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Coined in 1957, agribusiness refers to the large-scale business operation that controls the production, processing, and distribution of farm products. Under this model, farms are businesses, with profit being their primary goal.
The AFSC are farmer-to-farmer training programs located all over the US. These programs “provide personal, hands-on training to beginning farmers for one year” (165). Through the program, participants learn about soil health, irrigation, harvesting, crop selection, food-handling techniques, and business and marketing skills. The program also provides economic assistance, such as seeds, tools, and equipment, to help participants get their farms up and running. Participants run their own organic farm upon program completion, but are able to still call their AFSC mentors. Fidel Gonzalez, a participant of the program, notes that the practical farming knowledge and his mentors were the two most valuable aspects of the program.
Gabe Brown and his wife, Shelly, manage Brown’s Ranch. Shelly’s parents originally owned the ranch, and Gabe and Shelly began working on it in the early 1980s. Originally, Gabe and Shelly “ran cattle and farmed cash grain crops conventionally” (189). They eventually bought the farm from Shelly’s parents and were able to run it as they wanted. The Browns stopped using plows to prepare the soil for planting, also known as “no-till.” Rather, they left the residue on the land to save time and moisture. However, a hailstorm in 1995 wiped out 100% of their crops, with several more years of crop losses to follow. These dark times resulted in Gabe fundamentally changing his farming strategies, realizing that he did not need inputs, such as herbicides, insecticides, and pesticides, to produce crops. In fact, without these inputs, his farm saw healthier soil and crops.
CAFOs are intensive animal feeding operations. Animals are confined to feedlots and fed a carefully controlled diet of corn, milled grains, soybeans, corn silage, ethanol plant by-products, and other fillers like ground-up pig and chicken parts. These rations often include synthetic growth hormones, which help the animals gain weight faster, and antibiotics, which prevent disease that comes with animals living in their own manure. CAFOs began to appear nationally in the 1950s and 1960s as corn prices decreased due to government subsidies. As a result of these subsidies, the CAFO-meat production system is also known as the “industrial grain-livestock complex” (83). While this production system produces cheap meat, Anderson emphasizes the unethical nature of this system. Animals are kept in deplorable living conditions and CAFOs also cause significant harm to the environment and human health.
Practiced by most ranchers in the Great Plains since the 1870s, conventional grazing is where “ranchers turn cattle loose in large pastures and allow them to graze selectively using ‘free will,’ choosing the plants they like best and leaving everything else untouched” (56-57). Ranchers rotate cattle to new pastures once they consume the most nutritious grasses. Due to this system, cattle fatten and rebreed easily. Conventional grazing also includes spraying pastures for weeds and applying fertilizers to fix the environmental issues caused by this management strategy.
Founded in 1914, the CES is the largest education system of its kind globally. The program turns research into practical farming methods and helps educate farmers about new or existing farming methods and technologies. It expanded to assist the nonfarm public as well, most notably during World War II with the Victory Garden program. The CES provided seed, fertilizer, and tools for individuals participating in this program. Today, the CES operates within six categories: leadership development, natural resources, 4-H youth development, agriculture, family and consumer sciences, and community and economic development. These categories include their own programs designed for individuals of all ages. While the CES is potentially one way to help farming in the US transition from conventional to regenerative, agribusiness corporations currently control this program. Anderson argues that removing agribusiness’ grasp on the CES will help drive the radical change that the US farming system so desperately needs.
Desertification is when fertile land turns to desert due to a number of processes acting simultaneously, including deforestation, poor agricultural techniques, and drought. According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the world loses 30 million acres of land annually to desertification, impacting one billion people in over 100 countries. Dryland environments, such as grasslands, are especially prone to desertification in the face of climate change.
The Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) is a 700,000 acre stretch of highly productive agricultural land south of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Roth Farms is located in the EAA. Its defining feature is muck soil. Sugar companies, primarily US Sugar and Florida Crystals, own the vast majority (500,000 acres) of the land. Anderson opens Part 1 by describing the fires that are occurring on the windswept land. Before harvesting, farmers burn the sugarcane to remove the leaves and tops, also known as trash, so that the stalks are bare and easier to machine harvest. This opening illustrates the disregard that conventional agricultural practices have for the land.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines a family farm as “any farm where the majority of the business is owned by the operator and individuals related to the operator by blood or marriage, including relatives who do not reside in the operator’s household” (8). The USDA further classifies family farms into three groups: small (gross cash farm income, or GCFI, of less than $350,000), midsize (GCFI between $350,000 to $999,999), and large (GCFI of $1 million or more). Anderson notes that while 90% of all US farms are small family farms, this group only produces 26% of US farm output. Large-scale and midsize family farms alongside nonfamily corporate farms produce 75% of what Americans consume even though they comprise just 10% of the total number of farms.
