E22-Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 22, 2003 f Let Them Eat Grass Innovative Extension Project Shows Consumers , Farmers How To Enjoy The Benefits Of‘Grass-Fed’ Animal Products Joanna Green Cornell University Are you a small-scale farm er looking for an enjoyable, environmentally sound, and profitable business idea? Maybe you should consider teaming up with consumers who are looking for a health ier and more delicious diet: a diet based on grass. There is a new agricultural movement in the U.S. aimed at producing healthier, hap pier animals while meeting consumer’s demand for food they feel good about. The grass-fed movement promotes livestock grazing as a more enjoyable and less stressful lifestyle for both farmers and farm animals. A growing number of consumers are turning to grass-fed meats, poultry, dairy products and eggs as a way to enjoy animal products without feeling guilty about the environment, animal welfare, or their own diet. Joan Petzen, Agricultural Extension Issue Leader with Cornell Cooperative Exten sion Allegany/Cattaraugus Counties, thinks “grass-fed” is a great opportunity for small farmers in her western New York area. “We’ve done a lot of work with grazing out here in the last few years,” said Petzen. “We have very active pasture groups in Cattaraugus, Alle gany and Chautauqua Coun ties,” Petzen credits her col leagues in Cooperative Exten sion, Natural Resource Con servation Service, Seneca Trail Resource Conservation and Development, and the New York Pasture Association (NYPA) with creating a strong partnership to support grazing. But until recently, she hadn’t given much thought to the role consumers could play in supporting this kind of farming. Family-Friendly Farming All of that changed when Petzen heard about the work of Joel Salatin, a Virginia farmer and author who has pioneered small-scale grass based farming systems. Salatin’s books include Pas tured Poultry Profits: Net $23,000 in Six Months on 20 Acres; Salad Bar Beef: The Entrepre- neur’s Guide to Start and Succeed in a Farming Enter- prise; and Family Friendly Farming: A Multi-Generational Home-Based Busi ness Testament. His family’s farm, Polyface, Inc. (“Farm of Many Faces”) has been featured in Smithso- nian Magazine and National Geograph- “Joel is passionate about family-friend ly farming,” said Petzen. “He’s inspir ing and he has a lot of dirt-under-the fingernail experi ence.” She' 'first' heard about Salatin from a local pas ture group member who sug gested bringing him to west ern New York to generate interest in producing and marketing grass-fed livestock. “I got excited about the possibilities,” Petzen said. “I see all this land growing up in brush around us, and it really could be excellent pasture land.” Petzen set to work with a group of farmers and col leagues from Extension and NRCS to organize a series of workshops with Salatin. She applied for and received an “Innovative Small Farm Edu cation Grant” from ComeU’s Small Farms Program, which helped keep the workshops af fordable for participants. Workshop Organizers rec ognized that it wasn’t enough to get farmers interested in producing grass-fed products. They wanted to begin to de velop a local demand for di rect-marketed, grass-fed prod ucts. Organizers worked with Salatin to plan two workshops for consumers, and two for farmers. “Eat Better Than You Ever Dreamed Possible” took place Oct. 10, 2002 in Fredonia, N.Y. and again on Oct. 11, in Allegany, N.Y., attracting more than 120 interested con sumers. Participants learned from Salatin about the health bene fits of grass-fed meats, and were able to meet local pro ducers like Keith Freeman and Jane Burlingame, who are already raising livestock using Salatin’s methods. And they got a chance to network with like-minded consumers, nutritionists and farmers in terested in building up a local grass-fed industry. The farmer workshops “Farming For Profit, Pleasure, and Production,” were con ducted Oct. 11, 2002 in Randolph, N.Y., and again on Oct. 12 in Alfred, N.Y. One hundred and forty-five farm ers attended the workshops. There they heard from Salatin not only about production is sues like “letting the animals do the work” but also about the need to develop strong re lationships with consumers who will seek out and support local farmers. “People were really inspired by what Salatin had to say!” says Petzen. “Folks in the con sumer workshops were so ex cited to make connections with local farmers it was al most like a rally!” She says farmers had so many ques tions for Salatin that the speaker could hardly get out of the room. As one indication that west ern New York farmers are se rious about 'this new enter prise, Petzen points out that 95 of the 145 farmers partici pating in the workshops also purchased one of Salatin’s books. “I think if farmers are willing to invest $25 in one of these books, on top of the $2O workshop fee, that shows some serious interest.” Seven ty-five percent of farmers at the workshops reported that they plan to do something with grass-fed livestock in the coming season. Interest in grass-fed beef, pork and poultry is at an all time high among New York’s small-scale farmers. With growing numbers of consum ers and restaurants looking for healthful, local products, pasture-based livestock farm ing offers a promising oppor tunity. Joan Petzen and her colleagues In