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Hi folks,
This is Phil Forbes here. I am the Senior Director of Supply Chain at Kalona SuperNatural. 35 years working on organic production, to include vegetables, poultry, cattle (dairy & beef), crops, and medicinal herbs. I have worked in organic dairy for the last 17 years, including quality assurance, plant management, and fieldman to organic dairy farmers, and I am currently focused on regenerative dairy. I am the Savory Hub leader for Kalona Regenerative Network and the director of the Small Farm Program. When folks have asked about the difference between organic and conventional farming, I have always found that the old cliché is accurate: “pictures are worth a thousand words”.
The picture below visually describes a man’s connection with his horses, as he prepares a field to plant, just in time to beat the rain, at a moment when the ground is in perfect condition.
This Amish farmer farms around 120 acres. For this system that he employs to work and work well, he really can’t farm more than those 120 acres. Horses used as “horsepower” can’t prepare a field in 20 minutes. This system takes time; thus, it is limited. Therefore, this farmer must care for his fields and animals in such a way that the sustainability of the system is paramount. He can’t afford to abuse his animals or fields. He also must do this in a very, VERY cost-effective way.
One of the best ways to become more sustainable and also lower the costs of production is to farm biologically. Work with biology, especially in the soil, not against it. Again, there are many ways to do this, but the principle is there: when soil biology is prioritized, costs are lowered and the growing system is more sustainable. More resilient. Better able to withstand the shocks of drought, deluge, wind, pests, weeds, etc.
Now, what I just described is not the only way to do this. Farming, any farming, any growing system can be accomplished in a myriad of ways. There can be a farmer sitting in a tractor, farming one thousand acres, who can also make the ground look like the picture above. Usually, though, the more acres one farms, the less able one is to farm sustainably. It’s just much harder because generally, there is a window of time to prepare the soil for planting.
Thus, in simply comparing in a general sense the differences between organic and conventional production, if one thinks of organic farming as biological farming as a general principle, then one can begin to understand the crucial difference between the two. Conventional farming uses synthetic fertilizers and chemicals to grow crops – organic farming MUST rely on the biology of the soil as the fundamental framework to make the system work.
I’ve always said: the most successful organic farmers are true believers. They will farm organically even if they are paid conventionally. They believe in it, employ it, and consume it.
With gratitude,
Phil Forbes
Senior Director of Supply Chain
Kalona SuperNatural