Jul 22
Going On A Farm Walk
Posted in Crops Organic Farming , Farming Techniques by David Wilson
I do a few guided farm walks throughout the summer. Recently the Soil Association and a group which included people from different walks of life ranging from policy makers to food writers, authors and farmers joined me. I took them around the farm and we had some interesting discussions about the amount of energy used in the present food system. The method that many conventional farmers use to produce food is heavily oil dependent. Here at Home Farm we're taking a big step in the right direction by being less reliant on fossil fuels. We also don't use ammonium nitrate - an artificial fertliser - which uses a huge amount of energy to produce. Because of rising energy prices conventional farmers now have to pay a lot more for nitrogen.
I talked about the environmental and biodiversity benefits of organic farming and how clover is the backbone of our system because of its ability to fix the nitrogen in the soil. I often ask conventional farmers, 'How will you produce your food without ammonium nitrate?' They say, 'I suppose we will have to do something like you're doing with rotation and clover.' Why not? It is much cheaper and better for the soil!
