Animal-Powered Farming

  • Dan Macon, owner of Flying Mule Farm, and his mule, Frisbee (Photo by Tamara Keith)

With fuel prices through the roof,
many people are changing their routines to
save money. Tamara Keith brings
us this story of a farmer who’s abandoned
his tractor for something much more fuel
efficient:

Transcript

With fuel prices through the roof,
many people are changing their routines to
save money. Tamara Keith brings
us this story of a farmer who’s abandoned
his tractor for something much more fuel
efficient:

“Step up.” (kissing noises)

Meet Dan Macon and his mule Frisbee.

“Frisbee is a 7 year old mule and she was born here at our place. And she got
her name because I promised my oldest daughter, who was then 3, that if she got
up with me when the mule was born she could pick the name.”

“Step up. Good girl.”

On this day Macon and Frisbee are plowing to prepare a patch of land to plant
for the fall. Macon’s Flying Mule Farm is in the California foothill town of
Auburn. And he says it’s 100% animal powered.

“We have a sign now in our farmer’s market stall that says mule powered
vegetables. We use no pesticides, no synthetic fertilizers and no petroleum in
producing our vegetables. And we joke with them that we haven’t harmed any
tractors in producing their goodies.”

He sells his squash, kale, potatoes and other produce at two local farmer’s
markets. He also supplies restaurants in nearby resort towns.

At this point Macon is only farming a quarter of an acre, but hopes to expand
soon. He holds a pair of leather reins as he follows Frisbee in circles around
the small field. He directs her movements with vocal cues, kissing sounds and
pressure applied to the reins. And it seems to work, some of the time.

Tamara Keith: “Seems like it could be a matter of debate as to who’s in
charge.”

Dan Macon: (laughs) “Well as I tell people who have seen pictures of us
doing it, the mule’s the one with the long ears and the guy in the hat is the
jackass.”

Macon has been farming for 7 years and, until this year, he used a gas and
diesel powered tractors. He made the switch for philosophical reasons rather
than economic ones, but it’s penciling out financially too.

“And then diesel went to $5 a gallon and it seemed like a really good
decision.”

And Macon isn’t the only farmer doing this. Animal powered farming,
particularly with horses, is growing in popularity nationwide.

Lynn Miller is editor of the Small Farmer’s Journal. He says 400,000 people
are using animals to farm, and only half of them are Amish.

“I’m predicting within two to three years an additional quarter of a million
people will join the ranks of those who choose animal powered, not as a
throwback, not a return to a nostalgic past, but because it is a practical and
viable option for the future.”

Macon uses organic farming practices, but Frisbee kind of fertilizes the soil as
she goes – if you know what I mean. So, his produce can’t be certified
organic. Macon says he isn’t concerned about his lack of certification.

“I think knowing your farmer is far more important to food safety than any
regulatory program. And if you know your farmer, and your farmer stands
behind what he or she is producing for you, then you’re going to be insured of a
safe product, and that’s how our relationship works with our customers.”

There are other advantages to farming with a mule, says Macon. He’s not
much of a mechanic, so when his tractor broke down in the past he’d have to
call someone to repair it. Now if his source of traction has a problem, he can
just call his wife. She’s a large animal veterinarian.

For The Environment Report, I’m Tamara Keith.

Related Links

Green Goo Finds New Home

  • Sandy Binh works for the Waterkeeper Alliance. She's kept a close eye on water quality problems in western Lake Erie. She and her neighbors are worried about the emergence of a new algae in the Lake - Lyngbya wollei. (Photo by Mark Brush)

Life along the water can be pretty nice – sunsets, strolls along the
beach, and boating. It’s no wonder more Americans are moving closer to
big lakes. But it’s not all fun at the beach these days. Mark Brush
brings us the story of one lake shore community that seems to be stuck
with a green gooey invader:

Transcript

Life along the water can be pretty nice – sunsets, strolls along the
beach, and boating. It’s no wonder more Americans are moving closer to
big lakes. But it’s not all fun at the beach these days. Mark Brush
brings us the story of one lake shore community that seems to be stuck
with a green gooey invader:


For many people living along the western edge of Lake Erie, seeing
algae is nothing new. Lake Erie is the shallowest and warmest of the
five Great Lakes. Algae like to grow here. But the cold winter months
usually kill off what grows over the summer.


(Sound of lake)


That’s not the case for a new type of algae that has spread through
this area in the last year. Jerry Brown has lived and paddled his
boats along these shores for years. We’re standing next to a beach
that is piled with mounds of dried green and brown algae three feet
high:


“It’s like a carpeting that grows on top of itself and becomes matted –
and it appears to dry but it doesn’t deteriorate. What used to be my
wonderful seafront, and waves lapping up against my seawall, is now
what I call my lower forty because it’s a field.”


