A New Family Farmer
Recipes from this Story: Farm Pizza; Fall Carrot Soup
Director’s Journal
I read this in my local paper awhile back: “Oregon is one of the only bright spots in the country where we’ve got young farmers coming into the business…”. Hmmm, I knew most farmlands were industrialized, but I thought, with the growing interest in locally produced food, I would think the family farm would also be growing.
I contacted Dianne Stefani-Ruff from Portland Farmers Market, who made the quote, to see who might just be one of those new young farmers. She gave me the names of 4 or 5, and I never got past the first one I called, Mike Paine of Gaining Ground Farm. I knew right away he was someone who was very passionate about farming.
He wasn’t born to farming, like many are, but raised in the suburbs. He had a garden as a young adult, but that was about it. His drive to become a farmer really sprouted from his experience in Africa in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica, and, finally from working on his Masters degree at UC-Davis in Agriculture.
Sustainable agriculture is a growing field. Many farming methods that may have been lost to time are now returning. One that Michael puts to practice is using chickens to ready his fields. He puts them in portable coops that are moved along the field after the group of chickens scratch, peck the ground, and leave behind a rich manure. Recently he created a pond to catch the natural drainage of water from the hills. This water will be used to irrigate his crops.
Using organic methods, some of the vegetables he grew this year were tomatoes, melons, squash, mixed green lettuces, eggplant, and beans. They were all beautiful. I really enjoyed his sharing all the different varieties he grew, many I never heard of. I think the people who come across his vegetables at the farmer’s market and who are shareholders in his CSA are very lucky indeed. If you’re not familiar with what a CSA is, check out the story I did on Laura Masterson’s farm, in Food Network: Community Supported Agriculture
There is a lot of hard work involved in farming. I knew that. But what really surprised me is how hard it apparently is to get your first farm. It even surprised Mike. Does it surprise you?
Here’s some alarming information about the state of family farms in America today, and the respective ages of these existing farmers. From Farm Aid:
The complete Farm Aid article is titled, “Why Family Farmers Need Help”
—Rebecca
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:51 am
[...] Click here for the video. [...]
March 24th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
so crazy that he couldnt get a loan to grow food. Glad he found a way and is doing it. Take the power.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Definitely. And some credit ought to be given to the loan officer who saw a way around the situation. But sad that Michael had to trudge to so many before the original guy had an ‘aha!’ moment. But glad he did.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:18 am
A very inspiring piece. It made me cry out of frustration with the system and also with joy to see there are folks who keep pushing the system. Right on. We have a similar story with the acquisition of our farm (stonelakefarm.com). Without loans from friends and family we would be farmless. No banks involved at all.
I love what you guys to at Cooking up a Story.
Melinda
April 7th, 2008 at 9:26 am
thanks, Melinda! I love Arcata. I used to visit when I lived in CA.
I’m amazed that it takes so much creativity to finance a new farmer. I know there are people out there who want to grow the food, and there will always be eaters, but what about the local farm?
Something(s) need to change if we want to successfully move toward getting our food locally. Thank goodness for your family and friends stepping forward!!
April 29th, 2008 at 11:32 am
[...] Diary of a Young Farmer: April’s Cash Crop Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 Written by Zoe Bradbury, from Our Friends at Edible Portland Magazine Zoë Bradbury left her urban job in Portland to start farming on the south coast of Oregon. She’s blogging here about her experiences. Below is her fifth entry in Diary of a Young Farmer. As Zoe experiences the springtime cash flow crisis, the USDA offers no help The generic plot goes something like this: farmers spend lots of money in the spring, then make it back in the summer and fall. Springtime = money out. Harvest time = money in. Unfortunately, there’s a months-long vacuum between “money out” and “money in,” seeing as most crops take at least eight weeks to reach maturity. My carrots promise that they are 57 days to maturity, my tomatoes 80 days, and my asparagus, well, we’re talking two years till they’re ready. Amidst all of this waiting for veggies to grow on, size up, and get ripe, money has been hemorrhaging out of my pockets to pay for one-time startup expenses, like my greenhouse and irrigation system, and for annual operating expenses, like seeds and soil Jim, my regional FSA agent, asked me all about my farm over the phone. How many acres, and is it leased ground, and what am I growing, and how long have I been at it? After I finished up with the details, Jim hesitated. They’d like to be able to give me a low-interest loan, he explained, but there were a few problems. First off, if I wanted to spend the money on something permanent – like a buried irrigation main – well, they couldn’t give me the loan because my farm is technically on leased land. The next bad news: the loan amount they could offer me, explained Jim, would be determined according to my projected income, which they calculate by multiplying my predicted crop yields by the state commodity prices for each crop. “Huh,” I said, “So what are the state commodity prices this year?” Jim began reading off the list: “Carrots, 14 cents a pound. Asparagus, 45 cents a pound. Winter squash, 8 cents a pound. Strawberries, 50 cents a pound. Broccoli, 33 cents a pound. Cabbage, 4 cents a pound.” I did some quick math while he rattled off the numbers. On my 2.5 acres, growing about 25 different crops and selling them at the state commodity prices, it looked like I would gross about $4,900 for the whole year – which would make me eligible to borrow a few hundred dollars from FSA. Maybe enough to buy a stack of Megabucks tickets and hope for better luck from the lottery than the USDA. “Um…Jim,” I said slowly, “I think I might be farming on a different planet. We’re talking about a few intensive acres, and I’ll be selling my stuff direct, not through a brokerage or a distributor. It’s possible that I’ll get 10 times those prices by selling to local markets here.” He told me that if I could prove that I’d received those higher prices for my crops for the past three consecutive years, then they could project my income based on those numbers instead. “But, Jim,” I said, “this is my first year in business. I don’t have three years of records yet.” Jim paused and his voice sounded regretful. “Then all we have is the state commodity prices.” I was imagining the cramp I’d have in my hand from scratching off all those lottery tickets with a quarter. “Jim,” I asked, “do you get many people like me calling you up and asking for loans? New, young farmers who are selling direct and local?” His answer was no. I felt very small. I wondered where people like me were supposed to go if the United States Department of Agriculture couldn’t help us. We wrapped up our conversation, and Jim promised to put an application in the mail to me, in case I decided to pursue the loan anyway. I thanked him – he’d given me almost an hour of his time over the phone. A few days ago I got a one-year 0% interest credit card offer in the mail – and for the first time ever, I didn’t toss it into the recycling bin. See Also: A New Family Farmer [...]
September 24th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
[...] takes me to the farmer, who may grow fresh fruits, vegetables, or raise chickens (& eggs!), pasture feed their cattle, pigs, and maybe make cheese or [...]