A contingent of young people are pursuing careers in agriculture attempting to better the world. Small-scale farming offers motivated people an opportunity to create very tangible products anywhere they have access to soil, water, sun, and seeds. For me, farming always felt like something “real” without barriers between the human, the product, and nature. Buzzwords like “regenerative, sustainable, or permaculture” create the allure that our climate issues can be solved through people moving away from the cities and into the county to grow crops and sell them to their community while existing in harmony with nature.
Plants are incredible at sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil. Practices like no-till farming and rotational grazing have demonstrated a clear ability to sequester carbon while increasing soil fertility. However, to truly address climate change these “solutions” need to have longevity. In their role, young farmers (myself very much included), need to learn how to maintain and grow their business as careers. These businesses need to be profitably passed to the next generation to have an consequential effect on climate change.
In the farming world, especially small organic farms, there is lots of turnover. Over the last decade I am the 4th tenant on our 2 acres of leased land. The lack of sticking power makes sense. What other business offers such high risks and low financial rewards?
Burnout and lack of profitability are caused by many factors. Crop loss, weed pressure, overworking, low yields, lack of time with family and loved ones, even an over-abundance can get the best of us down. When combined with variability in weather, corporate centralization, and inflation it is amazing there are people whole-heartedly dedicated to the profession of small-scale agriculture.
We set out with the best of intentions. A focus on soil health, utilizing regenerative practices like composting, cover crops, or rotational grazing. Not tilling makes sense on paper or in a Youtube video until you are staring down a 300 foot bed with a broad-fork in your hands and the sun is going down. We try never to spray organic approved pesticides, but sometimes it’s the difference between a marketable crop or not. Sustainable agriculture is not just a set of ecological practices. This profession requires nuance, careful planning and execution, and the ability to overcome challenges in real time.
Having a lasting beneficial impact on our world requires longevity in our profession. We must focus on practices that both build soil health, keep our bodies from deteriorating into the earth, and most importantly are profitable. If the farm does not make money, it dies.
Climate issues take time. Hundreds if not thousands of years. The last thing we need right now is to be worked into a panic only to find ourselves exhausted, blabbing away at a blog before the sun rises (instead of eating breakfast).
As a consumer, shopping at the farmers market is a great way to spend a morning. As a climate conscious human is it sustainable to shop at the farmers market every weekend for the rest of your life to support people growing regenerative food? Most people are not going to take every Saturday morning to attend a market. As growers and business people we need to create ways to make local food accessible. Tactics to profitably get our products to people who will buy them every week, forever.
A fear of mine is our world becoming a Marvel comic. Where problems are so large we “the many” must rely on the altruistic actions of “the few” billionaires or superheroes to save us from imminent doom. Ecosystems are too intricate for top-down policies. We need grassroots level organization and advocates for locality to not only help our climate, but support regional sovereignty.
Humans eat, sustainable farming produces high quality products, and sequestering carbon in the soil boosts fertility. It is possible to grow businesses that profit from the betterment of ecosystems. The coupling of business to ecology through accessible markets is one answer for longevity. Our work as growers is to build systems that will support our lives financially as well as ecologically.