The algae are known as Lyngbya wollei. Residents have been
warned not to touch it because it might cause skin rashes.
Lyngbya algae are common in Florida and some other southern
states. It probably hitched a ride up here from a pleasure boat.


(Sound of tractor)


Just down the road Brown’s neighbor is John Pastorek. He’s using his
tractor to lift a water pump out of the Lake. He uses the pump to water
the lawns around his house. Recently, his pump stopped working. It’s completely
covered by the dark green goop:


“And so the pump can’t suck through that. So now I’ve gotta clean
that off of here so that the filter can once again work. But it’s a short
term solution because it’s going to fill back up again.”


Pastorek says he’d love to find a way to get rid of the algae. What
he’s not aware of is that he might be contributing to the problem.
His house is surrounded by green lawns:


“You know my wife and daughter just returned from Ireland and yesterday
they said, ‘Boy, this looks just like Ireland. It’s so green.'”


It’s that green because it gets treated with fertilizers by a lawn care
company. The invasive algae feed on fertilizers that are washed off
the land by rain. I’m here with Sandy Binh of the environmental group
the Waterkeeper Alliance. She’s also Pastorek’s neighbor.
And she tries to convince him to tell his lawn company to stop using
phosphorus as a fertilizer:


“It will be just as green. It will not change it a bit. In fact
Lowe’s now on their Scott’s products that they sell – there’s no
phosphorus. I checked this year. A lot of companies are adopting it because they know it’s not needed. It can actually have less cost because they don’t have to put that in it. It doesn’t have any effect on your
lawn – there’s no reason to have it.”


Binh says to stop the invasive algae – one of the most important things
people can do – is to stop giving it nutrients such as phosphorus.
These nutrients come from a lot of places. They leak from septic
systems. They come from sewage treatment plants. And they wash off
farm fields and lawns:


“We really need to get it out of dishwasher detergent, to get it out
of lawn fertilizers, to work with the agricultural community to reduce
it. We need to find out what’s causing it quickly because we don’t
want to become the old poster child where Lake Erie is really having major
problems.”


Researchers say phosphorus isn’t the only problem. They say people
need to cut back on on another of the algae’s favorite food – nitrogen.
Hans Paerl is with the Institute of Marine Sciences in North Carolina.
He says once these mats of algae get started – it can be tough to stop
them, because they can start to make their own nutrients:


“In many ways – once that bloom gets going it becomes a sort of self-
fulfilling prophecy. The bottom line is we need to think about
nitrogen as well as phosphorus as far as ultimately controlling and managing these blooms.”


(Sound of lake)


Back at the lakefront, boater Jerry Brown says he hopes they can solve
the problem soon:


“You now, I’m seventy years old. I’ve been here 40 years. I love
living on the lake and I no longer have any use for the lake. I’m very fearful that this won’t be corrected and
that I’ll end my days not being to use the lake that I love so much.”


To stop the spread of these kinds of algae it will take cooperation
from farmers, cities… pretty much everyone. Anything we put on the
land or in our pipes flows into the water. But at the moment, most
people don’t seem to know that they’re a part of the problem and
nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen continue to pollute the
water.


For the Environment Report, I’m Mark Brush.

Related Links

Ethanol Puts Strain on Immigrant Farming

  • Jenny Chang at a farmers' market with her produce. (Photo by Joel Grostephan)

Demand for corn-based ethanol is growing and that’s made farmland more valuable. This
year, American farmers planted 14 million acres more corn than they did last year. Some
small immigrant farmers believe that’s why they’re having a hard time finding land to rent
to grow fresh fruits and vegetables. Joel Grostephan reports:

Transcript

Demand for corn-based ethanol is growing and that’s made farmland more valuable. This
year, American farmers planted 14 million acres more corn than they did last year. Some
small immigrant farmers believe that’s why they’re having a hard time finding land to rent
to grow fresh fruits and vegetables. Joel Grostephan reports:


Jenny Chang doesn’t want to change the government’s policy on ethanol subsidies. She
just wants some good land to raise her vegetables that she sells at the farmer’s market.
When planting time came around this year, she was still looking for a plot to rent. Chang is
Hmong and she came from Laos more than 20 years ago with few job skills. For
the last 7 years, she’s made part of her income from farming on land she rents. In the
past, finding land to rent wasn’t that hard. But, Chang says through her daughter who
interprets for her, this year was different:


“She said that this year, we couldn’t find land, that’s why we got stuck with this bad area.
She’s really sad.”