Coined by the US Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz in the 1970s, this five-word edict continues to haunt American agriculture. The edict directs growers to see themselves not as farmers, stewards, or caretakers of the land, but as agribusinessmen. In so doing, the American agricultural system transformed from a whole-farm approach to industrial agriculture. Industrial agriculture focuses only on profit, rather than the health of land and water resources, farming families, and rural communities.
Phil Jerde, and his wife Jill, manage Great Plains Buffalo Company. Their herd comprises over 1,000 bison, making it one of the largest commercial herds in the US. At Great Plains Buffalo Company, the Jerde’s practice holistic management, which helps regenerate the native grassland and produces nearly organic, input-free meat.
Holistic management is a form of regenerative agriculture created by biologist and environmentalist Allan Savory. He came up with this management strategy to reverse the increasing desertification of grasslands, the process by which fertile land becomes desert through drought, poor agricultural techniques, and deforestation. Part of this strategy involves livestock intensely grazing an area for a short period of time and then allowing it to rest. As a result, livestock are moved frequently to new pastures. Brittle environments, like grasslands, need large herbivores to maintain their health. The near extinction of bison from the Great Plains is one reason why these grasslands are facing severe desertification. Bison “help fill the gap in the symbiotic relationship between herbivores, soil, grass, insects, and other animals” (62). Thus, their reintroduction to the Great Plains by ranchers like Phil will hopefully help restore the grasslands. The fact that this management strategy considers the needs of the whole ecosystem is why it uses the term “holistic.”
Muck soil, also known as black gold, is the defining feature of the EAA. It has a high percentage of organic matter. It forms in low-drainage areas, such as wetlands and marshes, under anaerobic conditions, which means little to no oxygen is present. The lack of oxygen results in plant decomposition occurring slowly, allowing organic material to accumulate over time. This process is what forms muck soil. Anderson notes that “it takes five hundred years for just thirty centimeters of muck to form” (44). This soil type is incredibly rare, comprising less than 1.6 and 1.2% of US and global soil, respectively. Muck soil disappears when exposed to oxygen, a process known as subsidence. Because humans have drained the Everglades and replaced natural flood cycle and water sheet flows with canals, muck soil is rapidly disappearing throughout the EAA. Two-thirds of the muck has disappeared in the last 60 years, and it is predicted that it will all be gone in another 60 years.
Kevin O’Dare owns and manages this farm. He turned an overgrown grapefruit farm into a farm that produces organic produce. It includes a greenhouse, a walk-in cooler, a one-room farm stand, and a wash line for cleaning and bagging produce. Kevin’s farm includes plant diversity, which has all but disappeared on conventional farms. Osceola Organic Farm grows flowers, lettuce, basil, green beans, cabbage, Swiss chard, microgreens, onion, tarragon, tomatoes, wheatgrass, and more. Lettuce is one of their primary crops and Kevin sells much of it to “the swankiest beach restaurants” (121) in Vero Beach, although he also sells his produce to local farmers’ markets.
Regenerative agriculture focuses on rehabilitating soil, increasing biodiversity, restoring ecosystems, increasing resilience to climate change, and strengthening the health and wellbeing of farming families and communities. It is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to modern farming practice that often replicates nature (e.g., holistic management and bison’s natural grazing patterns).
Ryan Roth, one of the primary farmers interviewed in One Size Fits None, manages Roth Farms, which is located in Belle Glade, Florida. Ryan’s grandfather founded the farm. Roth Farms comprises 3,500 acres. Six individual farms originally owned the land. The land primarily supports sugarcane (2,700 acres) alongside some vegetables and leaf crops (e.g., lettuce and cabbage). The farm follows a conventional crop rotation pattern: “four years of sugarcane, one growing season of vegetables and leaf, one summer of rice, another growing season of vegetables and leaf, then four years of cane. Repeat” (5). It employs 130 people over the course of a year, with around 30 to 35 employees considered full-time. Much to Anderson’s shock, due to the farm’s size and number of employees, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) considers it a family farm. In her eyes, Roth Farms is big because of how it is managed. It follows the “get big or get out” rule, which means it has an input heavy production model, corporate-like structure, and commercial packinghouse.
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