FARMING PRACTICES

When Anne and Pooh landed in Plainfield and started farming in May of 1973, they suffered an over abundance of inexperience. They were more prepared for dairy farming with limited backgrounds and and experience from growing up as children on their parents dairy farms. . But they were smart enough not to give up their day jobs.  Anne taught elementary school, Pooh worked as a day laborer and played music nights and weekends.  The template for small diversified agricultural farms was long lost as a result of the 1960’s USDA programs for commodity agriculture. Education was gained from networking with with other farmers who seemed to be trying to do the same thing and farm on the same scale. They badgered the county extension agents and specialists. They subscribed to related periodicals and went to every farm-related meeting that they could fit in (we still try to do this today, along with our employees).

When Pooh started farming he wanted to farm as organically as possible, but soon realized that he couldn’t profitably farm strictly organically for two reasons.

As Pooh tells it “I didn’t know enough about organic practices in small scale agriculture. Models were strictly homeowner scaled, and cosmetic quality was not as important there as in the commercial marketplace. The post World War II farmers started moving toward chemically based farming methods. Second, most American consumers have demanding expectations about their food. They want their food to be inexpensive and want their food cosmetically perfect. We needed to be on a level playing field with other American farmers that ship food into our markets, and whom farm on a much, much larger scale. . In order for a farm to remain sustainable, it has to be profitable. We continually try to balalnce sustainability and profitability. We are more successful at it in some years than others. He have found some success in moderate use of certain conventional practices – (agribusiness gibberish for using some chemicals), which allows us to be able to produce our key crops with some consistent quality. Some crops we can produce organically or without chemical inputs. The practice of extracting your production practices from two different paradigms is called IPM (Integrated Pest Management)”

Where We are Today

Now we are a much larger enterprise than we envisioned when we started out in 1973. There are 8 top tier decision makers on farrm instead of 2. Michael Harrington, (a veteran of 43 years on this farm), the nuclear family of Anne, Pooh ,Sarah and Ray, (veterans of a lifetime of this farming folly) and Jenny, our daughter in law. Below that is our farm stand manager Ali Boeri and kitchen manager Emily Malnati whom are responsible for all activities in those domains. If we balance all that we do and how we actually grow our crops, Edgewater Farm can support us and is not likely to end up on the auction block or in developed houses. Many of the preferred land stewardship practices are oftentimes more costly to institute, but we regardless adopt them whenever possible and it remains our commitment to farm in such a way that the farm be retained in sustainable production for future generations.  I think that for Anne and myself one might say that farming “beyond the grave” is certainly taking the long view about what we do!  

Despite the fact that we are a conventional farm (by USDA definition), we have  utilized techniques and strategies that are definitely sustainable  and organic in nature. Below are some points that may be of interest. 

• Today we know a lot more about organic systems and production. We are constantly working to find new techniques that make us better land stewards. Yes, we still spray certain crops with conventional chemicals to reduce weeds, control fungus and insect pests, but we always opt for materials that are biologically more compatible with the natural systems The practice has been labeled Integrated Pest Management.   Many of the systems are actually certified for use on organic farms.  We are not a USDA certified Organic farm, and as such and by cannot use organic in any description of what our farm is about.  We will continue to seek to incorporate every sustainable/organic practice that makes sense to this farm.  Despite the fact that we grow every vegetable and small fruit in a typical seed catalog, we have reduced our herbicide dramatically. We continue to try to fine  tune our cultivation techniques and hardware to further reduce our use of herbicides. We have ramped up our soil management and reduced tillage game in an effort to begin to implement long term goals of soil improvement.  Recently we invested $30K in a no till grain drill specifically to improve our cover cropping game. Ray imported a dedicated European $50K cultivating tractor from France. That is what taking the long view is all about.

• Climate change is having a tremendous impact on American agriculture, no less so than here on Edgewater Farm. As we are coping with the effects of extremes in weather, we are constantly challenged to strategize how land, buildings and crops can best be configured to withstand these drastic changes.

• We have invested extensive capital in ramping up our food safety game. In order to comply with a FDA mandated food safety program we have devised protocols for training all field employees in the areas of health and hygiene as well as cleanliness and sanitation of harvest tools and transport mechanisms. We are periodically inspected by the FDA and retrain and review these procedures annually.

• We have reduced herbicides by over 60% in the last 20 years. We have invested in modern cultivating techniques and tools as well as soil conservation techniques such as no till that require specialized equipment.

• We have always been concerned and attentive to our waste stream. Our greenhouses generate a lot of used plastic coverings and pots. At the moment there are very few items that can actually be recycled. Local folks will often take used greenhouse plastic coverings for homeowner projects. Cardboard is easily accepted and recycled as is glass, but there are currently no markets for the used green house pots, flats, or vacuum molded plastic packs despite the recycle numbers that are embossed onto them. We have tried a number products made of molded dry cow manure, peat or spent coconut by-products, thus far with little success.

  We pioneered the use of bio fuels. Initially we imported waste vegetable oil (and burned up the rings on a new tractor in doing so) but eventually went to diesel with 20% biodiesel added.  Recently we have been less committed and less enamored of biodiesel and ethanol because we feel the biofuels industry is being used to subsidize American commodity agriculture with no real environmental savings in fossil fuels or reduction in the carbon footprint. Our current approach is more home directed with conservation practices such as looking at no-till planting, turning off lights and electric motors, making efficiency upgrades in use of electrical upgrades (LED, electric motor upgrades, solars panels) and shutting off idling tractor engines.  

• We pioneered the use of biodegradable field plastic 25 years ago. This has resulted in the end of landfilling hundred of yards of fossil fuel based plastics in the landfill on an annual basis.

• Our practices here at Edgewater Farm are based not just on efficiency and profitability (although those are important), but also on long term sustainability and compatibility with the natural biodynamics of our environment. We believe that Edgewater Farm is in business for the long haul, and that means making the correct business and environmental decisions. Do we think we know everything and are a cutting edge farming enterprise? Nope. Do we have a lot yet to learn about our craft? Yup. We are constantly trying to become better farmers and better land stewards. In so doing we ultimately become better neighbors.

- Pooh Sprague