Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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things. In the conventional system, there is such a yield mentality. I can't
believe it. You know, 'What did your corn yield?' A few years ago, I started
asking them, 'What yield do you want? My
economic
yield?' And they don't
bother to pursue it, because they know I will ask them theirs and they don't
know it.”
“I do know what my economic yield is. There was one time last year
or the year before, my uncle was all upset. He saw that the neighbors out-
yielded ours by twenty bushel [per acre]. So I said, 'Let's level the playing
field.' So I called up the fertilizer dealer and got all of the price quotes.
He had a seed plot, so they publish all of the fertilizers and all that. So I
priced it all. And then I took out 10 percent in favor of him, fudging the
figures in his favor - maybe I made an error in something or maybe he got
a discount or something. And that did not include any application costs
for chemicals. And when I got it all done, the only thing I didn't figure out
was the possible difference in seed costs - he might have gotten a better
deal than us or something. And I didn't calculate that in or any machinery
costs, just all fertility and herbicide costs. And we ended up out-yielding
him economically by twenty-two bushels an acre. And I documented it all
right there so he could have it for his files. But that is the same thing - yield,
yield, yield is drilled into his head. That is one thing that bothers me about
conventional agriculture. They have to start thinking a little differently.”
Not that the organic system is perfect. Joel is concerned with recent
trends in certification. Many farmers in Illinois changed their certifying
agency. Joel explains, “They went to the new one because it is cheaper. Of
course they allow you to have GMOs in parallel production. They don't care.
And another thing I don't like about them is what they do to get inspectors.
They put it up for bids on the Internet and whoever bids the lowest becomes
the inspector. You are getting quality work there. I call it the Wal-Marting
of certification. You get what you pay for.”
In terms of his organic certification, he chooses the highest standards,
but Joel has been pragmatic. All his crops are certified, and “Our cattle are
certified. Well, the chickens are raised organic, but they are not certified
right now because of all of the paperwork. But with the cattle we went
ahead with the paperwork and got them certified.” The certification issue
has not been a problem. “I am getting more and more people to sell to.”
They sell the livestock locally by word of mouth, plus “our beef sales are
now including two restaurants in Chicago. And our chickens will also be in
one of the restaurants, maybe both will put them in.” In addition, “We sell
into the Green City Market, the farmers' market in Chicago. We go there,
too.” Prices for the direct sales are competitive for consumers and good for
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