This is the second year that I have had the privilege to attend the DFTA (Domestic Fair Trade Association) annual meeting as a NOFA representative and I can't help feeling proud. I grew up going to NOFA conferences and always felt that I was part of a movement that was as much about environmentalism and human rights as it was about growing delicious food. The following article is a conglomeration of my thoughts about the topic of fair trade agriculture in respect to the DFTA and a report of the annual meeting.
Articles
Feeding the Flock from the Homestead's Own Resources
In the article on page 15 I describe how I make feed mixes that replace commercial feeds for my flocks. Remember my two criteria for superior poultry food: that it be live and raw. For the following discussion, let's add a third: and produced from the homestead's own resources.
There are several reasons we might produce more of our birds' food ourselves, from saving money to the simple desire to be more independent (and dependence on purchased feed ingredients is a serious dependency indeed). Some of us suspect that the era of easy prosperity we grew up assuming almost as a natural right may soon come to an end. One way to prepare for a time of economic constriciton, a time when the way we now do agriculture in this country will no longer be a possibility, is to learn to raise poultry with less dependence on purchased inputs. For me, however, producing more of my birds' feeds is foremost a quest for higher quality foods, an attempt to get closer to the way the completely natural chicken would feed herself.
Sprouting to Enhance Poultry Feeds
In the winter, when the flock does not have access to pasture, I sprout the entire small grain portion of my feed mix -- and sometimes the peas as well.
When I feed both sprouted peas and sprouted grains, the chickens go for the grains by preference every time. When I return later in the day, however, they have usually cleaned up all the sprouted peas as well. There is no reason I shouldn't also sprout the whole corn, but doing so would leave little in the dry mix other than extremely fine ingredients -- flax seed, kelp meal, dried yeast, etc. Chickens resist eating feed of mostly small particle size.
Hog Production Alternatives
Conventional swine rations consist primarily of corn and soybean meal -- corn for energy and soybean meal for protein. However, diversified farmers may have other types of grains, crop residues, and forages that lack a ready market or are considered waste products. Pigs -- being versatile omnivores -- can eat a wide range of feeds, such as pasture grasses and other fibrous materials, as well as alternative energy and protein sources. The pig's ability to digest fibrous materials increases as it matures. Since they do not have rumens, pigs digest fiber primarily in their large intestine through fermentation. Jim Van Der Pol -- who grazes and direct-markets pork, chicken, and beef in Minnesota -- says in his "The pastured pig" series in Graze magazine:
Despite being single-stomached animals that often need some grain, hogs are wonderful pasture animals. Digestively, they are durable and flexible. They do not bloat, founder on grain, or ingest hardware. They eat weeds readily, even prefer them. If conditions get tough for the sward [grass-covered ground], they can be removed and switched immediately to a grain ration with no worries about digestive upset.
Organic Chickens in Japan
When I visited Teikei (Japanese CSA) farms in Japan eight years ago, I noticed that all of the chickens were kept in large pens. The farmers I spoke to said they did not have enough land to allow their chickens to range freely or to use chicken tractors. Hayashi Shiganori, an organic farmer near Tokyo, told me that he provides domestic feed for his chickens because he fears that any corn or soybeans imported from the US might be GMO. In designing his ration, he looked to traditional Japanese practices using a mixture of sea products and grains like millet that grow better than corn in their wet conditions. The farmer who started the very first Teikei in the early 1970’s, Yoshinori Kaneko feeds his chickens a mix of ground barley, rice and wheat waste. At the Uozumi family farm to the north of Tokyo, Michio and Michiko feed their chickens a combination of wheat, oyster shells, sake waste and rice bran.
Whey-Fed Pigs: This Lard Is a Health Food!
More pork is eaten around the world than any other kind of meat. The quality, flavor and healthfulness of pork fat -- lard, that is -- has more to do with the diet and lifestyle of the pig than anything else, a fact much more true for hogs than it is for tallow from a ruminant animal. When ruminants are fed whey, peanuts, acorns or other fats, the fat content of the ration is actually digested "twice" thanks to the rumen bugs. Therefore, less direct flavor from the dietary fats comes through. The rumination process also hydrogenates the fat so that it becomes more of a hard fat like butter. Soft, or unsaturated fat creates more flavor, more mouth feel, and gives us the rainbow of scents and flavors with the aging of meat.
