Sorry for the absence of postings. I have been busy re-branding our company. We put a lot of thought into the name of our company, Freedom Family Ranches. Yet, as we proceed with the efforts to acquire funding we have found that the trend is towards organic. So we have developed a new name and branding. Please take a few moments of your valuable time and check us out at P2P Organics. I am entertaining a thought of moving the blog over to that site also. Any feed back that you might have will be greatly appreciated.

For much of history, traditional agriculture was characterized by animal traction and diversified farming operations that included crop and livestock components in a mutual and sustainable relationship. The agricultural revolutions and rapid adoption of modern farming broke this mutual relationship and replaced holistic systems with reductionist components. This process terminates today wherein biotechnology replaces nature as the focus of agricultural innovations.

Several reports published in the 1980s documented the negative environmental and social impacts of modern agriculture and suggested increased support for alternative and/or organic agriculture. The USDA Report and Recommendations on Organic Farming provided scientific evidence of yield, net returns, and established principles of organic agriculture. (So organic agriculture works? So it would seem.) This report was rejected by the incoming Reagan Administration, which also abolished the Organic Resources Coordinator position in USDA. The combination of these reports provided evidence in support of the need to develop USDA programs in sustainable agriculture research and education that made agriculture safer for humans and the environment and more productive for future
generations. Critics warned that organic agriculture was not profitable and that it could not feed the world‘s growing population. To avoid some of these formidable critics, advocates of organic agriculture began supporting the term ―sustainable agriculture‖ as the proposed alternative to the dominant form of chemical-intensive agriculture. This strategy was successful . Due to extensive lobbying by advocates of alternative agriculture, the 1985 Food Security Act included provisions to support the development of sustainable agriculture. In 1988 the Low-Input Sustainable Agriculture Program (USDA/LISA) was created. The goal of the LISA competitive grants program was to develop and promote widespread adoption of more sustainable agricultural systems that would meet the food and fiber needs of the present while enhancing the ability of future generations to meet their needs and promoting the quality of life for rural people and all of society. An innovative provision of LISA was that farmers must be heavily involved in the program. The organizational structure of LISA was created to accommodate regional practices and research needs. The structure included a national director, four regional coordinators, and in each region an Administrative Council (AC) to set program goals and oversee grants programs and a Technical Review Committee (TRC) to review the grant proposals for scientific merit. The AC was to consist of a broad mix of farmers, LGU scientists, USDA/government agency representatives, agribusiness representatives, and non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives. Congress expected LISA to approach agricultural research from a non-conventional perspective and not replicate the existing USDA programs. LISA was designed to be a science-based grass-roots problem-solving program with major involvement of farmers and NGOs, as well as LGUs, in the management of the program. It was to be a significant departure from the standard or ―business as usual‖ single-discipline, reductionist studies focusing on a small component of the overall farming system. LISA was to support the work of interdisciplinary teams in developing and adopting farming methods and systems that are economically profitable, environmentally sound, and socially acceptable. These three components are referred to as the three legs of the sustainable agriculture stool.

Although Congress lauded LISA‘s innovative work and increased the funding the following year, to deflect criticisms from the chemical industries regarding low-inputs, the FACT Act of 1990 (Food, Agricultural, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990) changed the name of the program from LISA to SARE, the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. Sustainable agriculture was defined as an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having site-specific application that will over the long term: (1) satisfy human food and fiber needs; (2) enhance environmental quality and the natural resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls; (3) sustain the economic viability of farm operations; and (4) enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as whole. As opposed to the top down technology delivery system associated with conventional agriculture and the traditional Extension Service, SARE is built on a participatory research model that values producers‘ knowledge. SARE strives to view farming from a whole-systems approach as compared to the reductionist view of traditional agricultural disciplines. SARE strongly encourages multi-disciplinary and multi-institution research that generates research to enhance environmental quality, economic profitability, and social quality of life. In the same year, the EPA created the ACE (Agriculture in Concert with the Environment) Program. From 1991 through 2001 SARE and ACE funded projects were jointly administered through SARE. SARE budget monies are divided into two competitive grants programs. The Research and Education Program is dedicated to the development of sustainable agriculture innovations/practices. The Professional Development Program is dedicated to ―train the trainer‖ projects with the goal to diffuse the sustainable agriculture innovations/practices from farmers to agricultural educators. A total of more than 3000 projects have been funded since 1988. The budget has increased from the original level of $3.9M in 1988 to almost $19M in 2008, but is still less than one percent of the total research budget in USDA of about $2.3B. (Farmers and ranchers get the short end again.) While there are officially three legs of the sustainability stool, most of SARE‘s projects have addressed environmental quality. SARE‘s focus on environmental issues to the neglect of social and economic equity issues keep it in safer political territory. For some, SARE is only mildly-reformist, too influenced by conventional agricultural through the USDA and the LGUs to be a driver of social change towards substantive forms of sustainable agriculture. So that leaves out profitable and social the other two legs of the stool for sustainable agriculture. We have to develop a complete foundation for our sustainable agriculture. It starts with you as you become more aware of the issues in sustainable agriculture.

