In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

POST PETROLEUM AGRICULTURE

In Business, May/June, 2004, Vol. 26, No. 3, p. 31

SUSTAINABLE COMMERCE

Robert F. Young

OF ALL the constituencies concerned about global climate change, farmers should be at the top of the list. And as the keystone in human food production, whatever threatens farmers should, in turn, be everyone's concern. Conservation biologists are outlining the damage to global biodiversity that climate change will wreak. Yet the ecosystems described as endangered in these (probably truthful) jerimiads are thousands of times more complex and therefore resilient than the simple monocrops that represent contemporary agriculture.
Over the past one hundred years, the business of agriculture has, ecologically, devolved from diverse, hardy, living systems into a brittle ecology of vast tracts dominated by a single species of vegetable or grain. This landscape simplification has made such agrosystems highly vulnerable to any shift beyond a narrow spectrum of ecological stress. Increasing variability in the climate guarantees that the odds are increasingly stacked against hitting that band. Industrial agriculture has become a high stakes Vegas gambler betting the pot on a single throw of the dice. If conditions are stable, then the pay-off is big. If not, then you're out of the game.
Fossil fuel - in the form of fertilizers, pesticides, and mechanization - is what is holding this system together. Unfortunately, it is also a major factor in what's undermining it. Although petroleum is now the central prop to the continued stability of corporate agriculture, the burning of carbon-based fuels is also driving global climate change, its greatest threat.
Given this set of circumstances, it would seem that agriculture has a great deal to gain by weaning itself off of fossil fuel, yet in agribusiness circles, just the opposite is occurring. Corporate farms currently consume five-and-a-half-gallons of fossil fuel per acre per year just in the form of synthetic fertilizers. In 1940, farms in the United States produced 2.3 calories of food for every one calorie of fossil energy consumed. By 1974, that ratio had fallen to 1:1. Currently, it is well below the breakeven point and increased mechanization, processing, and transportation in food production joined with the rising energy cost of extracting and producing fossil fuels guarantee a continued erosion of the energy/ food equation. Exacerbating this problem is the world's intensifying habit of oil consumption, now at 80 million barrels per day that is driving up fuel prices, further impacting fossil dependent systems of mass food production.
In order to escape this labyrinth of dependency, costs and collateral effects, farmers need to take the initiative in developing strategies for a post petroleum agriculture. To do so will be to engage in the far-reaching transition of our agricultural ecosystems. As a result, it can only be accomplished in a diverse, evolutionary and place specific manner.

TAKING STEPS TO A TRANSITION
At our farm, we are taking steps to be a part of that transition. We have set a goal of becoming the first fossil fuel-free farm in New York State. As a contribution towards the emergence of post petroleum agriculture, these are some of the strategies and technologies we are experimenting with:
Compost Heated Solar Greenhouse: Farming in the Northeast means dealing with a limited growing season. By installing an insulated, south-facing greenhouse with an additional heating system that uses biological heat from composting, and solar energy to drive the fans, we are able to extend the season for all crops and grow frost tolerant crops (i.e. lettuce, spinach, kale, mustard, and beets) year-round. When the fuel (food waste and manure) is spent, it is spread on the fields to enrich their fertility.
Raised Beds: In 1960, the world ran out of unfarmed, arable land. Since then, the only way in which crop yields could be raised has been through fossil fuel inputs or genetic engineering. Known by the name of the Green Revolution, these changes have tripled food production, albeit with considerable social and ecological cost. We have also tripled production per acre avoiding the ecological disruptions of Green Revolution tactics in favor of building acres of double dug raised beds. Although demanding considerable up-front labor, the beds, designed by agricultural architect James Quazi, are now a lasting part of our farm's infrastructure that will reduce future labor costs, simplify our fertility strategies and will continue to deliver increased yields for years to come. Unlike Green Revolution methods, the beds do not demand costly annual synthetic inputs in order to maintain performance. In addition, construction of the beds has allowed us to discontinue our reliance on tractors for plowing.
Renewable Transportation: In the past, agricultural workers lived on-farm and the majority of what was produced was consumed on-site. This is no longer the case. Farm workers now live off-farm and the lion's share of what's produced goes to market. We have adopted several means to address these issues. One path has been biodiesel. Matt Fellman, a Cornell trained engineer and member of the farm crew, converted a used Mercedes Benz station wagon to biodiesel and now travels to the farm and delivers produce to market burning used vegetable oil. Another member of the crew dispensed with his car and installed a solar rechargeable electric motor on his bicycle for his trips to and from the farm.
Solar Energy: The electricity and hot water used to run the farm are derived from 2.4 Kw of photovoltaics and solar hot water panels mounted on the farmhouse. In addition, a solar oven cooks up hot meals for noonday lunch.
The results of this strategy have been the virtual elimination of synthetic inputs and near complete elimination of fossil fuel use on the farm. This has, in turn, significantly reduced our overhead and increased the wealth of our operation. In August, Cooperative Extension will be bringing a group of regional growers to tour our farm. When I asked the Extension agent if what we're doing would be too “outside the box” for them to relate to, he surprised me when he said, “Privately farmers are telling me they feel trapped by the rat race of expensive synthetic inputs. They're looking for a way out. They're looking for answers. Maybe you've got some here.”

Robert F. Young is codirector of the Sustainable Business Alliance and runs an organic farm in New York State.