What People Who Care About
The Earth Should
Know About How Their Food is
Grown
Just a few of the issues…….







GMOs
pesticides
artificial/chemical fertilizers
manure
animal by-products
animal exploitation
loss of wild space and habitat
•Monsanto to Sell
Biotech Sweet Corn
for U.S. Consumers
• By Jack Kaskey - Aug 4, 2011 11:25 AM PT
• Monsanto Co. (MON), the world’s biggest vegetable
seed maker, said it will begin selling genetically
modified sweet corn in the U.S. this year, the first
product it has developed for the consumer market.
Pesticides kill pollinators and
beneficial insects……
Free eco-system providers
…… and birds….
Photo Courtesy of USFWS
…… and amphibians, such
as the Red-legged Frog a Species in Decline,
Photo Courtesy of USDA NRCS
Chemical fertilizers = ground water
pollution through nitrate and phosphate
leaching
erosion
Mississippi Delta Dead Zone
Soil food web
Changes in
number and
species
CAFO
Concentrated
Animal
Feeding
Operations
Dairy cow POWs on a 3000 cow operation
Fish Farm on the Snake River in ID
….. and
pollution
downstream
TILLAGE and
CULTIVATION =
LOSS Of
EARTHWORMS,
SOIL INSECTS
AND MICROBES
Loss of habitat wetlands and
riparian areas
Loss of wild areas, “Habitat
Connectivity” and biodiversity:
Photo Courtesy of USFWS
Organic Agriculture
The production of crops and animals without
the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.
NOSB Principles of Organic Production:
Healthy soils and environment
Enhance biodiversity, ecosystem function
Use renewable resources
Plants, animals, techniques are locally adapted
Manage the farm as a system
Traceability
Conventional organic uses manure and
animal parts (bones, blood, feathers,
bodies) as fertilizer…..
Manure problems: herbicide/antibiotic contamination,
nitrate-N leaching into ground water, human pathogens
such as E. coli and salmonella…..
“Cattle are the primary reservoir of Escherichia coli.
This has serious implications for the land-based disposal of organic wastes
such as cattle manure, cattle slurry and abattoir waste.”
Potential health risks associated with the persistence of Escherichia coli O157
in agricultural environments 2010 D.L. Jones
“This study points out the potential human
health risks associated
with consumption of fresh vegetables grown in soil
amended with antibiotic laden manures. The risks may be
higher for people who are allergic to antibiotics and there is also the possibility
of enhanced antimicrobial resistance as a result of human consumption of these
vegetables. “
Antibiotic Uptake by Plants from Soil Fertilized with Animal Manure 2005
K. Kumar *a, S. C. Guptaa, S. K. Baidoob, B. Chandera and C. J. Rosena
Liquid fish fertilizer sprayed on
crops to produce high yields on overtilled, over-cropped soils.
Pastured, organically raised chickens lay eggs in
buses that move from one fresh pasture to another.
Pastured chickens are vulnerable
to predators who are eliminated
by trapping and shooting
Most grocery stores who sell Organic
have Zero-tolerance for insects, so
Organic farms spray organic insecticides.
"Control" Treatment Plot Sweeps
18
16
Arthropod Count Per Plot
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Spraying
Organic
Insecticides
= Loss of
lady bugs,
spiders, and
syrphid flies
Lady Beetle
Larvae
Nabid Bug
Minute Pirate
Bug
Spider
Syrphid Fly
Larvae
"Calendar" (Pyrethrin) Treatment Plot Sweeps
18
16
Arthropod Count Per Plot
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Lady Beetle
Larvae
Nabid Bug
Minute Pirate
Bug
Spider
Syrphid Fly
Larvae
"Threshold" (Bt) Treatment Plot Sweeps
18
Lady Beetle
Larvae
Nabid Bug
16
Arthropod Count Per Plot
14
12
Minute Pirate
Bug
Spider
10
8
Syrphid Fly
Larvae
6
4
2
0
"Calendar" (Pyrethrin) Treatment Plot Sweeps
18
16
Arthropod Count Per Plot
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Spraying
“selective”
Organic
Insecticides,
such as Bt,
is better.
Lady Beetle
Larvae
Nabid Bug
Minute Pirate
Bug
Spider
Syrphid Fly
Larvae
“Industry Standards” for quality:
“ Barbie Broccoli” skinny stems, big heads.
“Conventional Organic” vegetable
production – lots of bare soil to
control weeds.
Murdered soil
food web
Conventional Organic Production:
Monocrop Desert
lots of tillage to manage water,
nutrients, and weeds.
HOW DO WE RECONNECT NATURE,
AGRICULTURE and OURSELVES?
Veganic Farming and Gardening
Veganic farming and
gardening is a willingness to
balance our existence with
the natural world.
the soil microorganisms we try not to
disturb with excessive tillage, the birds,
butterflies, and insects we do not poison
with insecticides, the weeds that are not
killed with herbicides, and the animals who
are not killed for food or fertilizer.
Veganic Works With Nature to Mimic Natural Plant Eco-Systems:
Reduced tillage – keeping soil covered,
Increased plant diversity,
Regular addition of plant residues.
Plant – based Fertilizer System:
Using Clover Living Mulches
Case study @ Biodesign Farm
NO BARE SOIL - Soil covered
spring, summer, fall, & winter.
Light tillage in the spring
(lots of plant residue left)
Bed making –
Plant residue inside beds
Seed new cover between rows in spring, recruits from
previous season’s living mulch already re-growing
New living mulch well-established by late
spring for broccoli harvest
Mature living mulch kept mowed monthly
(surface-applied residue)
Benefits of
Living
Mulch
System:
balanced
nutrient
supply
Improved yield and quality
Improved cold tolerance
Habitat for beneficials
provided
Habitat for pollinators =
increased fruit set
Long-term soil health improved with Living Mulch system
2003
2006
5.4
5.2
204
260
222 613 397 1998 7.6 44
261 323 254 2024 7.6 33
N levels drop
without manure
No-till Experiments 2004- 2010
No-till Brussels sprouts
www.veganicpermaculture.com
Possible on a large scale?
Living mulch
experiment on
10 acre field
in CO.
September 2011
FOREST GARDEN: Seven layers
Peaches,
strawberries ,
and grapes in a
forest garden
Releasing fruit trees
from the jungle and
Chop & Drop mulch on a
forest farm in Panama
Farming
with Nature:
Fukuoka
Conventional organic – raspberries under plastic high tunnels
Multilayer,
multispecies
orchard
PLANT- BASED
FERTILIZER IN THE
CITY?
TRANSFORM
LAWN TO GARDEN
t
Buy local and ask questions about
farming methods.
Manure? How do you manage weeds? Insects?
Diseases? Veganic/stock-free?
Photo Courtesy of Sam Earnshaw
Predator Friendly Label
Salmon-Safe Label
Farm Bill 2012 – Change Policy!
• Conservation
Security Act
• Environmental
Quality
Incentive
Program
• Wildlife Habitat
Incentive
Program
• Forest Land
Enhancement
Program
• Grasslands
Reserve
Program
• Conservation
Reserve
Enhancement
Program
• Wetlands
Reserve
Program
• Organic - NOP
• Animal Rights
Wild Farm Alliance
wildfarms@earthlink.net
wildfarmalliance.org
We envision community-based,
ecologically managed farms,
seamlessly integrated into a
landscape that accommodates
the full range of native species
and ecological processes.
Get involved
www.goveganic.net
www.northwestveg.org
www.veganicpermaculture.com