A day-long Friday session with progressive organic farmer Rick Clark kicked off the 2023 Guelph Organic Conference. A double classroom was packed with farmers, keenly listening, questioning, and figuring out what could work for them. Prevent Cancer Now was honoured to be in the audience.
We offer this example to inspire ambitious vision and goals for a Sustainable Agriculture Strategy consultation by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, open until March 31, 2023.
We DO NOT AGREE that:
… pesticides should, “play an essential role in Canada helping to maintain domestic and global food production …”
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The rain is lashing down, fields are flooding and topsoil makes the water overflowing ditches and streams look like chocolate.
The phone rings, “how much rain did you get?” asks the neighbour. “I got it all!” replies organic farmer, Rick Clark. His farm has virtually no bare soil, so roots and soil aggregates stay put and soak up every drop.
The Clark family has farmed in Indiana for about 140 years, and in his turn Rick is systematically challenging long-time beliefs. They have transitioned 5,600 acres to certified organic farming (more is coming), and in the process developed soil ecosystems that are robust and largely self-supporting. Indiana’s planting zone is the same as southern Ontario.
Organic practices are key to resilience. Rick is proving that with wilder weather, organic methods not only work, they can work better, with almost no chemical inputs, and good yields and profits. Using data-driven planning, including regular soil tests, he anticipates that a mineral top-up might be necessary every six or more years.
Ending tillage. Rick is breaking new ground, by not breaking ground. He insists that regular tillage has to stop. A neighbour’s cattle help during the organic transition, while in established fields crops are planted straight into covered ground, with roll crimping of the cover vegetation. The ground cover and roots not only capture and store water; the shaded soil is substantially cooler and moister, improving growth and potentially preventing crop failure during increasingly hot and dry spells.