Sometimes I’m convinced Mother Nature is watching. After recently seeding carrots, lettuces, and other cool-weather crops, she offered us a generous – but not too powerful – evening shower. Just yesterday more cabbage and broccoli transplants, thus far gently nursed in the greenhouse, reached maturity. As coming of age rituals usually go, we decided that they were ready to be slowly transitioned from the “perfect world” of the greenhouse to the harsh elements of the great outdoors. If you stroll down to our greenhouse, you’ll see these adolescent plants “hardening off”, or adjusting to the harsher conditions of Mother Nature before joining the droves of other crops in the ground. They also enjoyed last night’s rain.

While prospering away here at Serenbe Farms, I was reminded how lucky we are by an article in the New York Times today. I was shocked to see that 17,107 farmers in India committed suicide in 2003, the most recent year for which statistics are available. What drives farmers, 40% of whom work less than 5 acres of land, to such desperate actions? According to the article “On India’s Farms, A Plague of Suicide”, a combination of global competition (exacerbated by agricultural subsidies in the developed world, particularly for cotton), expensive biotechnology (often resulting in abusive moneylending relationships), lack of insurance and irrigation, among other contributing factors, create an environment in which the farmer is not in control of his or her own success. They are wholly subject to the perils or blessings of weather and international market prices. This leads me to wonder… what role should government, both domestic and foreign, play in this situation.

An essential part of organic farming entails the use of cover crops. Before we plant vegetables in each bed and after a bed’s harvest has been exhausted, we sow a selection of cover crop – such as sorgum sudan grass, buckwheat, clover, rye, oats or varieties of legumes.

How does our government influence the agricultural market place? Between 1996 and 2002 the US government paid an average of 16 billion dollars per year in agricultural subsidies. Through artificially manipulating the value of certain goods – for better or worse – subsidies and other federal monetary allocations can also incentivise earth- and health-friendly practices, such as organic farming.

In addition, it also helps prevent erosion from wind and water, suppress weeds and reduce insect pests and diseases. When we are ready to plant our next vegetable, we simply mow and till the bed such that the cover crop is incorporated into the soil becoming a “green manure” (no, green manure does not mean that the chickens are on a spinach diet!).

The US government periodically drafts a “Farm Bill” to specify how resources can be allocated to the agricultural industry during a given period (setting maximum spending limits that are not usually met). The Farm Bill currently in effect totals $220 billion dollars, of which less than one-hundredth of one percent (less than $5 million annually) is allocated for organic research, promotion and marketing. A new Farm Bill to take effect in 2007 is in the process of being drafted. How do you think our tax dollars should be allocated?

What do you think government’s role should be in agriculture? Who does or does not deserve subsidies? How much should the market control production and how much should be government mandated? Should US subsidies that help US farmers, take into consideration the global impact of those policies? If you like, discuss with your fellow CSA members on our blogsite.

Fun informational resource of the week: Which conventional vegetable do you think has the least residue of pesticide? Celery, Broccoli or Bell Peppers Read the pesticide report card at www.foodnews.org

As fall creeps around the corner, I hope you are also enjoying the crisp wake-up each morning!

- Farmer Coby and the hearty crew

1. Wikipedia – wiki on Agricultural Subsidies
2. http://www.organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm