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News and links from August & September 2002Index of articles and linksGood drought management means balancing range health against cash flowBy Tony Malmberg With more than 50 percent of our moisture coming during the dormant season, a covered soil surface slows runoff and insulates against evaporation. Vigorous plants will respond quickly to moisture. Poor plant vigor and bare ground will prolong a drought. With a covered soil surface and good plant vigor, we will be ready for rain. "Drought is nearly always followed by a flood. But the floods are from excessive runoff that should be going into the ground; not excessive rainfall." — Kirk Gadzia As a child, rain clouds would prompt me to ask my uncle, "Do you think it's going to rain?" He would look up at the sky and thoughtfully reply, "If it doesn't, it will sure be a long dry spell." I always had to stop and think about that for a while. As financial pressures arise in today's climate, I have to stop and remember, "The best we can do in a drought is prepare the land for rain." Read more on headwatersnews.org website. Posted September 2002 Organic beef and pastured chickens in Texas, U.S.A.by Keith Richards Peggy and Richard Sechrist have a 50 organic beef cattle, and raise 750-1,000 pastured chickens per month near Fredericksburg, Texas. The cattle are entirely grass-fed. "As we have learned more about the changes that grain causes in cattle metabolism -- causing them to lower their pH and lose their ability to digest forage well -- we have significantly reduced the amount of supplemental feed," Peggy says. They use alfalfa hay if they need a supplement, and carefully plan and monitor grazing to limit the times the cattle need anything other than minerals. After a one-time vaccination for Blackleg, their cattle don't get any antibiotics or synthetic treatments. "Our basic herd health is excellent," Peggy says, adding that the local vet is amazed. "He feels that our pasture management is the most important factor.". Read more in The New American Farmer, 2nd Edition, avialable in print or as a free PDF download. Posted August 2002 Community-supported agriculture in New York, U.S.A.by Beth Holtzman Elizabeth Henderson raises 70 crops (vegetables, herbs, flowers, melons and small fruit) organically on 15 acres. "For me, farming for a community of people whom I know well is very satisfying," she says. "It's not like shipping crates off somewhere, where I never see the customers. I know everyone, and I know most of their children." One of the most distinguishing characteristics of this CSA enterprise is the active, meaningful involvement of its members. "I think farmers ask much too little of the people who buy their food," Henderson says. "They don't ask them to pay enough or to contribute in other ways." Not all CSA farms have a work requirement, but it's a cornerstone of Genesee Valley's success. During a season, members work three four-hour shifts at the farm and two 2.5-hour shifts in distribution. Because the farm is about an hour's drive from Rochester, where most members live, members work to both harvest crops and coordinate distribution. "It's really important to learn how to design volunteer work so that people can give what they really want to give," Henderson explains. Read more in The New American Farmer, 2nd Edition, avialable in print or as a free PDF download. Posted August 2002 Raising beef and improving range health, Colorado, U.S.A.by Mary Friesen "Now, we're seeing a healthier landscape and growing more grass. And we are just in the past few years starting to increase the number of cattle we graze. Grazing more cattle on the same resource is going to have an economic advantage." Through his methods of holistic management and rotational grazing, Frasier has been able to increase the size of his herd by about 15 percent. More importantly, he has seen a drop in the cost of production from 35 cents per pound when he took over the operation to 11 to 12 cents per pound today. Frasier says the costs are actual and not adjusted for inflation. Read more in The New American Farmer, 2nd Edition, avialable in print or as a free PDF download. Posted August 2002 Antony Challenger's comments on Allan Savory's bookby Antony Challenger Note: Antony Challenger is advisor to the Minister of Natural Resources in Mexico. This is his response, posted with permission, after meeting Allan Savory and reading Holistic Management: A new framework for decision making (Island Press, 1999). As I continue to read your book [Holistic Management: A new framework for decision making], I can almost feel things falling into place in my mind, as you gradually provide precious insights and nuggets of information that are the missing links in chains--ecological and cognitive--that in some cases I didn't even realize had pieces missing. And while in some cases I have been aware, sometimes only dimly, of many of the things you write about, many others are new to me. But the most important thing is that all of these pieces of information form part of a whole (sic!) which is indeed new, and which has already changed forever the way in which I perceive the natural world which I thought I understood so well, and especially with regard to plant-animal interactions in seasonally humid, grass dominated environments. That a single book can modify one's perception of the world in quite an important way, is always testament to the profound wisdom and common sense of its author, and his or her (both, in this case) skills of communication. This in itself is rare, and such books are precious items. It is a still more extraordinary thing to produce a book able to illustrate through succinct argument and clear phrasing, that the way in which people do or fail to do certain things, have the most profound consequences for the long term health of our global environment, and for no less a thing than the very future welfare of human civilization. In fact I know of no other such book. This isn't intended to be a eulogy, although its beginning to sound like one, but I hope you don't mind my just letting you know how much I value the insights you share with others through the medium of your book, and the fact that I do entirely understand the implications of your important discoveries (that is what they are) about the way people organize their affairs with respect to their environment and each other. As I said before, and I think its an appropriate analogy, reading your book has been like dropping a crystal into a saturated solution--I have got quite close to perceiving some of the things you see so clearly, without ever quite having got there. But reading your book has allowed things to slip neatly into place. And its probably because of that that my convictions regarding the importance of your work and your message are so strong. Consequently, I will try at every opportunity to ensure that the information and advice which I give to the Minister reflect these convictions, particularly with regard to those things which he looks to me for insightful information about, which mostly comes down to the management and conservation of terrestrial ecosystems. Obviously, this will always fall short of holistic decision making at the political level--more's the pity--but for the moment I don't see many opportunities for consequential paradigm shifts in Mexico's corridors of power! However, holistic management perceived as it currently is in a rather limited way, as a tool for sustainable resource management in the agricultural and environmental fields, can and should be encouraged in Mexico, and is capable of having a profound effect on Mexico's environment and natural resource conservation, and it is here that I am likely to be able to have some influence, I hope. Posted 25 August 2002 Related articles and linksShort news items from our home page:
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