Commercial Diversions

I will be taking a bit of a diversified track here for a few post. I will be posting some documents that deal with the commercial aspects of agriculture in a sustainable atmosphere. A farm is a business, in some aspects. To sell milk to produce income is business, even if it is only to produce part of the money that is used by the farm. For a farm to be sustainable it must consider that it should consider that it must also be profitable, even if it is a not-for-profit operation, to be considered sustainable. It must consider the long term aspects of this profitability. What are the impacts to the operations, what are the impacts to the community, and how will this affect the long term operations of the farm. What if there is no succession of the farm, as is very often the case. There should be some consideration of this, and this is financial consideration as well as a personal one. If this is built on the clan basis, then this is less of a consideration, as the clan farms generally are self succeeding, granting privilege to the current members of the clan, but also the land would be conserved and therefore in a trust to remain as agriculture. However in an individual family farm, sustainable or not, the issue of succession is important to consider as soon as possible. The farmer has put their lives work into the farm, and to have it go to developers could very well break the spirit of the land. To address this issue some discussion will be given to the process of succession of the family farm (or agri-business). Further there is many obstacles to the transfer of farm properties from one farmer to another. Very often what happens is the family farm is purchased by a larger farm co-op, which may continue to operate the agri-business, but not in the same way that it was operated when it was an individual family farm. This is a particular issue that needs to be discussed. There are many sources out there that deal in particular with this issue, including Farm Aid, as well as many others.

Many state and local government organizations provide assistance to farms, however there often is many barriers involved in their organizations. They are more geared to assist agri-business, although they are starting to see the value of the smaller family farms, their financial programs are usually difficult for the average farmer to negotiate. There are some services that will assist the farmer in this aspect, however most of them charge for this service, often so much that it negates the purpose of the financial aid in the first place. My seven year search for a farm that I could purchase has lead me down many of these avenues, and often to not such great ends, often losing more than I could afford, but as yet I continue to search to provide not only myself and my family with the opportunity to own a farm, but also to build a agriculture community that is sustainable (see discussions on clan farms) and self-sufficient.

This blog will continue to chronicle this search, as well as hopefully provide others with information that will assist them in their search.

I and my wife are still searching for property that we can purchase to allow us to do this. Our requirements are minimal, considering the scope of the project we hope to implement. We have worked with others that have done some of what we are seeking to do, but few have considered all the aspects of successful agricultural community. We were recently involved in a project that seemed to provide all the basic aspects that would have made this plan work, it is known as the Iroquois Farm (in the town of Lisbon, NY, in the county of St. Lawrence, NY). Unfortunately the manor in which it is operated, and the way that the current structure is designed, there is no potential for success. We then looked at other opportunities in the area, and there are many that would fit the criteria that we have determined would be minimal to our operations. However they are either too expensive, or other obstacles have presented themselves. We met with some very interesting people in the St. Lawrence community, but we feel that we may not be able to shake the negative aggression of being involved in the Iroquois Farm. We did however meet with several very good people. One organization that in particular was more courteous to us than others (i.e. county officials are as useless there as anywhere), was the Birdsfoot Farm members. We would like to especially thank all the members of the Birdsfoot Farm and specifically Dulli. Thank you for your concern and consideration, Arleta (my wife) and I will find our way through whatever we are currently fighting through, of this I assure you.

Now I must move on to other projects, including posting some information pertaining to this subject that I have previously wrote. As I said in the beginning of this post, the next few articles will be dealing with the commercial aspects of sustainable communities in their relation to agricultural communities. Of course I may also post articles that are of other subject matters that have previously been discussed here, but that has already gotten it introduction. Thanks and hope you will continue to read this web log, and that I might be able to provide at least some entertainment if not some helpful information.

JD