Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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Cliff notes, “We average fourteen to sixteen inches of rain.” Naioma weighs
in. “No, twelve to fourteen inches.” Allen sarcastically notes, “Hey, lately
it's been one and a half to two inches! To be truthful, we've only had two
and a half inches since December, and it's the end of June now.” Naioma
nods. “Last year was dry, too.”Cliff has a half smile. “That's hurting the guys
worse that are nonorganic because they got a chemical bill on top of it all.”
Naioma agrees. “And they put that chemical down on their wheat last fall
before they knew the summer was going to be this yucky.”
There is a complete lack of understanding about organic farming in
the region. They laugh as they describe one recent event. Naioma begins,
“Something happened, the container left here went to Denver, put it on a
flatbed rail car and the rail was to run from Denver to go back out east.
They got to Akron, Colorado, and the train wrecked. So here's this load of
organic millet lying there on the ground. So one of the guys called.” Allen
says, “They wanted to know what 'organic'means.”Naioma continues, “The
rail company is looking for somebody to salvage this and pay them to haul
it off. He asked, 'What can I expect to get for organic grain?' Well, you can't
sell it as organic. Once the seal is broken, it is no longer organic! They said,
'Oh, it looks just fine.' ”Allen gave more details. “That one guy said, 'Well, it
is still organic,' and I said, 'Did it spill on the ground?' 'Well yeah.' I said, 'Is
that certified organic ground?' ” Naioma said, “And the rail companies are
famous for spraying the right-of-way.”Allen finished that story shaking his
head. “Then the one guy called asking for our certificate copy, so he could
sell it organically. I don't think so! No way.”
Bensons have a clear and positive view of their future in organic farming
that may even involve another generation. Allen says, “I would like my kids
to stay in farming. I don't know if they will stick with it. I hope so.” He
speculates, “The future of organic ag? That's tough, I don't know how it's
going to end up. There are different aspects opening up. It's going to hang
in there, but I don't really look for it to increase greatly, do you?”Then Allen
thinks about this issue of food safety and says, “One thing that might make
it go is if for some reason the cattle market has a disease problem. One
of my millet buyers sells our product in forty-eight countries. When mad
cow disease went through England, their organic sales went up 30 percent.”
Naioma is surprised. “Oh wow, I hadn't heard that.”Allen emphasizes,“Yup,
30 percent because of mad cow disease.” Naioma digs into this issue. “And
they are only selling grains and nuts and stuff like that. They are not selling
meat.” Allen concurs. “They shied away from the meat after mad cow.”
Naioma considers. “That's interesting. Thirty percent. That is a variable,
isn't it, if we have a major food crisis in this country?” Allen agrees that
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