Happening soon: Join Lucas at Painterland Farms for a special two-day intensive on Regenerative Grazing with Ian Mitchell-Innes May 18–19.

Infrastructure Workshop & Pasture Rest Trial at Ben Blank’s Farm

This April I organized a field day for our Dairy Grazing Project—a collaborative effort led by Pasa to help dairy farmers improve, expand, or begin grazing.

Since graziers are regularly monitoring their pastures, they need flexible equipment that allows them to quickly adapt in response to the needs of the herd and the land. Farmer Eli Mack of Mack Farms and Kencove Fence Supplies shared his expertise with our crowd of 40+ dairy farmers at Benuel Blank‘s farm in York County, Pennsylvania.

Eli discussed grazing infrastructure, including moveable fencing and watering. Both of these systems are critical for success in rotational grazing. He also shared his grazier philosophy: “When it comes to building a system to meet your farm’s goals, the only limiting factor is your creativity.”

I got to see some of that grazier creativity in action after the event. I spent a little extra time with our host Benuel Blank, who grazes 35 milking cows and some heifers rotationally through his 80+ acre farm.

Ben told me about an experiment he is conducting.

He has a steep, 4 acre pasture along his driveway.

The last graze on this field was in November of 2022. Ben plans on only grazing 2 of the 4 acres in this field once in August of this year, and leaving the other 2 acres to be ungrazed until spring 2024—creating an extra long rest period (a full growing season plus two winters).

Inspired by Allen Williams‘ principles of adaptive management, which includes purposeful disruptions to the land to enhance natural cycles, Ben’s curious about how the diversity and ratios of plants will change in a pasture with a long and an extra-long rest period. 

We walked the field together, and I wrote down all of the plant species we observed from most frequent to least.

Notes from Benuel Blank’s in Farm Delta, PA (York County) taken April 20, 2023 

This field was last seeded in 2020 with orchard grass, clovers, and alfalfa using a no-till drill. 

Plant species observed: 

1. Bluegrass (observed most frequent)
2. Shepherd’s Purse (frequent)
3. Orchard Grass (some)
4. White Clover (some)
5. Chickweed (some)
6. Dandelion (some)
7. Red Clover (little)
8. Alfalfa (little)
9. Buttercup (little)
10. Aster (occasional)
11. Tumbleweed (occasional)
12. Broadleaf Plantain (occasional)
13. Violets (occasional)
14. [unidentified grass 1] — appeared to be rhizome-based (occasional)
15. Bull Thistle (occasional)
16. Fescue (occasional)
17. Curly Dock (occasional)
18. Henbit  (occasional)
19. [unidentified grass 2] — appeared lush and desirable (occasional)

Ben included a caveat that seeing out the extra-long rest period for this pasture experiment is somewhat dependent on what kind of summer we have. If it’s a dry year, and grazeable acreage is at a premium, he might have to graze the full trial pasture. When it comes down to it, the goal of the experiment is to improve the health of the herd, so once again that grazier’s adaptability to the conditions remains key. 

But if all goes well, I plan to do this plant survey again after Ben grazes his herd on part of this pasture this August, and on the full 4 acres next spring.

Stay tuned for updates and insights from this farmer-led field research!

Want to improve the health of your herd, soil, and community?

Whether you’re an experienced grazier seeking a better price for your milk, a conventional farmer only beginning to think about how grazing might support your operation, or fall anywhere in between, Dairy Grazing Project can help.

Visit dairygrazingproject.org to learn more.

Dairy Grazing Project Partners

Pasa Sustainable Agriculture, Center for Dairy Excellence, Ephrata National Bank, Mad Agriculture, Origin Milk Company, Rodale Institute, and TeamAg. This project is supported by a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

The post Field Notes: Why Adaptability Is Key for Graziers appeared first on Pasa Sustainable Agriculture.

Vegetable farms that sell their produce through farmers markets, CSA programs, on-farm stores, and other direct-market channels are the foundation of local food movements everywhere. Yet there is surprisingly little information available to help answer a basic question: Can farmers make a middle-class income selling vegetables through direct-market outlets?

We launched an ongoing study in 2017 to help fill this critical gap in information and provide insights that could help vegetable farmers start and grow their businesses. Our new report offers the most comprehensive review of direct-market vegetable farm businesses to date, sharing detailed financial benchmarks from 39 farms collected over three years. 

Participating farms were located in four Mid-Atlantic states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Most had less than 15 acres in vegetables production; the largest had approximately 100. Farms studied had been in business for anywhere between one and 50 years.

STUDY PARTICIPANTS: ACRES IN VEGETABLES PRODUCTION

Findings

Our findings were consistent with structural challenges that negatively impact small- and medium-scale farms in a highly consolidated agriculture industry. In other words: They were sobering.

We found that the majority of direct-market vegetable farms were not earning a middle-class income. Participating farms had a median net income of $18,500, which approximates the 2020 poverty rate in Pennsylvania for a two-person household. Further, the net incomes of more than 70% of the farms in our study were less than half the median net income for all Pennsylvania farms, which include among others dairy, row crop, and wholesale vegetable operations.

