Sustainable Organics?

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Sustainable Organics?

• Three different approaches

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History of Organic Farming

• Pure Food Act (1906)
• Dust Bowl
• Sir Albert Howard
• An agricultural Testament(1943)
• Rodale institute/ press
• Emmaus, Pa

3
Lady Moon Farms

• Pennsylvania
• 1988 22 acres
• farmers markets
• wholesale
• 1992 160 acres I started
• 2001 gt FL gt year round production
• 2004 2400 acres
• 1500 plowed
• 300000-500000/week in produce sales

4
LMF Florida

• 2001
• renting land
• year round production
• 2002 Land Purchase
• 1000 acres _at_ 1mill

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LMF Georgia

• Bought 700acres in 2004
• 140 in production

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Belief System

• Hard worker
• realist vs idealist
• Risk taker
• Evolution of in relationship to growth
• aggressive organic wholesalers
• Aggressive competition
• CAL Organics
• the next up and coming farm
• Spiral Path

7
Desoto Lakes Organic

• Bill Pischer
• 1978 Sarasota, Fl
• 5acres leased
• Roadside stand
• wholesale
• Joshs Organic
• 2004 5 acres owned

8
Belief System

• Hard worker
• Skeptical idealist
• Concerned about his children
• Development
• Sarasota disconnect

9
Next Step Produce

• Heintz Thomet (CH)
• Biodynamic approach
• Wholistic approach
• Swiss apprenticeship
• Mid 1980s USA
• seasonal farmer in North East
• Spiral Path
• disenchantment with organic production
• Next Step Produce
• Newburg, MD 2001

10
Belief System

• Hard Worker
• Skeptical of US environmental awareness concern
• Optimist in materializing his dream
• Biodynamic

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Comparison

• LMF
• Size
• 2400 acres
• 70 rows monoculture
• 100 field hands
• Worth
• 300,000-500,000/wk
• 20 million

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• Economic impact
• Broad
• FL to ME to MN to CO toTX
• Fuel usage / Machinery
• single trucks32 plts with 55000 in cherries
  grapes
• 30-40 tractors, backhoes, grade-alls ect
• Trucks
• farms to packinghouses / coolers 2000/wk
• FL alone
• 2x 1500ghm diesel pumps(1000gal diesel/wk)
• PA and GA 1x1500gpm each

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• Energy
• 2 acres of coolers
• packing house
• lights
• packing lines
• hand jacks
• lifts

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• Nutrient Cycle
• Trucked compost (naturesafe.com)
• loose system
• Constructed Fertilizers
• Feed grade quality meals inclusive of meals from
  blood, bone, feather, fish, meat and grain
  by-products.How It Is Made
• Product Characteristics
• mined products
• packing 2nds out of system

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• Farm management
• Pests
• Pyganic
• flush, rapid knockdown, kill
• Rotation windrow IPM
• Weeds
• Plastic
• Cultivation
• Rotations
• Disease management
• Soil Building
• Certification requirements

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• Processing 2-3 weeks
• Picked
• Trucked
• Vacuum
• Packing
• Boxed

• Vacuum
• Storage
• Shipped to warehouse
• Stored
• Shipped to Grocery
• Shelved
• Sold
• Eaten

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Desoto Lakes

• Size
• 5 acres
• small field size
• -.10 acres
• -5 workers
• Worth
• 7000/wk in season
• 500,000

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• Economic impact
• localized
• Sarasota, FL
• Fuel usage/ Machinery
• 2 Kubota 4x4 Tractors
• 1 truck 350 flat bed 96
• Energy
• walk in cooler
• display coolers

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• Nutrient
• Trucked Compost
• on site compost
• straw and seconds ect

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• Farm management
• Pests
• Pyganic
• Rotation
• Field size
• Weeds
• Straw
• Cultivation
• Rotations
• soil building

• Processing 0-5days
• picked
• stored on site
• sold on site

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Next Step Produce

• Size
• 86 acres
• small fields
• .5 acres
• 3-6 workers
• Worth
• 3000-4000 markets/wk
• 2,000 CSA/wk
• 700 wholesale/wk
• Restaurants, other farmers
• (-)336,000

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• Economic impact
• localized DC area
• Fuel usage / Machinery
• 2 Tractors
• 70s IH
• late 80s John Deere 4x4
• Hand carts
• Chevy 350 Panel van
• Energy
• electric wells (rarely used)
• 2 walk in coolers

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• Nutrient
• tight / closed system
• windrow composting operation
• on farm inputs

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• Farm management
• Pests
• Biodiversity
• Rotations
• Field size
• Weeds
• Plastic
• Straw
• Cultivation
• Rotations
• Key to soil building
• Pest control

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• Processing 0-4 days
• markets
• picked
• stored overnight
• sold following day
• CSA
• picked
• sold same day
• Wholesale
• similar to market
• often excess sold wholesale

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