Corporate farming has disrupted an independent economic model and a way of life that was common just a few generations ago. Things were different when America’s farming economy was based on countless small, independent producers who then sold their products at rural cooperatives or directly to markets.
Today, a few large food producers including Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland and Tyson, and a few large (mostly) chemical companies, including Dow Agro Sciences, Cargill and, yes, Monsanto, have a corner not only on our food supplies but the products used to raise them. This consolidation of our farm and food supplies creates huge problems, not just in this country, but world wide.
FREE SHIPPING!
With the right gardening supplies growing local, organic food is easy! Planet Natural has everything you need to get started: heirloom seeds, soils and fertilizers. Need advice? Visit our Vegetable Gardens Blog for the ideas, know-how and practical experience you need to get the job done right.
In the last few years, we’ve seen a reversal of this trend with independent, often organic farmers not only raising healthy food but being good stewards of the land. Yet the acreage involved is still minuscule compared to the vast miles of commercial farmland in the midwest, the south, and in California, where big corporate agriculture has a grip. But here, too, there are signs of change. We were reminded of this recently with the passing of Dick Thompson of Boone, Iowa, who early on saw that the chemical laden ways of big agriculture weren’t all they were cracked up to be and set about trying to find ways to grow his crops more efficiently and more successfully.
Thompson first embraced industrial farming on his 300 acres when he started out in 1958. “We purchased everything the salesman had to sell,” Thompson told the Rodale Institute in 2002. “The rotation was continuous corn, with high rates of anhydrous, herbicides and insecticides. We were building a kingdom where enough was not enough. When sickness became the rule and health was the exception on our farm, we knew things had to change.”
That change came in 1968. Thompson gave up on pesticides and herbicides. He started rotating crops for nitrogen replacement and soil building — corn-soybeans-corn-oats-hay — rather than planting corn year after year and saturating the ground with fertilizer (or simply rotating corn with soybeans). He developed a system of ridge planting that contained weeds naturally. After harvest, he planted a cover crop of rye. At the next spring’s planting, his cover crop was returned to the soil between the ridges, smothering weeds and improving the soil. He reintroduced farm animals into what is now mostly a monoculture of single crops, using humane breeding and raising practices as well as hormone and antibiotic-free feed.
Thompson — like all good farmers — kept meticulous records and they began to show that his yields per acre — and profits — were better than those who relied on the old industrial spray-and-pray system. Even when other farmers suffered losses, Thompson would turn a profit (he made it a rule not to accept payments from Federal crop insurance programs).
Thompson not only developed “new” effective, sustainable farming methods — over 50 research projects were conducted on his farm beginning in 1987 — he shared that information as best he could. Some 40,000 people visit the Thompson farm over the years. And Thompson was a founding member of Practical Farmers of Iowa, an organization devoted to sustainable farms. From their vision statement: “Farms that are prized for their diversity of crops and livestock; Their wildlife, healthy soils, innovations, beauty and productivity; Their connection to a rich past and a fulfilling present where individuals and families are earning a good living; Wholesome food that is celebrated for its connections to local farmers, to seasons, to hard work, and good stewardship.”
Thompson was also central to the creation of the Leopold Center For Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, one of America’s premier farming and conservation centers.
In these days where we often think of big farmers as the villain — those same farmers often demonized in the public eye by the chemical companies that have sold them an expensive bill of goods — it’s important to remember that many of them are starting to see the light. Thompson wasn’t an organic purist. He wasn’t certified and even considered planting GMO Bt corn in an attempt to avoid using pesticides. But he did point the way to better profits by using fewer (or no) pesticides and chemical fertilizers. It’s best to remember him as a practicalist, someone who didn’t buy the bill of goods the agra-chemical companies are selling, and who found his own, more productive, earth-friendly way of farming. And that’s progress.
Eric Vinje founded Planet Natural with his father Wayne in 1991, originally running it as a grasshopper bait mail-order business out of a garage.
Eric is now retired, but is still a renowned gardener known for his expertise in composting, organic gardening and pest control, utilizing pesticide-free options, such as beneficial insects.
Eric believes when you do something good for the environment, the effects will benefit generations to come.
Recommended Products
Bio-Live (5-4-2)
A special mix to make sure your plants are covered from leaf tip to root hair.
$14.95Read more
Organic Chicken Manure
Sup'r Green provides over 5 times more plant food value than steer manure.
$14.95Read more
Liquid Kelp Extract
Contains over 70 minerals, micronutrients, amino acids and plant vitamins.
Read more
Copyright © 2004-2023
4 Responses to “Sustainable Farming, Soil and Big Agriculture”
I read your article with interest. My dad, in the 1960’s, was an organic farmer. He rotated crops, planted cover crops to keep weeds under control, and never, ever used chemicals. Yes, my friends and I also made extra money hoeing crops. Unfortunately, the bank didn’t agree with his methods and pushed him to become a conventional farmer, like all his neighbors. He saw his neighbors going under, selling land to the big boys, and even committing suicide. He opted to get out of farming.
On the other hand, his brother farmed conventionally. He used any chemical brought his way, he took government money to NOT grow certain crops, and he played the game. It drove my dad crazy! But his brother has been able to continue farming, and has passed it on to his son. I wonder if his son agrees with conventional farming? Or if he’s going to be part of the change? I hope his son sees a different and better way to farm.
Isn’t this what we were taught in science classes in grade school and middle school back in the 60’s? Crop rotation replenished or at least didn’t drain the soil of the same nutrients year after year! Why is this such a “new” concept?
That is the way my father farmed in Illinois in the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s. He believed that if you farmed with way the “college boys” (extension service) said, you would go broke. I am seeing more every day that he was right!
I am not a farmer, just an avid gardener. Seven years ago I was shocked by the steep increase in prices for yard and garden chemicals. So I decided to stop using them and see what would happen. My flower and vegetable gardens are healthier, and more productive than ever before. Although I would use chemicals if there was a need, so far I haven’t had any problems with diseases or pests, and each year my vegetable yields go up. Stop believing the advertising claims of chemical companies.