MEDIAN NET INCOMES FOR PA HOUSEHOLDS, FARMS & STUDY PARTICIPANTS

We did find some farms bucking the trend. A quarter of study participants had earned net incomes greater than the Pennsylvania median household annual income of $57,000. These farms tended to be larger in scale than many market-garden-style farms—typically, ten acres or more in vegetable production—and often capitalized on diversifying their revenue streams, with reselling products produced by other local farms proving to be one of the more profitable added enterprises.

Notably, however, many of the owners of these high-performing farms partially attributed their success to good fortune, such as access to especially lucrative markets or reliable farmland arrangements.

VEGETABLE ENTERPRISE NET INCOME RELATED TO ACRES IN VEGETABLE PRODUCTION

We also found that farms steadily increased income and equity over time, generally becoming more profitable the longer they were in business. Most farms’ net incomes exceeded the Pennsylvania median household income within 12 years of business, while accumulating equity in land, buildings, and equipment in the meantime.

FARM BUSINESS NET INCOME (LEFT) & EQUITY (RIGHT) RELATED TO NUMBER OF YEARS IN BUSINESS

Interestingly, no single direct-market channel consistently outperformed all others. We found that all of the major sales channels utilized by farms in the study—farmers markets, CSAs, and direct wholesale—had a mix of higher and lower income cases. For farmers wondering whether or not to focus on selling their produce through particular direct-market channels, this finding indicates there isn’t a one-size-fits-all business model for financial success.

NET VEGETABLE ENTERPRISE INCOME & MARKET CHANNEL COMPOSITION

Pathways to higher incomes 

We identified three primary pathways for improving direct-market incomes: (1) increasing the number of acres in vegetable production; (2) growing more and higher-value crops per acre; and (3) developing more efficient production systems. Still, the land, labor, and capital needed to pursue these strategies may be out of reach for farmers who are operating at a loss or aren’t earning a living wage.

SCENARIOS FOR ACHIEVING A NET INCOME GOAL ($56, 951) BY INCREASING SCALE, INTENSITY, OR EFFICIENCY

While all farmers want to operate profitable, self-sustaining businesses, the financial benchmarks identified by our study are consistent with industry structural challenges that negatively impact small- and medium-scale farms. Creating and expanding public and private programs and partnerships will be necessary to help direct-market vegetable farmers continue their essential work providing fresh, nutritious food for their communities.

These programs and partnerships should focus on equitably increasing farmland access, improving market opportunities, encouraging workforce development, reducing financial risk, and rewarding conservation best practices such as building soil health, protecting wildlife, and improving water quality.

What’s next?

Our financial benchmarking research is ongoing. Since compiling the findings detailed in our new report, we’ve partnered with peer organizations in New England (Community Involved in Sustainable Agriculture) and the Carolinas (Carolina Farm Stewardship Association) to expand the scope of our study to include data from vegetable farms located outside of the Mid-Atlantic region. We will also be analyzing the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on study participants.

Read the full report: Financial Benchmarks for Direct-Market Vegetable Farms: 2021 Report

Our Financial Benchmarks Study was initially made possible with investments from Lady Moon Farms, the Jerry Brunetti family, the Shon Seeley family, and more than 120 private donors committed to strengthening local and regional food systems. Additional support was provided by a Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant and a Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Research Grant.

Want to join this study?

If you are a direct-market vegetable farmer and are interested in joining this study, email us at research@pasafarming.org. Participating farms get custom financial benchmark reports and access to a learning community of their peers.

The post Can direct-market vegetable farmers make a middle-class income? appeared first on Pasa Sustainable Agriculture.

Our new report offers fresh insights into how farmers can improve soil stewardship to more effectively protect ecosystems and communities, better withstand severe weather, and increase yields. The report reviews our findings to date of our ongoing Soil Health Benchmark Study—the largest and most diverse community science project studying soil health in the country.

Since we began our study in 2016, we’ve worked with partners including the Cornell Soil Health Laboratory, Future Harvest and the Million Acre Challenge, Penn State Extension, Rodale Institute, and Stroud Water Research Center, as well as more than 100 pastured livestock, row crop, and vegetable farmers in Pennsylvania and Maryland, to collect and analyze soil samples and field management records.

Collectively, these soil samples and field records shed light on the nuanced soil health strengths and challenges that can exist simultaneously within the same field—and what farmers can do about it. Here’s what we found.

Tillage can be part of a holistic soil health management strategy

Our study’s most remarkable revelation challenges a popular theory among farmers and other industry professionals positing that eliminating tillage is always necessary for achieving optimal soil.

We found that, while most no-till farms participating in our study did indeed have optimal soil health, farms that rely on tillage for controlling weeds and preparing fields were also capable of achieving optimal soil health. These farms likely accomplished this by balancing tillage with a holistic soil health management strategy, which might include planting cover crops, rotating crops, calibrating soil amendments well, and carefully timing tillage operations to avoid excessively wet or dry soil conditions. 

