Ironwood farm sits at the mouth of the Avon River in Hants County, Nova Scotia. The 200 acre farm was purchased by Rupert Jannasch in 2004 from an elderly friend named Stanton Sandford, whose family had been farming the land for three generations. Rupert and his partner Heather Johnson have converted the farm into a certified organic mixed farm where they grow fruit, vegetables and also raise cattle and sheep. The visit to Ironwood farm was a welcomed break from classes. Rupert was a very interesting and informative speaker, who was willing to give honest answers regarding the farming practices used at Ironwood, as well as issues concerning organic certification. He mentioned a number of ideas that I thought were especially interesting, in particular the issues surrounding the disappearance of services on which small scale farms are dependent, the monoculture of tomatoes, and the use of plastic.
The idea of small-scale farms being regulated out of business is a very scary thought. I personally believe that our society is more concerned with buying the cheapest food, no matter where it came from or what it came into contact with while it was growing, being processed and packaged. If we want to keep farmers like Rupert in business there needs to be a big shift in society, where people begin to make connections between what they eat and where it comes from. However, even if the public is able to make the connection, Rupert mentioned that many of the services that small farmers need to remain afloat are disappearing, for example the abattoirs. There are only 28 provincially inspected and 3 federally inspected abattoirs in Nova Scotia (Competitive Transition Analysis Group, 2010), and there are currently no certified organic abattoirs in Atlantic Canada (McMahon, 2010) (lucky for Rupert his beef is not certified organic!). In Ontario, farmers started running into the same problems when the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs began standardizing safety regulations for abattoirs in 2005. Many of the small Ontario abattoirs who service small farms have not been able to comply with regulations or pay for the renovations that are being required for certification
(Meat Trade Daily, n.d.). This will present Rupert with a difficult situation, as he has clients willing to pay extra for the beef he produces; however, if there are no abattoirs around his farm the prices will continue to climb if he has to ship the cattle further away to be processed. Rupert implied that small-scale farming is built on a house of cards, and as soon as one section related to the farming process becomes unstable the whole system seems as though it could collapse.
The greenhouse at Ironwood farms was my favorite part of the tour; I would love to build a greenhouse of my own one day. The technique used of tying the tomato vines to the top bar to allow the plant to grow across the ground and upwards was something that I found very interesting. I was very surprised to see only two variations of tomatoes and a few green peppers growing in the greenhouse. After listening to Rupert speak about the greenhouse I understood that the monoculture tomato crop was his ‘money maker’; however, I couldn’t help but feel as though he was taking a risk of depleting the soil of certain nutrients by planting the same crop of plant year after year. I also found it quite interesting that he was very unhappy about the farmer who was planning on planting his tomato plants in bags full of soil instead of directly into the ground. Personally, I thought that sounded like a very inventive solution, and if it passed all of the organic certification standards, then he’s made one more option available to struggling farmers.
The one aspect of Rupert’s farm that made me a little unsure was his use of plastic. To me, plastic and organic farming seem to be two very clashing ideas. I never would have expected that so much plastic waste would be produced from an organic farm. Seeing it made me wonder; if people who make such a large effort to shop organically knew how much waste was produced to grow their grape tomatoes would they still purchase them? I realize that this may seem like a stretch, but I believe that most people who make the effort to shop organic are also concerned about waste production as well as contaminants. Plastic contaminants is another related area that I think would be interesting to research to see if any studies have been done linking contamination of crops from plastic mulch. I have never worked on a farm so it is hard to judge and perhaps if a better solution was available to organic farmers they might use it, but for now many famers profitability relies on the use of plastics (Ecological Agriculture Program, n.d.).
Overall, as someone who has always lived in the city, I thought that visiting Ironwood farms was a very eye opening experience. Being able to talk to the farmer about some of the pros and cons of farming organically really helped me gain a better appreciation for the practice. It was nice to see how much love and time Rupert had invested into his farm and I think that it would be a great shame if he, or any other dedicated organic farmer, was put out of business due to over regulation or because they were not able to make enough money. As a society we should be supporting these organic farmers, who are trying to make the world a healthier place for us.
Ecological Agriculture Program (n.d.) Our love-hate affair with plastics. Retrieved from http://eap.mcgill.ca/PCMPC_3.htm
Johnson, H. (2010). Ironwood Farm, musings from the barnyard and beyond. Retrieved from http://ironwoodfarm.wordpress.com/
McMahon, B. (2010). Value added, resources for organic farms and business in the Maritimes. Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network Co-op LTD. Retrieved from www.acornorganic.org/pdf/valueadded.pdf
Meat Trade Daily News (2010). Canada - putting the small abattoir out of business. Retrieved from http://www.meattradenewsdaily.co.uk/news/040210/canada___putting_the_small_abattoir_out_of_business_.aspx
Sooksom, R. (2010). A guide for beginning farmers in Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia: Department of Agriculture. Retrieved from http://www.gov.ns.ca/agri/thinkfarm/
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