Farming
is undergoing a massive change around the world. In the USA, many
farmers
cannot afford to stay on their farms without second incomes and many of
these
farmers are approaching retirement age.
There
are two paths that American agriculture seems to be on. The first path
is occurring
with the takeover of family farms by companies and working them
mono-culture
with migrant labor to produce commodity crops on a large scale. The
second path
is entrepreneurial farmers producing multiple products, in an
organic and
sustainable manner on a small, local scale.
Global macro pressures for change
There
are three global macro shifts that can enable rural African’s make the
leap from a substance existence to an affluent standard of living.
These trends are as follows:
1. The shift of the
world’s population from rural living to urban living now sees more
people on earth living in cities than in rural environments for the
first time in mankind’s history.
2. The second
trend is the movement from a poverty level of income to a middle class
income level for hundreds of millions of people all over the world.
3. The third trend is that the world’s
population is estimated to grow by 3 billion by 2050.
As
a result of growing world population and increasing meat consumption,
the UN estimates that food demand will double by 2050. This growth in
population and the movement of large swaths of the current population
into the middle class will require huge increases in the amount of food
produced.
Rising personal incomes will mean that a larger
proportion of those people will be wealthy enough to eat meat on a
regular basis. The movement into the middle class of huge numbers will
require a change of type of foods produced to include more energy dense
foods, like meat.
Increases in meat production and consumption
will affect grain availability exponentially as it takes approximately
7kg of grain in feed to produce 1kg of beef using the existing,
intensive production system. China for example consumes less
than
300kg of grain per person annually compared to 900kg of grain per
person consumed in the USA. The number of Chinese wealthy enough to eat
meat on a regular basis is forecast to double by 2020 and similar
trends are visible in other emerging nations.
In recent decades
the US alone supplied almost half of world grain exports and 6
countries - Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Thailand and the USA
combined supply 90% of grain exports.
Recent assessments
of the global agricultural economy suggest a significant slowdown in
the rate of growth in crop yields. This means that the majority of this
change in output and increase in meat production will have to come from
increasing the amount of land the world uses for agriculture.
Currently
the world dedicates by some estimates an area equivalent to the size of
South America to raise crops and estimates range up to 40 percent of
Earth's land for total agricultural output...
……unfortunately there is just not that much new land available for
agriculture.
In
addition to the problems of existing meat production techniques that
are grain and fossil fuel dependent, the current intensive animal
production systems produce high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus
wastes, plus concentrate these discharges of toxic materials around
production sites.
The planet cannot sustain nitrogen run-off
at existing rates and limited supplies of phosphorus from mainly US
mines, restrict the potential for expanded supply.
To
meet the world’s changing dietary demand, plus meet the expanding
population’s requirement for more food and at the same time shift the
world to a sustainable, organic system of production, the agriculture
systems of the world will undergo dramatic change between now and
2050.
This two-minute video from the University of
Minnesota, which summarizes the problem:
Chicken
Supplies
Troyer Poultry - Olath CO
S $ G Poultry - Coloured feathered birds
Back Yard Chicken butchering - Wizz Bang plucker
Wizz Bank Plucker Yahoo group
Backyard Poultry Magazine
Modern Homestead - Larve for chicken protien
Biopod - Growing system for Black Soldier Fly
How to butcher a chicken
Feather Site - All about chicken breeds
Washington State - Movable poultry designs
Leopold Center for sustianable Ag at Iowa State
Label Rouge - Study of French Pasture Chickens
Countryside Feed - Organic Feed
American
Grass Fed Asso. - Denver, CO
American Grass Fed Beef - Doniphan, Missouri
Galen Botontrager - Kolona IA Glenn Land Farm CA- Rotational beef and sheep
Grass fed network
Grass Fed Exchange
Grass land Beef Grassometer - Measures your grass on a phone
Univeristy of California Chico
Morris Grass Fed - Watsonville, CA
Marin Sun Beef - Point Reyes, CA
Polyface
Farms (Multiple Faces) - Joel Salatin
Discovery video of Joel Salatin
The Stamps Family IA - Raising hogs on whey
Lasiter - Between Denver and Colorado Springs
Fox Fire Farms - Southern Colorado
Colorado Cuts - Littleton, CO
Desert Weyr - Sheep Farm, Paonia, CO
Fresh and Wyld Farmhouse, Paonia, CO
Green Place Ranch, Olathe, CO
Homestead Beef - Beef Processing, Delta, CO
Kinikin Foods, Montrose, CO
Locally Grown - Crested Butte on-line market
Living Farm - North Fork Valley , Paonia, CO
Local Farms First - Holy Terror Farm, Paonia, CO
Laga Vista Farm - Pueblo, CO
Pawnee Seed, Greeley, CO
Pharo Cattle, Cheyenne Wells, CO (Eastern CO)
Princess Beef, Crawford, CO
CADA - Beginning Farmer Loans
Rain Crow Farm, Paonia, CO
Troyer Poultry, Olathe, CO
Valley Growers Assoc, North Fork Valley, CO
Western Spirit Farm - Kiowa, Colorado
Windsor Dairy, Ft. Colins
Agregati - Mobile milking barn Audaryadairy - Mendocino - ARaw Milk as a soil enhancer American Micro Dairies Bob White Systems Coburn Co. - Milking Equipment, WI Claravale Dairy - Panoche, CA California Raw Milk Dairy Equipment Sales - USed Dairy Equipment Sales - New Hand Milking - Close to Taos, NM Largavista Ranch, CO - Once a day milking Jersey Johnsons Acres, CO - Cow Share Dairy McAfee - Mobile barn Micro Dairy Designs Parts for a dairy Portable Milkers Raw Milk Information Raw Milk Colorado Real Milk site for Raw Milk Real Food Bay Area Roses Isle - Jeresy Dairy, CO - Cow Share Sure Pure - South Africa / Zug, Swiss - UV sterlilization Small Dairy Information Web Site Stanpac - Glass Milk Bottles Westfalia UV Mike Sterilization System Windsor Dairy, CO
Larry Tranel - ISU family Dairy Farms Automatic Milking - How effective is it? Cheese Reporter - Milk and other prices Dairy Forum Lely Automatic Milker Mobile Automatic Milker Leasing Cows Plastic Walls and Doors for Creamery
Agricultural Inovations Eat Wild - Jo Robinson
ATTRA - National Sustainable Ag info service
Acres USA Magazine
Stock Man Grass Farmer magazine
American Agriculturist
Naturally Grown Certification - Alt to Organic
Farm Aid - Farm to School program
Farm to School
Farmigo - Internet CSA system Fog Farming - Shreerang Chhatre MIT
Food Machine - Fish and Aquaponics
Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture
National Family Farm Coalition Open Source plans for farm gear
Small Farm Web Sites and CSA mngment High Tunnels
Center For Rural Affairs - Loan Programs
Beginning Farmers Beginnng Farmer USDA farms for sale
US Food Crisis - Can organics feed the world
TEDx - 11 year old on the broken food system
Beginning Farmers Center
For Rural Affairs - Loan Programs California Farm Link
Colorado Development Authority Beginner Farm
Farm Credit Network
Farm Service Agency - Interest Rates Colorado Grants
Farmer Mac
Ag Loan - Commercial Lender
Janus Ag - Commercial Lender
USDA Grants