Credit for information goes to Douglas H. Constance in his report “Sustainable Agriculture in the United States: A Critical Examination of a Contested Process”

We touched on the Tilapia industry last week so I thought maybe we should look at Aquaculture.  Does it fit in with a sustainable agriculture? I feel that it certainly has a place in sustainability of our food products. So….

What is Aquaculture?

Aquaculture refers to the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of plants and animals in all types of water environments. Aquaculture serves a variety of purposes. Most U.S. marine aquaculture is shellfish while a small percentage is marine finfish. [credit: NOAA Aquaculture Office]

Aquaculture — also known as fish or shellfish farming — refers to the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of plants and animals in all types of water environments including ponds, rivers, lakes, and the ocean.  Researchers and aquaculture producers are “farming” all kinds of freshwater and marine species of fish, shellfish, and plants.  Aquaculture produces food fish, sport fish, bait fish, ornamental fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae, sea vegetables, and fish eggs. For more information check out the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA.

Aquaculture is a great advantage in producing quality food products for our consumption. Aquaculture is becoming an increasingly important source of food available for human consumption. As the number of aquaculture facilities grows, so does the need to develop safe and effective drugs for treating fish diseases. The FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) Office of New Animal Drug Evaluation (ONADE) is working with various government agencies and aquaculture associations to increase the number of safe and effective drugs that can be used by the aquaculture industry. The Minor Use and Minor Species Animal Health Act of 2004  is playing a critical role in making more medications legally available to veterinarians and animal owners to treat minor animal species such as fish.  Additionally, CVM’s Office of Research (OR) has greatly expanded its commitment to aquaculture research. I think with these statements from the FDA that we need to be cautious that we don’t start to develop the same scenario that we have going on in the beef industry today. The use of to many antibiotics and growth enhancers to produce a product faster. As technologies move forward they are hard pressed to get a product to market as fast as they can. Now don’t get me wrong here, I am all for technology enhancing the industry, just don’t let it stay with the product till it gets to my plate. Software, machinery, or material things that get the job done faster are good. We have to come to grips with the end result. I believe we need more long term studies on the effects we are seeing in our future generations. We have to realize that our products will be consumed by our children and their children. I am concerned with our future.

Another aspect we need to consider…

Aquaculture is a huge industry, and the world’s fastest growing food sector. It’s worth a massive US$56 billion globally and provides one-third of the fish people consume. When done properly, some forms of aquaculture can indeed help take pressure off wild fisheries and provide needed income to coastal communities. However, as production rises, so too can aquaculture’s impacts on the environment and wild marine species, through:

competition for space
pollution
escaped farmed fish
parasites and disease
the use of wild-caught fish for fish feed
the use of wild-caught fish for farming
conflict with predators, such as seabirds, seals, and starfish

Again be an informed consumer. Know your food and products. You can help remember-

Our future starts with you!

Sorry for the late post today but it would seem writers block set in this morning and I drew a total blank. (happens more times then I care to remember) I happened to look at Facebook and saw that several of the family members were commenting on the horrors of eating Tilapia. OK well we see it in the grocery stores right? Sure we do back in the frozen fish area. Now, can grocery stores sell something that is supposedly so bad for you? The fact remains that fish are not bad for you it is the environment and way that they are raised. You can look on the net and find horror story after horror story on the reasons we should not eat Tilapia. So you may ask, “What does Tilapia have to do with sustainable agriculture?”  Glad you ask. We have several companies here in the United States that are raising Tilapia in a controlled clean healthy environment. The thing is that there is not enough of these facilities to meet the demand on Tilapia. The public is unaware of the dangers or effects from eating Tilapia from across the waters. You may like to check out the Tilapia Alliance page.

We have people that are looking for a good healthy meal. They see some pretty looking white fish in the cooler and figure, fish is a good food and healthy.  Fish is a low fat, high protein food that has a range of health benefits. We may have to re-examine the  validity of this statement as is expressed in this article from DrAxe.com. Unaware of the complicated issues in the package of fish they are purchasing. We see demand and imports increasing when we should be seeing more Tilapia Farms start up in the U.S.

To meet the demands of food in the United States in the years to come we are going to have to start bringing back the growing of our own food here in the states.

Sustainable Agriculture the future of food.