With corn selling for double what it did last year, land values are going up. That means
rent is going up. And the 300 Hmong farmers in this area are having a hard time finding
land they can afford.


Kent Olson is an economics professor at the University of Minnesota. He says he thinks
land scarcity is due to higher demand for ethanol:


“Your ethanol may have started the ball rolling, and created higher prices for corn, which
pushed corn onto other land from other crops but that’s pushed soybean prices up. So we
are seeing higher rent from a couple different directions.”


In theory, ethanol from corn is supposed to be good for the environment. It burns cleaner
and means less reliance on foreign oil.


But… conventional corn farmers rely on fossil fuel-based fertilizers and chemical
pesticides. By the time their diesel-powered tractors plant the corn, combines harvest it,
trucks transport it and ethanol distillery plants cook it, the energy gain from corn ethanol
is marginal.


The Hmong farm differently. Most don’t use fossil fuel-based fertilizers or pesticides.
Instead, they do a lot of hand weeding, and put in long days. Jenny Chang fertilizes her
tomatoes with chicken manure. Chang’s daughter, who is also named Jenny Chang, says
many older Hmong farmers are suspicious of chemicals:


“They like gardening the way they used to back in old Laos. They don’t really know what
insecticides and pesticides are, or how to use it so that’s why they just don’t use it. And a lot of
people are afraid of cancer, so they just like to grow things organically because they eat it
themselves.”


And researchers say growing food this way seems more environmentally friendly than
growing corn for ethanol.


Bill Moseley is a professor at Macalester College in St. Paul. He studies the
environmental effects of agriculture:


“Conventional corn production is displacing, in this particular case, a form of
agriculture that is more environmentally sound in terms of it’s using fewer fossil
fuel imports, and it’s producing crops for the local market, it’s particularly ironic in
this instance.”


Government officials don’t think increased corn production for ethanol is the problem.
Perry Aasness works with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency. When he learned the Hmong farmers were having a hard time finding land to rent, his
agency helped them. But Aasness believes corn production for ethanol is NOT the cause
of the land shortage:


“Well, at least in Minnesota I think it’s very, very minimal. I think the real issue that I
have seen in Minnesota is that the Hmong farmers, the Hmong community is primarily
based in the Twin Cities metro area. They have to go further out to get land — a lot
of it I think is just due to urban sprawl.”


For many people in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, the Hmong are the face of agriculture
at farmers markets. But since no government agency keeps track of their numbers, it’s
hard to know if their tradition of raising crops on small plots of rented land is going well,
or if ethanol and high corn prices are actually putting their small businesses in danger of.


For the Environment report, I’m Joel Grostephan.

Related Links

Barnyard Animal Extinctions

  • Milking Devon cattle are rare domestic breeds from an earlier day, some dating back to the 18th century. The animals hold genetic information that some people think is too valuable to lose. (Photo by Lester Graham)

When you think of endangered species, farm animals might not top the list. But some types of farm animals are in danger of going extinct.
Certain breeds of common barnyard creatures are no longer considered commercially viable, and are being allowed to die off. But as the GLRC’s Chris Lehman reports, there’s an effort to preserve some rare varieties of
livestock:

Transcript

When you think of endangered species, farm animals might not top the list. But some
types of farm animals are in danger of going extinct. Certain breeds of common barnyard
creatures are no longer considered commercially viable, and are being allowed to die off.
But as the GLRC’s Chris Lehman reports, there’s an effort to preserve some rare varieties
of livestock:


When you buy a pound of ground beef or a pack of chicken legs, you probably don’t
think about what kind of cow or chicken the meat came from. And in most stores,
you don’t have a choice. Beef is beef and chicken is chicken.


Of course, there’s many different kinds of cows and chickens, but most farmers stick with
just a handful of types. They prefer animals that are specially bred to produce more meat
in less time.


That’s all well and good if your motive is profit.


But some people think the move towards designer farm animals is risky.
Jerome Johnson is executive director of Garfield Farm Museum.


(Sound of turkeys gobbling)


Johnson says breeds like these Narragansett turkeys carry genetic traits that could be
desirable in the future. They don’t require as much food, for instance. That could be an
attractive feature as costs continue to rise:


“Some of the high-producing, high-yielding animals today, they may require a lot of
input. In other words, a lot of feed, more expense since so many things are derived from
petroleum, from the diesel fuel that powers the tractors to the production of fertilizer
and the like, and chemicals for herbicides and all… that as the cost of that goes up, it may
actually be cheaper to raise a different type of animal, that doesn’t require that much.”


