Which state do you think is better for a small scale organic farm?
Question by Gone Riding HPTS: Which state do you think is better for a small scale organic farm?
Which state do you think is better for a small scale organic farm?
A) Vermont
B) Colorado
WHY?
Add your own answer in the comments!
5 Responses to Which state do you think is better for a small scale organic farm?
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They both are fine for oganic farming.
To have family close by would be my choice
Them temperature is a factor.
read article for Vermont and Colorado oganic farming classes…
By Lisa Rathke, The Associated Press
POULTNEY, Vt. — Devin Lyons typically starts his days this summer cooking breakfast with fresh eggs from the farm’s chicken coop. Then, depending on the weather, he and a dozen other college students might cut hay in the field using a team of oxen, turn compost or weed vegetable beds.
While other college students are in stuffy classrooms, about a dozen are earning credit tending a Vermont farm. For 13 weeks, 12 credits and about $ 12,500, the Green Mountain College students plow fields with oxen or horses, milk cows, weed crops and grow and make their own food, part of an intensive course in sustainable agriculture using the least amount of fossil fuels.
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“Lots of schools study sustainable agriculture but I don’t think any of them put it into practice,” said spokesman Kevin Coburn.
There are no tractors on the 22 acres next to the brick campus of the small liberal arts college on the edge of the town — just two teams of oxen, and goats, pigs, two cows, and chickens.
Students sleep in tents on the field’s edge, next to a river. They spend about six hours a week in classes in the old farmhouse, learning theory on organic crop and animal management; management of farm systems; development of agricultural technologies with a focus on human and animal power; and the social and cultural importance of regional food. The rest of the time they’re out in the field, or doing homework and working on research projects.
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“So they’re actually seeing the applications firsthand,” said Kenneth Mulder, manager of the college’s Cerridwen Farm, who runs the summer program.
College farming is growing. According to the Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania, more than 80 schools now have hands-on and classroom-based farm programs. Many of them are organic vegetable farms, but students don’t necessarily earn as many credits as Green Mountain College students do, nor do they get to work with teams of oxen. Sterling College, also in Vermont, has a similar program.
“It’s traditionally been one of the leaders in environmental studies and it is because they put their studies where their mouth is in really getting students out and doing and practicing the sort of environmentally enlightened work that some talk about in class,” said Roland King, a spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
For her research project, Cassie Callahan, 18, Conway, N.H., wants to water plants with gray water collected from the farm’s solar shower, attached to the greenhouse. But she’s not sure yet if the soap — even biodegradable soap — will harm the plants if it’s not diluted.
Her real love is working with draft horses. She jumps at the chance every time and even has a new tattoo of a team of horses on her shin. In her hometown, she had a job driving horse-drawn sleighs and wagons in her hometown and now has learned the animals can be used for more than tourism.
She hopes to be a farmer, supporting herself and selling a little on the side.
“You know people have jobs to make money to feed themselves and cloth themselves but I’d much rather have my job be to feed and cloth myself,” she said.
Green Mountain College hopes to turn out farmers and has several alumni running farms nearby. Other students are interested in food-related fields — whether it’s organizing nonprofits, working on policy or overseas development work.
Lyons, 19, doesn’t know if he’ll farm but so far he’s learned a lot.
Growing up in suburban Jefferson, N.J., he said he didn’t know much about where his food came from and was never exposed to organic farms.
“Like I never really got the connection between the chicken on my plate — and it was like a dead chicken that was killed — like I just never really thought about it,” he said.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Luis
November 28, 2013 at 4:19 am
Both states have good organic program support at the state and private level. Both states offer grants, university research and community support.
The bigger question should be which state is better to grow crops in.
Living in the west and just 6 miles from the northern Colorado boarder, I would have to say Vermont is the place to go for a market garden.
Why? It comes down to water!
Colorado like most western states is in a constant drought and water can be expensive, some ag producers have been shut down for lack of it, some have to find a source to replace what they use. However; small scale producers do well in our short 90 day growing season, but it is a constant battle.
Regardless of what state your first questions should be; how much, how deep, what cost is the water. The organic farm support is there and it’s not hard to find.
shazam82054
November 28, 2013 at 5:00 am
Whether your a conventional farmer or an organic farmer you have 3 main issues to confront:
Weed Control
Soil Amendment (Applying Fertilizer)
Pest and Disease Control
As a farmer in the southeast, i know that it is near impossible to grow organic fruits and vegetables on a larger scale because of the humidity and rain. Any time rain is present, there will be a great risk for disease. Disease and pests are too much of a threat in the southeast for organic practices to be advantageous. Chemicals are a must on our farm. The best location for organic is california because of the dry growing season and fertile soil. I would pick the area in which you will have the least disease and pest pressure.
However, I will also say that if you are going to practice on a small scale (i.e. less than 10 acres) then organic may be successful in any area. In this case, you will be able to personally assess plants on a daily basis. With this care it will be easier to identify and rid pests quicker and more accurate.
I would pick Vermont if you were on a sure small scale, but understand that there will be more pest and disease pressure there. Depending on the soil type locally, it also may be more fertile than colorado.
thepeachfarmer
November 28, 2013 at 5:37 am
Vermont!
MIND SET! It is all about the mind set of US New Englanders.
For instance, I live in Massachusetts, I work on a farm.
I GET PAID ENOUGH!!! important key here…
I get paid enough, to afford to buy organic, eggs, butter, vegetables, meats.
Other parts of the country do not make New England salaries.
Even in poverty, we make more than any one except California.
So Vermont is the best state to Cottage farm in.
Between the two ….I vote A) Vermont.
Because I live in New England, I farm in New England, I know the trends here!
Molly M
November 28, 2013 at 5:50 am
Vermont-Better growing conditions and I believe a longer season. And New England has about the best organic association in the USA with NOFA (in Vermont it would be NOFA-VT).
Vt has better soils, more rainfall and most important, a denser population (low populations make marketing hard to do).
Ohiorganic
November 28, 2013 at 5:56 am