InFARMation meeting notes

Carol's InFARMation meeting notes, 3/6/19, 3 presenters

Statewide, based in Salem, with CO chapter

Future of farming in CO

Mahonia sustainable farms, Sisters.  Less than acre, 18 week CSA, maybe feeding 150 families

32 yo...estimates at 45 they'll be more ready to teach and manage. Glad they don't live on the property. 

All 48" beds built by broad fork. 1' path. 

Lots of compost, says soil is best tool

Bio-intensive

Dense plantings helps with weeds and moisture. 

Mulching creates vole habitats, not good

Closed system compost (all on site)

"Humanure" is part of a closed system, though they don't use that for political reason. Use too many plastic bags for salad greens. 

Sustainability means staying local, eating local, eating in season. Creating relationships with wealthy landowners so small farmers could afford to farm

Claire Sullivan, OSU extension:  how to keep healthy soils (sounds Canadian)

Sandy, dry, not much organic in typical CO  soil

Pasture ground (perennial grass) meets most good soil practices. Annual crops are one of the hardest systems on the soil. No direct monetary payback from cover crop. (Other than building soil). There are spring and summer cover crops. Fall cover crops are better than nothing.

SARE Sustainable Agriculture Research &  Education has a good website

Carbon is not really stored by farming; you need to be using it

Agreed to have a hemp trial on every research station in Oregon. 

Linda, Jeff, DD Ranch. Own 250 acres, lease some of it , over 200 head cattle, lambs, pigs...some in petting zoo. 

Use agro-tourism with plus/minus

Expensive to operate ag in CO, so agro-tourism helps pay the bills.  Passion is raising healthy animals. 

Permitting in Deschutes co is challenging for agro-tourism. Try to do it by not remove land from production. 

They find that people want to see farms, and they want to sell the life. Kind of resent hobby farms have the same rights to agro-tourism. Agro-tourism works if you up sell. 

Friends of Family Farmers— policy issues. Lobbying etc. 

average age of farmers is 60

Hershey's cattle 4-yr aged horse manure is Mahonia farms source. 

Central Oregon —- Madras, compost (where??)

Rain Shadow makes great compost. 

Producing food in high desert is expensive because it's a desert. But if we don't do it locally it's not sustainable.