality workshop, location (Minnesota) to be announced.; Contact: Jay Dorsey (507) 732-4086
MAY 23 -- Pasture walk, Rick & June Scherping farm, Freeport, Minn.; Contact: (320) 836-2635
MAY 30 -- Conservation Easement Forum, featuring tax expert Stephen Small, Minneapolis, Minn.; Contact: Minnesota Land Trust (612) 522-3743
JUNE 15 -- Minnesota Chapter of the Nature Conservancy state meeting, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.; Contact: Janet Kampf (612) 331-0767
JUNE 17 -- LSP's Lee Ronning will speak at the Environmental Education Conference, Minneapolis, Minn.
JUNE 19 -- Non-chemical farming field day, Carmen & Sally Fernholz farm, Madison, Minn.; Contact: (320) 598-3010
JUNE 22 -- Flame weeding field day, Delano, Minn.; Contact: (612) 972-2052
JUNE 23 -- Picnic & factory hog manure lagoon tour; day will end with a look at a sustainable "Swedish style" hog farm, Renville County, Minn.; Contact: Paul Sobocinski, LSP (507) 342-5280
JUNE 26 -- Field day at the Dennis & Sue Rabe farm, Lake City, Minn.; Contact: (612) 345-4915
JUNE 29 -- Monitoring Project tour, Mike & Jennifer Rupprecht farm, Lewiston, Minn.; Contact: Jay Dorsey (507) 732-4086
JULY -- Monitoring Project tour at Ralph & Geri Lentz farm, Lake City, Minn., date to be announced; Contact: (612) 345-2557
JULY 7-12 -- "Renewing the Human Spirit: Rooting our Spirituality in Earth," College of St. Catherine's, 2004 Randolph Ave., St. Paul, Minn.; Contact: (612) 690-6890
JULY 11 -- LSP's Dana Jackson will speak at the above program, 12:30 p.m. In conjunction with the program, a CSA tour will be held from 2:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.; Contact: LSP (612) 653-0618
JULY 28 -- Farm tour featuring alternative livestock in Carlton County, Minn.; Contact: (218) 727-1414
AUG. 1 -- Farm tour featuring soil quality, manure management on ridge tillage and sows on pasture, Austin, Minn., area; Contact: (507) 256-4876 or (507) 433-3591
AUG. 3 -- Field day featuring rotational grazing of sows & gilts, Byron Bartz farm, Barrett, Minn.; Contact: (320) 528-2301
AUG. 16-17 -- 1996 International HRM Gathering, Rochester, Minn.; Contact: Audrey Arner, LSP (320) 269-2105
AUG. 19 -- Holistic Management course on land use planning, location (Minnesota) to be announced; Contact: Lee Ronning, LSP (612) 653-0618
AUG. 24 -- Field tour of Dan & Gilda Gieske produce farm, Sauk Centre, Minn.; Contact: (320) 352-6255
SEPT. 5 -- Central Minn. SFA Chapter buckwheat field tour; Contact: DeEtta Bilek (218) 445-5475
SEPT. 7 -- N.E. Minn. SFA Harvest Festival, Duluth; Contact: (218) 727-1414
SEPT. 20-21 -- "Reflections for an Ecological Age," a conference with Paula Gonzalez, SC, Ph.D, futurist, educator & environmentalist, Good Counsel Education Center, Mankato, Minn.; Contact: (507) 389-4238
Check the Calendar for the latest on upcoming LSP events.
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