At Featherstone Farm, we have been thinking and writing about sustainability for years.  Environmental sustainability is clearly the ultimate goal here, aiming to set the bar higher than simple organic certification.  But what good is the best ecological farming plan if it condemns the farmers to a life of voluntary poverty, or ruins their backs, knees and nerves before they are 50?  What farmer would want to adopt it, if it did?  Who would advocate that such a system is sustainable?

Clearly, personal and financial sustainability are prerequisites for a pursuit of environmental sustainability.   At FF we outline our thinking on sustainability in this way:

I  Personal Sustainability

Key questions: 

Can we continue to do this (particular practice, or farming in general) until we are 70 years old?  Will we want too, or is it too stressful (physically and/or emotionally)?   Will our children or grandchildren want to as well?

Status report at FF: 

Well under control.  While we still work too many hours and have too little free time, things are much better than they were even a few years ago, and all signs are that they will continue to improve.

II  Financial Sustainability

Key questions:

Can we afford to operate Featherstone farm in the way that we presently do, without sacrificing our retirement security, our children’s opportunities, our employee’s long term financial interests?  Would any other farmer looking at our books consider FF a sustainable, secure model from a financial standpoint?   Would more people want to do what we do, with all the risks?

Status report at FF:

Not there yet, but seems more and more attainable all the time.  Heavy debt from flood recovery and relocation continues to be a drag on our finances.  And ongoing crop losses from wet weather (climate change) are a big problem.   But by and large the business model seems to be working, and all indications are that FF can be sufficiently profitable for years to come.

III Environmental Sustainability

Key questions:

Are we protecting our most important resource- our soil- in every possible way?  Can we say that we are actually building soil (as opposed to mining it)?  Could FF’s agricultural systems go on for hundreds (perhaps thousands) of years, without degrading the biological, chemical and physical properties that make the soil so productive?

Do we rely on resources- energy sources, crop inputs and materials of all kinds- that are essentially non-renewable?  If so, do we have a serious plan about how to switch to more sustainable inputs in the future?

Are we creating pollution- primarily air emissions, but also solid waste- at an unsustainable level?  That is, could we continue to landfill and exhaust the materials that we do for a very long time, without intolerable impact on the environment?  Are our operations creating enough carbon emissions to eventually destabilize the climate and undermine our very ability to grow food?

Given agriculture’s need to produce enough calories to feed sustain 7+ billion people, are we doing all that we can to contribute to this project sustainably and responsibly?

Status report at FF:

Honestly, this is a very mixed bag.  Mostly we can say that we are asking these serious questions of ourselves all the time.   And imagining better solutions, when we don’t like the current answers.  We have accomplished a lot recently, but we still have a ways to go.

Our crop rotation and soil fertility efforts are approaching a truly sustainable level.  Integrating forage and grain crops into the rotation is really helping to build soil.  And re-introducing the grazing of livestock over time will be a major contribution as well. 

We still rely way too much on non-renewable inputs from far away places… petroleum from who knows where,  potash from mines in Utah, peat moss from bogs that are fast being depleted in Canada… the list goes on and on.  But we are working on ways of conserving and/or replacing these resources in our operations all the time.  We will be making compost on farm in the near future.   We’re converting tractors to run off electricity, and replacing fossil fuels wherever we can with renewable energy sources and conservation.

In 2011 we are moving forward on our most ambitious project yet in this area; planning for the installation of a 60kw photovoltaic array for the shop, which will essentially provide all the electricity for our warehouse, machine shop and greenhouse, directly from the sun!  With zero carbon emissions!

Perhaps most fundamentally, Featherstone Farm will be leveraging the success of its current “21^st century organic” model, to explore a completely different paradigm in agricultural sustainability  (link to FFF).  It may be years until we are able to accomplish all that we want to in pursuit of this vision, but we are fully committed to doing so.  It’s a long, tough road to real sustainability, but Featherstone Farm will get there!

Last updated on July 9, 2011 by Featherstone Farm