Farmer Shares Tips For Getting Into Small-Scale Organic Farming

January 3, 2016 (Wisconsin Public Radio) - A farmer and author of a book about running a small-scale organic farming, said he has has found a way to make a good living on a one and a half acre organic farm.

Jean-Martin Fortier, author of "The Market Gardener: A Successful Grower's Handbook for Small-scale Organic Farming," said that no one really believes him when he says he does it without a conventional tractor.

To encourage others who might have thought of this type of farming, he shared a few tips on his success:

Raised beds

Fortier’s farm consists of 180 permanent raised beds. The beds are 100-feet long, 4 to 5 inch mounds of soil without a container around them.

"After every two seasons, they tend to settle down so we need to re-raise them again," Fortier said. "With shovels or with the rotary plow, a tool that takes the dirt from the aisle and shoots it on to the bed like a shovel would do."

Continue reading at Wisconsin Public Radio... 

India: Grassroots Activism Builds Wall Against Western Imperialism

March 14, 2014 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - In the Times of India article, “Farmers’ groups give wish list to parties,” it states:

More than 100 farmers’ organisations from about 14 states on Thursday presented a charter of demands to political parties for their considering while preparing the manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections. 

The groups demanded guarantee of minimum income for farm households, ecologically sustainable farming, shift to organic farming and control of rural communities over agricultural resources, including land, water, forests and seeds. They also demanded that open-air release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the garb of field trials be stopped.

Regarding the disturbing trend of suicides sweeping across India’s agricultural sector, the report states:

Citing census data, farmers’ representatives said on an average, one farmer commits suicide every half an hour. Everyday, hundreds of farmers are quitting agriculture. 

“The average monthly income of an overwhelming majority of Indian farmers is far less than what their average monthly expenditure is, making it difficult for most farm households to make their ends meet,” said Kavita Kuruganti, convenor for Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture.

Clearly, the agricultural sector of India is failing, and it is not because it has not resigned itself to the devices and designs of foreign big-agri corporations, but precisely because it already has. In rebuttal to the growing backlash against corporations like Monsanto, Western media outlets have proposed that the farmers are wrong about why they claim they are killing themselves, and suggests instead it is both neither as serious as portrayed, and certainly not the result of big-agri’s role in monopolizing India’s agricultural sector.

The National Post, in its article, “The myth of India’s ‘GM genocide’: Genetically modified cotton blamed for wave of farmer suicides,” admits that:

A 2011 report published by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) claimed the sale of expensive genetically modified seeds to rural Indian farmers was a key factor contributing to the growing suicide crisis. 

“Multinational agribusiness corporations took advantage of India’s new market globalization … by aggressively promoting the introduction of genetically modified seeds in Indian agriculture,” said the report.

But then counters by claiming:

But in 2008, the International Food Policy Research Institute, an alliance of 64 governments, private foundations, and international and regional organizations that aims to end hunger in the developing world, reached an entirely different conclusion. 

“It is not only inaccurate, but simply wrong to blame the use of Bt cotton as the primary cause of farmer suicides in India,” said the report, stating that the introduction of Bt cotton in India had actually been effective in producing higher yields and decreasing pesticide usage by nearly 40%.

The credibility and objectivity of the “International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPR),” particularly in regards to the use of Bt cotton in India, is compromised by the fact that its donors list is dominated by organizations of which Monsanto and other GMO purveyors fund directly.

For example, the “Better Cotton Initiative” which funds the IFPR is in turn backed by big-agri giant Cargill. Another IFPR donor is Crop Life International, which in turn is funded by BASF, Bayer, Dow AgroSciences, DuPont, Monsanto, Syngenta, and others. The laundering of big-agri cash and support through proxy organizations to conceal their involvement only further raises suspicion regarding the integrity and veracity of the IFPR’s contradictory report – a report that just so happens to define reality in terms that suits big business.

And of course, the National Post itself appears compromised, with its article parroting, almost verbatim, the official rebuttal posted on Monsanto’s official website regarding Bt cotton. Offered up in a post titled, “Is Bt or GMO Cotton the Reason for Indian Farmer Suicides,” Monsanto also claims “multiple societal issues are contributing to an unacceptably frequent occurrence of farmer suicides in India,” just as the National Post does – and to no one’s surprise, references the very report the recipient of Monsanto’s laundered funding published.

And while big-agri attempts to deflect attention away from the impact of genetically modified crops, the big-agri chemical racket even without the use of GMO has resulted in the ruination of farmers nationwide not just in India, but in nearby Thailand as well. Were big-agri’s miracle cures as good as they claim, farmers worldwide would be enjoying unprecedented, undeniable prosperity, rather than constantly living upon a razor’s edge, and more often than not falling into the abyss all together.

India’s Grassroots are Fighting Back 

Read more at New Eastern Outlook... 

Permaculture: A Healthy Sustainable Alternative to Big-Agri

Image: Considerations at the center of the Permaculture
philosophy. Image via Northey Street City Farm. 

March 12, 2014 (David Ring -LocalOrg) Permaculture is a combination of two words, permanent culture, which evolved from a previous and narrower definition, Permanent agriculture. It is a way of life which nurtures and propagates a healthy and sustainable lifestyle, guided by its three tenets: earth care, people care, and fair share. 

Permaculture, according to one of its founders, Bill Mollison, is:

"...a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system."