Johnson also says some common poultry breeds get sick more easily. That’s part of the
risk farmers take when they choose meatier birds. Normally that might not be a problem,
but if Avian flu spreads to the US, some of the older breeds might carry genes that could
resist the disease. If those breeds disappear, that genetic information would be lost.


But some farmers choose rare livestock breeds for completely different reasons.


(Sound of baby chicks)


Scott Lehr and his family raise several varieties of pure-bred poultry, sheep, and goats on
their northern Illinois farm. These chicks are just a few weeks old…


(Sound of baby chicks)


“These are all pure-bred birds. These are birds that have been around a long time. Some
of the breeds that are in there, there’s Bantam Brown Leghorns, Bantam White Leghorns.”


Some of the poultry breeds are so rare and exotic they’re practically collector’s items.
Lehr’s son enters them in competitions. But the animals on their farm aren’t just for
showing off. Scott says they use the wool from their herd of Border Cheviot sheep for a
craft studio they opened in a nearby town:


“There’s quite a bit of demand growing for handspun wool and the rising interest in the
hand arts, if you will… knitting and spinning and weaving and those kinds of things… are
really beginning to come into, I guess, the consciousness of the American public in many
ways. It’s evolving beyond a cottage industry.”


And the wool of rare breeds like the Border Cheviot sheep is popular among people who want handspun wool.


(Sound of Johnson calling to giant pig, “Hey, buddy, how ya doin’?”)


Back at the Garfield Farm Museum, Jerome Johnson offers a handful of grass to a 700
pound Berkshire hog. This Berkshire is different from the variety of pig with the same
name that’s relatively common today. Johnson says these old-style Berkshires have a
different nose and more white hair than the modern Berkshire. They also tend to be fatter,
which used to be a more desirable trait.


The museum’s pair of old-style Berkshires are literally a dying breed. Johnson says the
boar isn’t fertile anymore:


“They were the last breeding pair that we knew of. These were once quite common but
now are quite rare. And we maybe have found a boar that is fertile that is up in
Wisconsin that was brought in from England here a couple years ago that we could try
crossing with our sow to see if we can preserve some of these genetics.”


(Sound of pigs)


Advocates of rare livestock breeds say the animals can be healthier and sometimes tastier
than the kinds raised on large commercial farms. And although you won’t find many
farm animals on the endangered species list, they could have important benefits for future
farmers.


For the GLRC, I’m Chris Lehman.

Related Links

Stricter Rules for Heavy Equipment Emissions?

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing new clean-air standards for some diesel-powered equipment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing new clean-air standards for some diesel
powered equipment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


The EPA’s new rules would cut the soot and pollution that’s belched by off-road diesel vehicles
such as bulldozers and farm tractors. Frank O’Donnell is with the environmental group Clean Air
Trust.


“Currently there are very minimal controls on big diesel heavy equipment and the fuel itself is
extremely dirty. It’s virtually unregulated. And this EPA proposal will go a long way, over time,
making a significant reduction in the diesel pollution coming from heavy equipment.”


The EPA projects the new rules will prevent almost ten-thousand premature deaths each year
once the standards are fully phased in. But, that’ll take a while with the last of the dirty vehicles
probably taken out of service around the year 2030.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Usda Running on Alternative Fuels

The Department of Agriculture is expanding its use of alternative fuels generated by farms. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

The Department of Agriculture is expanding its use of alternative fuels generated by farms. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports.


The USDA is increasing the use of bio-diesel and ethanol. Bio-diesel is a fuel that can be made by refining natural oils such as animal fat, spent cooking oil or soy bean oil. Ethanol is a blend of gasoline and alcohol, usually derived from corn. USDA agencies such as the Forest Service will increase the use of the fuels in fleet vehicles, including cars, tractors, and even boats at agency offices across the nation. Donald Comis is a spokesperson for the Department of Ag.


“It’s a deliberate strategy of the whole federal government to have demonstration areas all over the country so that you won’t have to travel far to see a vehicle or operation like your own.”


While the USDA is promoting bio-diesel and ethanol, some environmental groups say the taxpayer subsidized fuels use too much energy to produce and only survive because of politics. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Keeping Disabled Farmers Farming

The life of a farmer isn’t easy. The work is hard. The days are long.
The profit margins, low. It’s tough work for anyone, but when a farmer
becomes disabled, the challenges are even greater. But as the Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson reports, help is available…and
it’s keeping disabled farmers, farming: