I am new to bees and probably shouldn't be opening my mouth on this  
forum, but here it goes.

I AM not new to farming though.  I am a traditional row crop farmer  
that has diversified the farm with a variety of businesses making it,  
I think, more robust. I am not an organic farmer.

I see a whole lot of poorly informed comments here regarding  
sustainability.

First sustainability has nothing to with organic.  Organic is a  
growing technique.  Nothing more and nothing less...probably even  
less considering how watered down it has become.

Sustainability is a catch phrase (something it does have in common  
with the term "organic") that has little meaning these days because  
it is used for a variety of things and as a sales term "Hey its  
sustainable".  Its all about definitions I suppose and the more we  
modify what words mean the less value they have.

I plant row crops, corn and soybean, and almost all of it is GM.  It  
makes my life easier.  I kill weeds that would literally overtake the  
ground regardless of what farming technique I used.  We rotate crop  
types and always rotate a portion of our land into the federal soil  
bank, never to be used and let it rebuild its health.

You know what is happening locally though?

Farmers are growing multiple corn crops back to back (not good)  
rather than rotating.  To make it worse, they are baling the stovers  
for feed and ethanol plants.  That is NOT sustainable (even if you  
pump lots of money back into poorer fertilizers).

Which is more sustainable?  Rotating crops and keeping a portion of  
the land fallow or harvest the same exact crop EVERY year and try to  
artificially keep the ground alive?

I am branching out into Christmas trees.  People will come, pay 30 to  
50.00 per tree and cut their own off a hill side that is great for  
trees but poor for much else.  Do I plant all the trees at once, the  
maximum capacity of the acreage or do I stagger them so I have in 10  
years time  10 steps of growth?  Do I replace what is cut?  Do I  
maintain a cover crop around the trees to control erosion?

Maybe you see what I am getting at.  Planting all the trees at once  
and then harvesting them all at once may get me one big pay check  
(assuming I can move all the trees and the market is healthy) but in  
the long haul its a poor way of sustaining a business and the local  
environment.  It is far better both as a long term investment for my  
family and the ground they will use after I am dead and gone if I  
make sure there will always be a constant flow of stable income  
coming from those trees.  The ground will be healthier in the long  
run as well and provide a better income.  It'll be less susceptible  
to droughts and in case there is a pest that targets s specific  
species it should be diverse as well.  Nor am I spreading it out over  
100 acres.  Its high density on 15 acres.  Next to that I am putting  
in acres of grapes.  Next to that exists a multi-species hay field  
for my horse boarding operation.  And sandwiched between all of it  
are a variety of produce plots.

Ask the paper companies...

How sustainable would their business be if they did not invest in  
replanting their trees and harvesting them in s smart manner rather  
than clear cutting EVERYTHING at once?

Maybe folks need to define what "sustainable" means so everyone is on  
the same page.

I think Hervé quoted it the best: " development that meets the needs  
of the present without compromising the ability of future generations  
to meet their own needs."

Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm
North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1848

(513) 967-1106
http://www.carriagehousefarmllc.com
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