THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume IX, Issue # 163, September 5, 2007
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
ORGANIC FARMS SUFFERING MUDSLIDES
By Dennis T. Avery
ORGANIC FARMING ON STEEP, HILLY LAND THAT IS PRONE TO MUDSLIDES: A BAD BUSINESS PRACTICE, A BAD
ENVIRONMEMNTAL POLICY, & A BURDEN TO THE TAXPAYERS -- THE WISER AGRICULTURAL & ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY:
FOR FOOD PRODUCTION, DEPEND ON THE HIGHER YIELDS OF CONVENTIONAL FARMS & LEAVE THE STEEP HILLSIDES
FOR WILDLIFE HABITAT
FULL STORY:
A new danger has beset the nation’s struggling organic farms — too much rain. Hundreds of organic farms in
southwestern Wisconsin and southeast Minnesota were drenched by a foot of rain in late August, 2007. The heavy
downpour washed out plantings, eroded soil, and damaged fences and buildings. The owner of Wisconsin’s Harmony
Valley Farm estimated his damages at $300,000.
“We have a lot of steep, hilly county and we’ve had a lot of mudslides,” said Tom Van Der Linden, a nearby agent for
the Minnesota Extension Service.
Now let me get this straight. Organic farms in Wisconsin and Minnesota have concentrated themselves on steep, hilly
land that is prone to mudslides? That’s a bad idea, given that organic farms already refuse to use the low-till farming
systems that protect soil most effectively. The low-till systems depend on herbicides to control choking weeds, but the
organic farmers won’t use “synthetic” pesticides. They choose, instead, to use the old bare-earth farming systems, with
plows and mechanical cultivators that invite erosion.
It sounds to me as though the organic farmers have chosen the wrong land. Disasters like this won’t happen often, but
mudslides even one year out of 50 is too much for good soil health. Perhaps we need a code of conduct for organic
farmers that would bar organic plantings on steep slopes likely to produce mudslides after heavy rains. The county
extension agents should readily be able to identify the classes of land suitable for the increased risks of organic
production.
Otherwise, the public is being set up to make all kinds of “emergency” payments to organic farmers who had been
preparing to sell their produce for “organic premiums” on the high-priced shelves of Whole Foods Markets. The public
shouldn’t be on the hook for such risky premium-seeking. After all, the organic growers keep bragging that their farming
system is more sustainable and more “earth friendly” than conventional farming.
Europe is already caught up in this nonsense. The Cooperative Wholesale Association testified to the British House of
Lords in 1999 that weeds were a special problem for organic farmers. Indeed, too often the weeds took over the fields,
choking out the crops. The farmer then had to plow down his crop to prevent the weeds from going to seed and ruining
the next year’s crop as well. The Association said this was “no problem for the farmer, because the EU government
compensates the farmers for their weed losses.”
We need to remember that the world is short of good cropland. We’re already farming 37 percent of the earth’s land area,
and most of the high-quality land is already cropped. By 2050, we’ll need twice as much farm output for more than 8 billion
affluent people demanding meat, milk and pet food. The organic farms already lose about half of their crop potential
because they refuse to use nitrogen fertilizer and the more effective synthetic pesticides. They’re already suing
conventional farmers for “pollen pollution,” from biotech seeds. Now they’re starting to campaign for “disaster payments”
on mudslides and weeds.
With the higher yields of conventional farms, we can leave the steep hillsides for wildlife habitat. Shouldn’t that be our
environmental goal?
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Agriculture, the Economy, & Human Welfare:
Policy Issues Relating to Food Production
Fiscal Policy: Taxation & Government Spending
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Dennis T. Avery is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., and is the Director of the Institute's Center for
Global Food Issues (www.cgfi.org). Formerly he was a senior analyst for the United States
Department of State. He is the co-author, with atmospheric physicist Fred Singer, of the book, Unstoppable Global Warming:
Every 1500 Years (Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006). Readers may write Avery at Post Office
Box 202, Churchville, Virginia, 24421. Email: cgfi@rica.net
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity