Farming

Farming

One example of sustainable farming is an Indigenous tradition from the Oneida. It is called The Three sisters. The Three Sisters is an integrated agriculture system of growing corn, beans and squash together in a mutually supporting way. Industrial culture calls this method, intertillage.

Corn, beans and squash are grown together in the same mound. The corn provides a tall structure for the beans to grow on, the beans return and fix nitrogen into the soil for the corn, squash spreads out between the mounds to provide ground cover and limit weeds. These are complementary foods, meaning that when they are eaten together, or when two are eaten together, they work in unison to provide complete protein, minerals, amino acids and vitamins. The crop yield is more than enough to sustain large populations of humans. 

The traditional Oneida farm is called Tsyunhehkwa (Joon hey-kwa), meaning literally, “It provides life for us”.

Today, the Oneida food system has three parts - 

The Production Division - Shakoh^ta?slu.ni’he?, meaning, “He prepares the fields for them”.

The Processing division - Tsi?tkutekhuwa.y^he’, meaning, “Where they put the food away”.

And, the Distribution Division - Lutunhetsla?nikulale?, meaning, “They look after all living things”.

They look after all living things.

How many retail food outlets take this up as their mission? How about food distributors or wholesalers? What a different world it would be if this was the view of all entities associated with food production. 

CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farms are a bridge between the sustainable and unsustainable. People in many cities seek out CSA farms. Most CSA farms need little marketing effort, as they find there is no lack of people wanting shares. But how do city customers view the  CSA entity as a food source? Are they simply buying a box of groceries, or are they seeing this as an alternative to a faulty system of food distribution? Or, somewhere in between?

Many CSA farms require that their members work on the farm itself. These workers help the farmers offset the enormous amounts of labor that it takes to run the farm and get the crops to harvest. The CSAs that have a working membership also have the highest retention rate of members. People get connected to the farm if they work there. They see where their food comes from first hand. They help grow and mature it. They help harvest and prepare it. They also help deliver it. They participate directly in their food source. They see the effort and love it takes to produce food for themselves and for other people.

In industrial society, and especially in cities, there is a profound disconnect from the source of people’s food. Food is purchased in stores and how it got to the store is almost never witnessed. Possibly, the delivery trucks are seen, and that is all. But, by working the land to produce their own food, people who live in cities regain the connections they have lost. They become part of the real world again.

Many CSA farms are attempting to be more sustainable. In the context of CSA farms, sustainability is choosing what works in their area. Besides trying to live in equilibrium with the land - taking from the land as much as the farm gives back to the land - farmers are using techniques adapted to their climates. Hoop houses, green houses, cover crops and crop rotation can help. But, in cold climates the green houses have to be heated above 32 degrees in order to produce food in the winter. To do this by burning fuel is counterproductive, expensive and not sustainable. Using passive heating techniques to offset or eliminate the use of fuel is a much more sound approach.

If done correctly, farming puts back into the soil potentially everything it takes. However, this is a very difficult goal to achieve. It requires careful planning and knowledge from the farmer. It requires a society willing to support the farmer’s efforts and to do without when conditions dictate it. Labor, knowledge, commitment, community and a love of the earth are what is needed for a more sustainable farming future.

Farming is very difficult. In today’s society many farmers purchase some form of labor saving input for their farm, like sprays, compost or machinery. The machines have to be built, parts have to be made, fuel to manufacture the machines has to be drilled for, transported, refined, transported again and finally used. Sprays and compost have to be manufactured, trucked to the stores so they can be bought, and so on.

A family farm or independent farm has a very difficult time making a living solely from farming. The farmers often have jobs outside of the farm in order to maintain a steady and consistent cash flow. Some farmers cannot make ends meet and quit, moving back into the cities. Those who continue cite the amount of labor and how hard it is to produce food for others. But they also cite how enjoyable farming is. They believe in the system of food production they are participating in. They are passionate. They are in touch with the Earth.

However, as farms get larger, the work load increases to the point where a farmer must use more machinery to farm, thus making the farm less and less sustainable. A large, fully mechanized corporate run farm cannot be sustained without vast amounts of infrastructure behind it, nor can a small family farm using machinery and goods that are factory made. The factories that manufacture all these things do not put back.

One model for an alternate farming structure is the Old Order Amish style of farming. In this style of farming, few machines are used. Transportation is not motorized. Agriculture is done by human and animal power. Fertilizing is done by composting and using the manure produced by animals. Yields are substantial enough to produce surplus. This surplus is sometimes sold or traded using a communally owned truck. Community structure is mutually supporting. Homes and out buildings are built by hand and by members of the community.

Resources are shared

not sold.

The future of local agriculture, and quite possibly all food distribution, is that farmers must ultimately unify in small, localized organizations to pool resources and to strengthen themselves as individual farmers. This can be extended to the surrounding populations who could pool with the farmers, sharing their labor and their resources in a mutual relationship and creating an interdependent community.

There was a time in human history when the entire surrounding population would come out and harvest the crops that they all planted together on land that they all shared. They all lived and worked in accordance with the seasons. Everyone grew their own food together for the whole community. The community worked together. Today, the seasons are heralded by retail merchandise changes. Only a few people are farmers. Most everyone else buys their food from a store. 

In this country all people can be fed with organic based agriculture, especially if people change their eating habits and expectations. But this takes labor and knowledge not machines, chemicals and manipulated genes. To do this there need to be more farmers, not necessarily more land under tillage. The corporate and mono-crop operations need to be broken up into smaller farms owned by more farmers. Less plants need to be grown to feed animals for slaughter or to provide ingredients for processed foods or to manufacture fuel. More plants need to be grown to be fed directly to people. The land needs to grow different plants and not all the same plant. There needs to be diversity. There needs to be companion growing, intertillage and the mindset of The Three Sisters. There needs to be a greater attachment of those who live in cities to their food supply.

There needs to be a greater awareness of the rhythms of the Earth.

There need to be more gardeners.

There need to be more gardens

everywhere.

“If we’re not sustainable or living a sustainable life the Earth will figure it out, and that will be OK.”

Erin Altemus