| December
13, 2007: Ah, the Holiday season. A time to enjoy
family and friends. A time when most folks share in the bounty
of our farms. A time when those special recipes come out,
when baking takes center stage, and when the food we work
all year to produce fills our kitchens and our stomachs (as
we try not to gain too many pounds).
It’s also a time of year when we should all reflect
on the blessings of the past year and give thanks.
This is also the time to make lists.
The type of lists I’m thinking of this year aren’t
the standard winter or Christmas list. You know, the naughty
and nice list, the holiday shopping list, the repair list
for the shop, the task list for the farm, etc.
No, the lists I’m thinking about this year are the
list of prices and costs that have risen, and the list of
effects skyrocketing grain prices are having on all of us.
We’re all aware of the escalating cost of energy today.
We see it in our bill for diesel fuel, gasoline at the pump
and home-heating fuel. We’re also painfully aware of
the cost these energy prices are having on just about everything
we buy for our farms. Chemical fertilizer, if you happen to
buy that (as an organic farm, we don’t) is intrinsically
linked to the cost of natural gas. Anything that needs trucking,
from parts to supplies. And, of course, feed.
A bushel of conventional corn is hovering around the $4 mark,
conventional soybeans are still around $11 a bushel, and look
at where conventional wheat prices are. Let’s look at
organic prices: corn between $10 and $11 a bushel, and soybeans
between $17 and $20 a bushel. This all sounds too good to
be true, if you are selling grain. But these commodities need
to be converted into food and feed crops, and I’m not
sure if these prices are sustainable.
Certainly the ethanol market (energy) is driving much of
these market prices. But where will it end? I’ve heard
some folks say they expect to see $15 organic corn and $30
organic soybeans. How will dairy and poultry producers be
able to afford to feed their livestock? And, is this really
good for agriculture? I’m not so sure.
The other list I’m thinking about is the list of reasons
to transition your operation to certified organic. The reason
I’m thinking about this is because when conventional
grain prices are high it’s the perfect time to consider
transitioning grain farms. Why? Because, while you are beginning
to farm in an organic system you’ll still be selling
your crops into the conventional market, where the prices
being paid for the commodities is at all-time highs. You’ll
also be changing your crop rotation, diversifying it to include
some small grains or other minor crops. So, while those various
crops are bringing as much as they ever have in history, the
risk to your income is reduced. This is also true for dairy
farms. Milk prices paid to farmers are high, making the transition
of cropland to organic production look very favorable.
Years ago, OK, many years ago—back when I got involved
in organic farming in the mid-’70s—most organic
farmers were moving toward organic for philosophical reasons.
Then in the ’90s—and continuing through today—the
growth in our industry has really come to be based on the
fact that consumers are demanding more products; the supply
is generally short, and dollars have become the driving force.
As we look to the future, the list of reasons farmers will
transition will be even more varied. Let’s get back
to one of our earlier lists and look at energy. It takes less
overall energy to produce crops using organic systems than
by conventional methods. This is mostly due to the production
of chemical fertilizers and herbicides. What the data shows
is that we can save more than 35 percent of the energy needed
to produce corn simply by converting to organic systems.
We can also sequester larger amounts of carbon using the
same organic approach. What does all this mean to you and
me? It means that as our society begins to value energy conservation
and the removal of greenhouse gases from our atmosphere as
much as it does the production of food, we’ll be able
to be rewarded for farming practices that improve our environment.
So my list of reasons for transitioning to organic now includes
more than just doing the right thing and making more money,
it also includes energy conservation and reducing greenhouse
gas emissions. What a list …Oh yes, and we also produce
highly nutritious food!
Take some time to write up your own list and send
it to me. We can share ideas across the fields.
From One Farm to Another,
Jeff
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