One of the nice things about farming is that each agricultural product has its own character: its own season, pace, level of required commitment and economics. Farmers can choose to produce different things that more or less align with their contexts — and their own personalities.
For example, livestock generally require daily attention — depending on the method of management and the context, the farmer or rancher is usually with them every day. Remember Joel Salatin’s principal commendation for cattle: just move them every day.
But every living thing dies, and though we know enough about plants today to confer to them some level of sentience, there’s just something different about a sick and dying animal than a suffering cabbage or corn plant. If you have livestock, you’re going to have dead stock, and it takes a certain kind of disposition to work with animals.
Other products require much less day-to-day effort. Row crops are obviously an example of this, but so is hay and maple syrup and honey. But if you’re a naturally anxious, weather-fearing person, hay may not be for you. Scale matters as well: tapping a dozen maples for sap and boiling it a few times is a fun family activity; investing in miles of plastic tubing, a vacuum pump and a reverse osmosis system, and then being dependent on the weather … that requires a different level of commitment.
Speaking of maple syrup, I’ve realized here in my first year of production the happy providence that the first agricultural product of the year is sugar. It’s like God giving us dessert before the main course — we receive the unmerited blessing before we even start working on the rest of the year’s crops.
But growing vegetables — the theme of this issue — is a perfect enterprise for many farmers. It appeals to those who thrive on spreadsheets and in-depth planning, but it’s also great for those who love to see fast, lush growth. Vegetable growers probably battle weeds more than other types of farmers, and each separate crop (and perhaps even variety) requires different cultivation techniques — a challenge that many appreciate. You can usually walk away from vegetables for a few days (as long as you have your irrigation set!), and a wilty head of lettuce doesn’t bring the same sense of anguish as a dying calf. Additionally, as opposed to at least livestock producers, most vegetable growers get a bit of a break in the winter.
This issue of Acres U.S.A. features several articles that will help provide both insight and inspiration for the coming season. Jesse Frost, Jean-Paul Courtens, Sergio Dabdoud and Moses Hostetler are all excellent vegetable growers with decades of experience between them. Plus, we feature some great insights from Jesse Wiser on farm-produced biological amendments, some helpful tips from agronomist Jim Pingrey on helping soil breath, and some thought-provoking Farm Bill recommendations from Iowa farmer Zack Smith.
No matter what you grow, raise or produce, we’re confident you’ll learn something in these pages — and next month (focus on perennial crops), and the next (livestock) and so on!
And that’s the view from the country.