Forages for Swine
Use of good pasture containing alfalfa, ladino clover, and grass can lower sow feed costs, help maintain high level reproductive capacity of boars, and in many cases increase litter size as compared to confinement raising of hogs. Pasture was formerly an absolute essential for a successful swine operation. In recent years, growing of hogs in confinement has become a reality. But it is still possible to use large amounts of forage with the breeding herd.
Why Replace Soy? (and How Phytoestrogens May be a Plot by Plants)
Soy is high in protein, relatively cheap, and grows well in the US. Why in the world would anyone raising animals look for alternatives to this wonderful legume?
Originating in China, soybeans have been consumed by humans for thousands of years. But they were not eaten as a primary food. They were used as a side dish to compliment and flavor the main meal. In addition, because raw soy contains toxic compounds, the beans were not eaten directly. Instead, they were fermented into products like miso, tamari, tofu or tempeh.
The 'Cure' for Boring Meat
Think about it, there are really only three foods that incite temporary insanity and exquisite joy in the human condition: rotten grapes, moldy milk and ripened meat! These are, of course, better known as wine, cheese and real ham. Consider this scenario: A man walks into a bar (this is not a joke) and is served exactly 100 grams (about 3.5 ounces) of sliced ham. The meat is sliced so thinly it is translucent and is arranged on a 9-inch dinner plate so that it looks like the delicate petals of a flower. The man slowly eats the meat, savoring each bite. For this privilege he pays over $100 and walks out very, very happy.
The Agricultural Justice Project, NOFA’s Continual Improvement and Growing Food and Justice
The Agricultural Justice Project:
We are in a fever of work because we are getting to the "tipping point" where domestic fair trade will finally get off the ground around the country. There are groups of farmers starting on the process in the Pacific NW, the SE and mid-coast CA, as well as a 70 farm grain cooperative in Saskatchewan. By May 2010 AJP will have a full certification package for domestic fair trade complete and ready to go.
Two Revolutionary Leaders to Speak at NOFA Summer Conference
Plans are well underway for the 36th Annual NOFA Summer Conference, held this year from August 13-15, 2010 on the U/Mass Campus, in Amherst, MA. Our Keynote Speakers this year include Nourishing Traditions author and community activist Sally Fallon, as well as the father of the Cuban organic agricultural movement, Fernando Funes.
As the mother of two children, and a small grass fed dairy manager, I had read Sally Fallon's book, "Nourishing Traditions" and really enjoyed its basic premise. Good, healthy food makes good healthy people. My kids were relatively healthy from the get go. As was my family, and most of my friends. As such, I was always amazed by the stories about the many positive effects drinking that milk had on my milk customers, especially those that suffered from chronic illnesses or allergies. To hear that the simple act of drinking something real, alive and full of good fats had made such a difference to people who were very sick was revelatory.
Why Pasture Livestock?
As readers of this paper certainly know, the dominant U. S. system for feeding livestock is based on cheap grain. Under current U. S. agriculture policy, the government provides subsidies to farmers who produce grains, particularly corn and soybeans. Livestock raisers use corn and soy as a base for their animal feed because these protein-rich grains fatten up their animals and because they're incredibly cheap as a result of those government subsidies. Livestock consume 47% of the soy and 60% of the corn produced in the U.S.
What Can Replace Soy in Commercial Organic Feeds?
Jeff Mattocks is the vice president and nutritionist for the Fertrell Company. As one of the premier suppliers of livestock feed to the organic market, he is well aware of the controversy concerning soy as an animal feed. Ten percent of his calls now, he estimates, are looking for replacements for soy as a source of protein. As a businessman trying to meet his customers' desires he has extensively investigated soy alternatives. But he, himself, is not anti-soy.
How Will Food Safety Regs Affect Farmers?
There's no question that food safety oversight in this country is badly broken and has long needed fixing. Oversight by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been rendered toothless through decades of food industry-backed congressional funding cuts and the massive meat and grain sectors of the ag economy have been shunted off into agribusiness-friendly USDA jurisdiction. But when unrelenting outbreaks of contaminated meat, produce and processed foods regularly sicken some 76 million citizens a year, hospitalizing (and sometimes permanently incapacitating) 350,000 and killing 5,000 -- clearly it's time that food safety is fully addressed.
