So You Think You Want to Be an Organic Farmer?

Last spring I had the pleasure of following the farm-to-market process with one of the "successful" upstart organic farms in Minnesota. Laura and Adam from Loon Organics let me film and work through their Friday-Saturday operation. I had been idealizing the idea of starting a farm: seeing the beautiful produce stacked up at the market made me want to take out a loan, buy 50 acres and start my own little operation. But after a day with the folks at Loon Organics, reality comes into play.

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Comments

[Rachel Smith443]

06:33 AM on 05/11/2011

I love your videos! In the videos I've seen you manage to get a great balance between the romantic side of things and the reality. As someone who wants to go into agriculture, I really benefitted from seeing this. Puts everything in perspective.

[Samantha Biggers]

03:31 PM on 05/08/2011

I absolutely love farming but it is a lot of work. We started our farm out gradually and this allowed us to get into shape and be able to keep up the pace and work hard. I encourage anyone that is willing to put in the hours to try farming but try to keep the debt load to a minimum. Often times this has meant that we do without machines to do the work for us. Unfortunately desk jobs and processed food diets have led to many Americans being physically incapable of performing the physical tasks required to farm. The good news though is that anyone can get into shape if they try. I am a firm believer that one can do it if they grit their teeth and work their butt off!

[Anti-Panoptic]

02:44 PM on 05/08/2011

I'd like to join WOOF-USA meself.

[John Borden]

07:10 PM on 05/05/2011

It really isn't too bad after a while. I'm the vegetable grower for a 1000 acre organic dairy in Texas. My little patch of ground is a 10 acre market garden that serves 75 families, though by summer's end I'll work on bumping it back up to 150.

I also happen to be a 21 year old college dropout who put all my faith into a highly unconventional and somewhat controversial idea...once again, in Texas, and somehow I got here.

It's hard work, I work 'til the sun sets every day other than Sunday, and when that sun does set I'm left drained of every ounce of strength other than what's needed to cook dinner and check e-mails. Sure beats the well-paved road to administrative mediocrity I was on before though. Pay could be better, but at least I'm truly living.

Point of my message is that there truly is a flicker of hope if you want to be a member of a very small farming minority.

[klbrz]

08:01 PM on 05/05/2011

Where in TX? I'm in SA.

[ABACADABRA RABBIT]

02:57 AM on 05/08/2011

Good for you. Work hard! You are a success!

[Salanry]

02:14 PM on 05/05/2011

I think this would be fun for a couple of years when you are young, but there are too many fiscal investments needed to get an operation up and running. This also demonstrates why birth rates of developed, modern countries are so low. When you have an agricultural society, children are an economic benefit as they are free labor for the family. Once we move into cities, they are no longer a benefit but an added expense.

[frank day]

11:05 PM on 05/04/2011

Will they be doing this when they are 40? 50?

Did you see how stiff the guy was moving?

This looks romantic. But it is body wasting work.

[ABACADABRA RABBIT]

04:33 AM on 05/05/2011

The work is rewarding. I know farmers in their 90's that could beat my ass.

[VeggieLove]

09:23 PM on 05/04/2011

I'm more than happy to reap the benefits of their hard work by paying handsomely for their produce. Farmers are our unsung heroes.

[BannedNBoston]

05:52 PM on 05/04/2011

I prefer to buy the food.
They are up 4:30am get to sleep at 1:30AM after milking the goats!
They have get pails of water from the well a mile away and its uphill in both directions!
They have to shuck corn for the pig feed all autumn long.

[blessedfrog]

05:00 PM on 05/04/2011

love it!

[jrb35]

04:11 PM on 05/04/2011

Wait... There's a 4:30 in the morning too?

Seriously though, that pasta dish looked really good.

[HazelPethigFan]

08:33 PM on 05/04/2011

...yah but pasta has gluten ya know.

[klbrz]

11:58 PM on 05/04/2011

Hazel, I think your slip is showing.

[ABACADABRA RABBIT]

04:34 AM on 05/05/2011

who cares if it has gluten? What is the big deal?

[EcoRicoTV]

01:56 PM on 05/04/2011

I really love this video Daniel. Thanks for posting. Have reposted everywhere!

Giselle Achecar

[Daniel Klein]

11:43 PM on 05/04/2011

Thanks Giselle

[EcoRicoTV]

11:58 PM on 05/04/2011

You're most welcome. Been hiding in the wings following you. Love what you're doing.

[Mother77]

11:07 AM on 05/04/2011

Thank you for this blog. I enjoyed the short film about Loon Organics and I am reading further about their activities to help the hungry. These people are admirable and deserve support.

[Daniel Klein]

03:25 PM on 05/04/2011

indeed they do, wonderful people and community builders!