Western New York think the potential is huge. “This kind of enterprise is something that’s really needed in our .area. I expect to see a lot more grass farming next year and in years to come.” For more information about grass-farming and other small farm topics, visit the Small Farms Program web site at: www.smallfarms.comell.edu. Grass Farming Resources • www.smaufarms.comel l.edu • N.Y. Pasture Association. Contact Janice Brown at (716) 466-7680. • Grass-Fed Animal Prod ucts: Good for Animals, Peo ple, and the Planet, http:// www.consciouschoice.com/ food/grassfed 141 l.html. • Graze-NY: www.graze ny.com. • Northeast Pasture Re search and Extension Consor tium: www.umaine.edu/ grazingguide. Organic Agriculture Depends On Inorganic Nutrients Tom Bruulsema Adrian Johnston NORCROSS, Ga. Organ ic agriculture is expanding and receiving increased public attention. The “USDA Organ ic” label came into effect on Oct. 21 of 2002. Organic food sales in North America total about 10 billion dollars annu ally almost two percent of total food. This expansion raises a question: Are there sufficient nutrients for organic agriculture? Organic standards require nutrients to be chiefly from or ganic sources, such as ma nures and composts, and pre ferably generated on-farm. The major certifying bodies exclude use of the synthetic and soluble forms of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers that transformed agriculture beginning in the 19th century. They differ on allowable forms of potassium fertilizers. Sole reliance on nutrients generated on-farm limits pro ductivity, even if all products remain on the farm. Soil re serves of plant-available phos phorus and potassium are fin ite. And only certain crops,— legumes such as alfalfa, clo vers, arid soybeans can con tribute nitrogen to the system by fixing some or all of their needed nitrogen. There are or ganic farms that produce good yields per acre, but in order to do so sustainably, they have to bring in nutrients from off the farm. A recent study in the northeast Great Plains, for ex ample, found crops produced organically to yield only 44 to 75 percent of those produced conventionally. The study concluded that low levels of phosphorus and sulfur in the soil not only limited yield, but also could limit nitrogen fixa tion by legumes. As long as the percentage of the land area farmed organi cally remains small, supply of organic nutrients from neigh boring farms won’t be a prob lem. Composts, crop residues, and animal manures all con tain nutrients derived in part from commercial fertilizer nu trients, either directly applied or applied in other places at some time in the past. And even after many years of tran sition to organic farming, soils still contain phosphorus and potassium built up by com mercial fertilizer use. So or TOP HAY CROPS Rotary Tedders Available in 9' & 14' models. Both models have spring tines & tilt adjustment. Can be adapted for horse use. I Fjord Horae* For Salel I & Horse Drawn Equipment I Stud Service* Available I - gm* I&J • SSkJt kKti My Manufacturing WW- > iTSH.'jri /. i *s'tV*V game fanners, too, benefit from North America’s long history of applying commer cial fertilizer nutrients. Commercial fertilizers sup ply nutrients in the inorganic form the form that plants actually absorb to boost the growth of plants. Plants are the only original producers of the organic materials that structure and cover the soil and feed its organisms. So in organic nutrients are vital to the biology and health of the soil ecosystem. Across North America, crops currently remove about 77 percent of the nitrogen sup plied in fertilizers, recoverable from manures, and fixed by legumes. The figure for phos phorus is about 95 percent. Some losses occur, but grow ers have made progress over the past two or three decades in reducing them. Soil potassi um, however, is currently being depleted. Crops remove about 44 percent more K than is supplied in fertilizers and recoverable manure. Part of the appeal of organ ic food is its perceived health fulness and nutritional quali ty. Such qualities, however, are not related to the form organic or inorganic of nu trients applied, but do depend on the relative amounts ap plied. For example, it has long been known that nitrogen can boost carotene, but reduces vi tamin C. Potassium boosts ly copene in tomatoes and isofla vones in soybeans. Applying the right rates of soluble inor ganic nutrients contributes a lot toward the goal of produc ing healthy food. Commercial fertilizer nutri ents have played a large role in the success of today’s farms directly with those that apply them, and indirectly with the few that don’t. All of agriculture should be oriented toward producing healthy food not just a few on the fringe. (It is the inorganic nu trients taken up by plants that produce healthy food, regard less of the source). The Earth’s large reserves of inor ganic nutrients can help sus tain an agriculture that pro duces abundant food that is as healthy and as environmental ly benign as those who pur chase “organic” want it to be. with l&J equipment Rotary Rakes Available in 3pt. or trailing, engine driven. PTO, or ground drive. Engineered to hold up on rugged terrain. 3pt Hitch Rotary Rake in transport position. Mowers ' • Scissors action cutting • 7' working width • No plugging! ,
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