Farmers and ranchers are quick to tell us that they are the backbone of the country but that hackneyed phrase no longer holds true.
They may have held that role during the 19th and half of the 20th centuries before the introduction of agribusiness but they can’t make the claim today.
There is no doubt that the people who worked the land and raised animals for food once held a special place in our society and they have a long history of feeding the residents of villages, towns and cities across the country. They even supplied miners and prospectors during gold rush days.
Though they contribute their fair share to the community, the farmers and ranchers in the Boundary Country are no longer its backbone. They may wish they were but the reality is that the bulk of the fruit, vegetables, poultry and beef consumed by residents are imported.
Regardless of the importance of farms, farming practices should not be immune from criticism and should be open to questions such as: Do they have a high respect for the soil? Are they damaging water sources? Are their practices the best kind for the climatic conditions? Do their farms produce a healthy product? Are pesticides and herbicides in common use?
Farmers and ranchers have a responsibility to be good stewards of the land. They must ensure that they balance its use with the care it requires to maintain its health.
Those who raise cattle face the challenge of maintaining the biodiversity of the land on which their cattle graze.
Growing crops and raising animals for food is a centuries old practice. The first objective was to meet personal needs and the second was to grow enough to allow some of it to be sold or traded.
However, farming practices in North America have changed drastically over the past half-century. Farms have become much more specialized in what they produce and mixed farming is a rarity.
At one time soil was treated with much more care and seen as much more than a medium. Crops were rotated and fields were left fallow, to restore fertility. Nitrogen fixing legumes were planted as cover crops and plowed under. Manure was applied to the land to the extent that it was available.
Farmers are now growing crops for the biofuel industry. Greenhouses have allowed vegetables and fruits to be grown year-round. Genetically modified plants are now in wide use.
Farming equipment has also changed dramatically over the past 100 years with a transition from small tractors to huge, air-conditioned machines that burn large quantities of fossil fuels.
Mixed farming was common in the 18th and 19th centuries but quickly disappeared when farm produce, particularly grains, became an export commodity in high demand.
A mixed farm was a means of self-sufficiency for families who lived on the land and worked it to provide for their own needs and when harvests were good, to sell what was left.
During the 1950s, when farmers with small holdings were shown that they could get bigger yields, they forgot about the age-old practices of rotating crops, leaving land fallow for a growing season and plowing in stubble rather than burning it off. Phosphate fertilizer gained popularity and mixed farmers took advantage of it because they got bigger yields with less work.
In today’s economic environment, good stewardship of the land is critical and the farmers who survive will be those who practice it. Good stewardship is consistent with long-term use of the land and will bring about the revival of many of the tried and true mixed-farming practices.
The new challenge facing farmers will not be to increase yields. I will be making an adjustment to unpredictable climactic conditions.
– Roy Ronaghan is a columnist for the Grand Forks Gazette