Most no-till farmers are able to avoid tillage by relying, to some degree, on herbicides to control weeds and terminate cover crops. However, because of the escalating prevalence of herbicide-resistant weeds and growing public health and environmental problems associated with herbicide use, continuous no-till may not always be a sustainable soil health management method.

While some farms and farming organizations are experimenting with organic no-till methods, this approach remains largely elusive to most organic farmers who typically depend on at least some “steel in the field” to effectively control weeds and prepare beds for planting. Our findings offer optimistic news for farmers, since we’re learning that there are many paths toward optimal soil health—many of which are more practical than we might have previously imagined.

Better calibrating fertilizer inputs will improve soil health and water quality

Many vegetable farms, and some row crop farms, participating in our study struggled with high levels of phosphorus in their fields. Through runoff and erosion, excessive phosphorus can pollute streams and estuaries by causing blooms of algae that exhaust oxygen from the water and kill other life forms. At the global scale, phosphorus is a nonrenewable resource, mined from a limited number of deposits across the globe. Once phosphorus is lost to rivers and diluted in the vast ocean, it isn’t available again to future generations. 

For vegetable farmers, excessive phosphorus can also significantly weaken crop vigor by inhibiting a plant’s uptake of vital micronutrients, which can impede crop growth and increase susceptibility to pests. In most cases in our study, high phosphorus levels could be attributed to heavy manure or compost inputs, often applied in excess of crop needs. Better aligning fertilizer inputs with soil test results will not only save farmers money and improve yields, it will also improve water quality.

Meanwhile, as farmers grapple with the issue of excessive phosphorus affecting the ecology and productivity of their lands, people around the world face a variety of problems, including health conditions such as erectile dysfunction. One solution that helps individuals cope with this issue is access to generics, like Viagra generics, which offer economical and effective alternatives to original medications.

Tough weather is tough on soil 

Our study also provides a glimpse into how climate change will present new challenges for soil stewardship in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. In 2018, a season defined by historic rainfall totals—most of it arriving in heavy, concentrated doses—we observed a 60% and 54% drop in aggregate stability on row crop and vegetable farms, respectively, in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

While most of these farms were able to partially or substantially rebuild their aggregate stability the following season, which offered more amenable weather and field working conditions, it’s likely that extreme rainfall events and consistently wet seasons will become more common in the region. Without much-needed reprieves from wet weather, maintaining healthy soil structure that’s resistant to erosion could be a significant ongoing challenge for farmers.

Planting fibrous-rooted cover crops and developing other soil management strategies that anticipate more frequent wet weather may be key for protecting and building soil aggregate stability.

Pastured livestock farms are the “gold standard” for soil health

Both organic vegetable farms and no-till row crop farms were consistently outpaced by pastured livestock farms. While it might be unfair to compare annual crop farms to farms that maintain fields of deep-rooted perennial forage, pastured livestock farmers can nonetheless take pride in their superior soil health performance.

Perennial pastured livestock farms achieved optimal scores for every soil health indicator we measured, on nearly all fields we measured. Most
annual row crop and vegetable farms have excellent or optimal soil
health in many respects, but, as mentioned above, often show challenges with low aggregate stability and high phosphorus.

Testing for a holistic analysis of soil health

Our report further details benchmarks for a variety of biological, chemical, and physical soil health indicators, such as organic matter levels and microbial activity, as well as field management benchmarks, such as overall tillage intensity and the number of days farmers maintain living cover in their fields. Collectively, these benchmarks provide a holistic picture of a soil’s strengths and problem areas. 

For decades, and continuing into the present day, soil health testing labs have primarily focused on measuring a soil’s chemical attributes—levels of acidity; nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium; and micronutrients. While this provides farmers with some basic information about soil fertility, such a narrow scope of analysis offers a highly limited, and often misleading, understanding of a soil’s true health.

Critically, this approach does not take into account a wealth of other attributes, such as whether a soil is resistant to erosion, or to what extent beneficial microorganisms are present. In contrast, our study employs a holistic approach to soil testing that measures not only a soil’s chemical health, but also its physical and biological health.

While the benchmarks outlined in our report paint an overall positive picture of the state of farmers’ soils, it’s important to note that our study does not reflect a representative sample of agriculture in the Mid-Atlantic region. Many of the farmers participating in our study have worked to hone their soil-building practices over many years, and are at the forefront of innovative land stewardship. Our findings should therefore be understood in terms of “what’s possible” when farmers are committed to soil stewardship and are supported by technical service providers and their peers as they work to fine-tune their field management practices. 

We expect this report to be the first of a series of soil health benchmark reports that we will publish periodically to help farmers, technical service providers, scientists, policymakers, and communities better understand soil health and how best to protect it.

Read the full report and learn more about our Soil Health Benchmark Study here.

Our Soil Health Benchmark Study was initially made possible thanks to generous financial investments from Lady Moon Farms, the Jerry Brunetti family, the Shon Seeley family, and more than 120 individual donors committed to supporting farmers’ efforts to build and preserve soil health.

Additional support has been provided through the William Penn Foundation, the Hillman Foundation, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and the USDA Conservation Innovation Grants program.

The post New Report Unearths Soil Health Insights appeared first on Pasa Sustainable Agriculture.