Sustainable Agriculture in 2010, where there is almost 6.8 billion people living on the face of the earth, commands your attention. World population was quickly on its way to 9 billion by the year 2050. To feed all those mouths, farmers till a little over 21 billion acres worldwide. That seems like a lot, but that land is actually only 3 percent of the world’s surface.
To feed all those people, farmers in the 20th century turned to high-tech agriculture. But in the first decade of the 21st century, some farmers and researchers were wondering whether our high-tech system could be sustained over the long term. There were some obvious future challenges, but little agreement on how we should meet the challenges.
Historians have documented how ancient civilizations died because they could not sustain their agricultural systems. For instance, prehistoric city-states in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) saw successive buildups and failures as the irrigation systems around Baghdad failed.
Modern irrigation problems were just one of the challenges to sustaining today’s agricultural systems –
Do we now start to realize the problem here? In today’s challenges the sustainability and the production of food sources have become a top issue with a lot of people. The question is, “What can we do about it?” Myself I have to admit that buying organic or natural food is a struggle for me because of the cost. Let’s face it, if the price was brought down the average person would certainly look for the healthier choices. Now, what we do about the issue here is certainly going to be price driven. As individuals you can support sustainable agriculture by your power as a voice to speak out and support our nations leaders that are supporting the natural and organic products and producers we use. I personally have developed a project for sustainable agriculture that includes natural and organic beef. Please take a look at our website at www.freedomranches.com.

Here is a concept that might become a norm for the future…

Community Supported Agriculture. One approach to sustainability are CSAs. They have become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of “shares” to the public. Each share gives each member a box of vegetables or other farm products each week. The advantage to the farmer is that they get to market shares during the winter and they get their money up front, helping cash flow. The consumers get ultra fresh food – food that in some CSAs they pick themselves. They also get to know the farmer and the types of produce that grow in their area.

CSAs are more sustainable because they cut down on huge transportation costs that endemic in our large farm economy.
Just as we know that some high-tech agricultural practices are unsustainable, we also know that we don’t yet have all the answers. Sustainable agriculture will be a hot topic for researchers and farmers for the foreseeable future. (information from Living History Farm).

Hope you remember to shop natural and organic when you can if not keep the idea in the forefront of your discussions.

Sustainable Agriculture it’s whats for the future!

Well okay 2013 is gone and 2014 is now off and running. I do hope that each of you has a better year this year than last year. I personally feel this is the year of break through. We all have many items in our lives that we are so close to them becoming a reality that we can taste it. This is the year they come to pass. Hold on to the dreams and hopes that you have in your life. Start today to reach your desires. It may be weight loss or financial security. What ever it is take some action to make it happen. Wake up each day and start it as if it is the beginning of the rest of your life (it is actually). A statement from a book that I have been reading,

“Today’s impossibilities are tomorrows miracles.”

Shop Amazon – New Year, New You in Books

Make this the best New Year you and yours have ever had by thinking of others. It is the little things that you can do that sets the tone for the day. A smile, a door opened for someone or some act of kindness.  Look to make some memories this year that you can reflect on and smile saying, “That was a good time.”

Have a Happy New Year and remember – Sustainable Agriculture our future depends on it.

Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals: environmental stewardship, farm profitability, and prosperous farming communities. If we take this to the ranching industry we have environmental stewardship, ranch profitability, and prosperous ranching communities. For more information about the topic Sustainable agriculture, read the full article at Wikipedia.org. Organic ranching methods combine scientific knowledge and modern technology with traditional ranching practices based on years of agriculture.

Every day, farmers and ranchers around the world develop new, innovative strategies to produce and distribute food, fuel and fiber for sustainable agriculture. While these strategies vary greatly they all embrace three broad goals, or the 3 Pillars of Sustainability:

• Profit over the long term
• Stewardship of our nation’s land, air and water
• Quality of life for farmers, ranchers and their communities

There are almost as many ways to reach these goals as there are farms and ranches in America.

A cattle rancher might divide his rangeland into paddocks in a rotational grazing system to better manage soil and water resources while improving animal productivity. A field crop farmer might implement a rotation to break up pest cycles, improve soil fertility and cut costs, or use cover crops—non-cash crops grown for their benefit to the soil and ability to suppress weeds. A fruit and vegetable grower might try a new marketing approach such as selling directly to restaurants in a nearby city to gain a larger share of the consumer food dollar.

We want to obtain a level of sustainability in our agriculture to keep the future safe and non toxic for our children and their children. As we strive to improve our agriculture ventures we must consider the impact we have as a consumer on the way our foods are produced. It may sound funny but if there were not drops in a bucket there would be nothing in the bucket. We do count as an individual. Make great choices and check back soon for more on sustainable agriculture.

Sustainable Agriculture our future depends on it.

Okay, so with a lot of thought during a period of not blogging, I have decided to align this blog with our web page and our sustainable agriculture project. I hope you will forgive me for taking such a long time to get on track. I have a passion for sustainable agriculture due to all of my beautiful grand children. I want them to have a bright healthy future. One thing we can all do is start thinking about the things we eat, things we drink, and things in our environment that we can make changes that have a positive impact for our children. I am sure that our responsibility to our planet has to start with us. Now, I am not recommending going crazy, chaining yourself to a tree to get your message across. I do encourage you to take an active part in checking your food sources and try to buy natural and organic as much as you can while purchasing from local producers. Until next time.

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Well I am a little bias when suggesting this author but she is part of our family and we love her.