The monocrop, a large area of land where only one type of crop is cultivated, is a modern innovation that does not exist naturally. It is an easy way to produce a lot of one type of crop over a short time. But, as time passes, the crop will use up the soils resources and will be unable to grow, which thus necessitates for fertilizers, which provide the plant with enough of the nutrients for it to grow. There is no natural balance. In the same way, the abundance of a single crop creates an environment where pests, rodents, bacteria, insects, etc., which thrive on this crop will readily multiply, thus necessitating pesticides in order to curb this. Farmers who have adapted the monocrop system soon realize that they have become dependent on fertilizers and pesticides as their depleted soil can no longer produce crops on its own. These farmers must continue to rely on non-natural and non-renewable methods of sustaining their crop and thus their livelihood, which has led to hundreds of thousands of farmers, reaping little beyond despair, committing suicide.

This system, including the fertilizers and pesticides, even without considering the genetically modified seeds whose predatory nature has resulted in billion dollar lawsuits, is neither healthy nor sustainable. It supplies us with the food we need, though the nutritional equality has been controversial, at the cost of exposing these dangerous pesticides to us and our environment. Yet, nature has provided us with a working system that eliminates all of these unhealthy elements. Permaculture stems from the incorporation of that natural system and adapting it into our modern lives. 

Image: Unlike monoculture in which a tract of land is used to grow a single crop, permaculture cultivates many kinds of crops - leveraging multiple beneficial symbiotic relationships between organisms to promote healthy and sustainable crop production. Understanding and working with nature is an important part of permaculture philosophy. 

Permaculture continues to extend beyond this by using natural resources to create buildings. Rammed earth, bamboo, log, or other natural ways to build homes have

By adapting a natural method of cultivation, we create a way for the earth to continue to be used for future generations, earth care, while still utilizing it for our needs, people care.

By limiting our dependencies, by modelling after nature, and by helping each other through the sharing of knowledge and resources, a simple but happy lifestyle can readily be achieved.

Utilizing the Principles of Permaculture

The principles and techniques of permaculture can be utilized in both rural and urban settings. Their utilization will not only facilitate both the sought after sustainability of resources and healthy lifestyles, but it will also create a sustainable civilization by limiting the reliance on large companies and government, whose huge power, so prone to corruption, has so often been at odds with humanity’s best interests.

Modern Organic Farming in Thailand

January 31, 2014 (LocalOrg) - Rice farming and agriculture in general is an integral part of Thai history, culture, and Thailand's economy both past and present. Today, however, big-business and global markets have pushed farmers here in directions that may ultimately be self-defeating. Trapped in what can be called a "chemical loop," and with multinational big-agri hovering nearby waiting to corrupt, capitalize, and monopolize Thailand's agricultural-genetic heritage, solutions need to be found.

Image: From Asia City Online's interview with organic farmer and owner of Ploen Khao Baan which promotes organic farming in Thailand. 

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One such solution is helping farmers return to a more natural, self-reliant, and higher quality of farming - organic farming. In an Asia City Online interview with Nattawan Kamklai, owner of Ploen Khao Baan which promotes organic farming in Suphan Buri, province - some of these solutions are explored.

It was health issues that spurred Nattawan to begin eating healthier, and flooding in Bangkok that disrupted urban infrastructure that made her think about the difference between self-sufficiency and precarious dependency on others. She deduced that despite all the luxuries urbanites surround themselves with, there are four basic requisites: food, home, medicine and clothes.

Indeed, and developing local solutions to address all of these, independently and out from under big-business monopolies has been the focus of many who realize real power comes from exercising it yourself through technical and pragmatic means, not empowering others to do it for you at the ballot box. Leveraging technology so one individual can do more and do it better, than previously done by large corporations or governments, is truly the best way to redistribute wealth and empowerment across society.

In Nattawan's case, she decided to focus on agriculture and in particular organic farming. In Thailand, there already exists organizations that specialize in imparting knowledge of organic farming to both farmers who wish to make the change, and urbanites who wish to get their hands dirty for the first time.

One of these is the Khao Kwan Foundation - located about 2 hours north of Bangkok. Nattawan would begin her journey here, learning the basics, before starting her own pro-organic organization - Ploen Khao Baan. Research, field work, and a sense of mission turned her personal ideals into tangible and pragmatic solutions that not only solved her own problems - allowing her to both eat healthier and reclaim a degree of freedom and independence she previous lacked, but now helps others do the same through Ploen Khao Baan - which offers free training to farmers seeking to escape the "chemical loop."

Nattawan serves as an example that the best and quickest way to solve a problem is to do it yourself, locally, through technical and pragmatic means. Nattawan's parting advice in the interview would be:

Farmers know how to live on their own, finding and growing food independently, not like city folk who need money for food. Urban people forget what’s natural. They think they can control everything with money. They never think of self-reliance, which is a basic fact of healthy living.

We should stop going crazy about how things look, then farmers won’t feel pressured to use chemicals for perfect-looking produce. Remember that nature isn’t perfect. As end users, we’re the most important in this cycle. If we request organic food, then farmers will produce more.

Indeed - it is the decisions we make everyday, in how we invest our time, money, and attention, that determines the true shape of society, not "elections." Elected representatives will always serve those interests who pay best - so in order for the average person who is unable to pay anything at all, true change will have to be the result of our own two hands. And for those that are unable to begin farming now - simply eating better, and supporting farmers who have made the choice to do better for themselves and others - it is a small but important step in the right direction.

Seeds in the City - Cuba

November 24, 2012 (Journeyman Pictures - 2003) - This is the remarkable story of how the people of Havana have pulled themselves back from the brink of disaster.

Faced with food shortages and widespread hunger, city dwellers began growing food on rooftops and in front of office buildings. "It was a very spontaneous movement. People started to grow things on every available place", states on resident. Now, there are thousands of urban farms and more than a million tons of food is produced within the city.

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Organic Farming: The Choreography of Polyculture

Joel Salatin introduces Polyface Farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. 

Joel Salatin
UCBerkley OCW
November 6, 2012

 Joel Salatin's presentation begins at 5:50 minutes.

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