Throw a Dart and Read a Landscape

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Jenn Colby

As a regional coordinator for a NESARE-funded regional comprehensive grazing course as well as a fellow trainee, the simple act of throwing some darts has had a profound effect on me and the way that I look at pasture. For years, I have visited farms and looked at the plants growing there. Sure, I’ve noticed areas of erosion (or lack of it). I’ve checked out the fencing infrastructure and the water sources. I’ve stepped over manure patties. In short, I’ve skimmed the highlights. We all do it.

Throwing darts means getting up close and personal in a sometimes large landscape.

Admit it…you may have done this yourself. You’ve got a meeting or other animals to care for. You’ve got a list two miles long. You set up some fence and let the animals in to a new space every few days. You feel pretty good about what you are doing, because you are following the basic concepts of rotational grazing. You go on with the rest of your day.  You don’t take the time to really assess what’s going on in your pastures.

Don’t get me wrong…good grazing is a great start! The challenge is this: without collecting some objective, quantitative measurement numbers, how do you know that you’re doing a good job over the long haul? How do you know that your pasture plant density is thickening or thinning? How can you tell if your water cycle is functioning well, or what it means when your manure patties are still around months after they were dropped?

Trainees actively monitoring by parting the grass to see what the dart reveals.

What we really need to do is develop a tool to measure the biological landscape of our farm over time, so we can make comparisons and understand how the four ecosystem processes of energy, water, minerals and communities interact. Any one of these processes can hinder the rest, and a healthy farm system maximizes their interaction.

Hence, using darts as a tool for pasture management.
How does it work?
1. Moving along a straight line in your pasture, throw a dart (keep a ribbon or string on it so you don’t lose it in the grass).
2. Look to see where the dart hit and fill out a worksheet detailing the type of material the dart hit, and spread the plants apart around the dart to really look at what’s going on. Record percentage of bare soil, plant species, presence of worm holes, soil type and more. This hands-on activity requires getting close to the soil and plants, and might lead to getting a little dirty.
3. Repeat 9-19 more times in this pasture and as many other pastures as you can.

This is what we’re here to see! Healthy soil has plenty of worm holes.

The part I like best: getting dirty and really looking. Really counting wormholes (a sign of water’s ability to cycle, as well as minerals). Really checking out manure patties (quick breakdown is a sign of excellent soil microbes and community life). Really observing the dampness of the soil, and the spiders, and the diversity of plant species (typically, more is better). There are many more things going on at the soil level than meet the eye, especially when that eye is five feet above the ground. Taking the time to measure the effects of your daily decisions at the soil-plant level can help you decide whether those decisions are the right ones, and that’s worth taking the time to do.

And when you can say that you went from “30% bare soil to 5% bare soil in 6 years”, you’ll really know you’ve accomplished something.

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Should Vermonters Embrace “Meatless Mondays?”

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Linda Berlin

Last fall I received a phone call from a Vermont college student who was wondering if the Center for Sustainable Agriculture took a stance on whether meat is part of a sustainable diet. It struck me as a curious question because a core component of our work is focused on providing education and technical assistance to farmers on raising animals in economically and environmentally sustainable ways.  But fair enough, perhaps she hadn’t looked at our website.  And frankly, I hadn’t thought about our work as “taking a stand,” but in a way, we were.

Over the years, the Center has had numerous discussions about how we define our work in sustainability. Specifically, is there a line that we draw regarding the farms that we will work with?  The staff have wholeheartedly concurred that our major goal is to help move any and all Vermont farms along a sustainability continuum.  That is to say, we try to meet a farmer where s/he is, and help advance the sustainability of her/his farm through education and/or technical assistance about various practices, some of which relate to livestock.

Jump ahead to the late June Food Summit at UVM where Robert Lawrence, Director of Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, asked people to consider participating in “Meatless Mondays.”  The website for his Center says that Western diets tend to skimp on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, while being heavy on meat and refined carbohydrates, and saturated fats, resulting in increased rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.  As a nutritionist, I see little to argue with in this statement, so his suggestion of Meatless Mondays didn’t phase me.

But it did ruffle other folks, in particular, some farmers who are part of the Pasture Network.  They are very dedicated producers who understand grass-based products to be completely different than meat raised on confined, factory-farms. They expressed concern that Vermonters would think of meat as unhealthy or unsustainable, neither of which they believe to be true.  While they do see problems with the way that meat is raised in this country, they think the industrial food system is largely to blame.

At the Center for Sustainable Agriculture, we decided to seize the opportunity to have a “Brown Bag” discussion about the topic.  It’s good to hear different views, and there’s no better way than to do it over lunch (what’s going to be in your brown bag?).  Can meat be raised sustainably in Vermont?  How much meat should we be eating anyway?  Is there better and worse meat? What should we feed our children?

As part of an education and research institution, we believe that debate about these types of topics is good because it helps us all become more informed about the complexities in our food-related decision-making.  As Extension employees who work directly with farmers and the broader community, we also know that information isn’t purely theoretical. It informs decisions that affect real families and real farms.

We hope you can be part of this Brown Bag discussion! Join Beth Whiting from Maple Wind Farm in Huntington and Abbey Willard from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets for a lively and enjoyable conversation.  Come with your views and questions to share.  Wednesday, September 12th, 12 noon, Chittenden Bank Room on the 4th floor of the Davis Center, UVM.

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Young Farmers to Benefit from New Match Saving Program

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Ali Zipparo

The list of opportunities for women in agriculture in Vermont is growing, with the addition of a new program targeting youth, age 14-21. UVM Extension Center for Sustainable Agriculture is excited to announce a new match-saving and education program that will cultivate the next generation of Vermont farmers, and young women are strongly encouraged to apply.

Beginning in January, the program will give 30 youth engaged or interested in agriculture, a chance to explore the challenges and opportunities of managing their own commercial enterprises. They will build financial literacy, start-up capital and management skills by participating in the new Vermont Youth Individual Development Account (IDA) program. The program is the only in one of its kind in the U.S., and will consist of a coordinated effort between several agencies, non-profits, and institutions. Young farmers will save up to $500 during a one-year period, for a particular business asset purchase. During that savings period, they will explore the feasibility of managing an agricultural business. The program will provide structured financial literacy training, business management coaching and mentoring from qualified farm business management specialists and established farmers. Upon successful completion of the one-year program, participants’ savings will be matched at a rate of 2:1, giving farmers one program dollar for every dollar they save toward the purchase of a productive farm asset.  With a $500 ceiling, this means a participant would potentially have $1,500 to use for an asset purchase. Young farmers will exit the program possessing both seed capital and financial literacy skills- key components in establishing an independent enterprise or assuming more of a management role in the family farm operation.

After learning about a pilot Farm Bill program that helped new farmers build assets and financial literacy, UVM Extension explored the opportunity to bring it to Vermont. The program was authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill, but it has not yet received federal funding.   However, Vermont is looking to state and local sources of funding to develop an agricultural IDA program of its own.  UVM Extension is currently part of a national collaboration of ten other states doing the same.  For the Vermont program, UVM Extension intends to work with the Central Vermont Community Action Council, the Vermont New Farmer Network, partnering financial institutions, participating farm families and other key players to launch the IDA program here in January 2013.

Those who qualify are: youth, age 14-21, engaged or interested in agriculture. Eligibility will favor, but not be limited to young farmers from households meeting the USDA definition of limited resource household, socially disadvantaged or are at-risk; youth who have grown up on a working farm, but have not yet assumed a significant management role in family farm operation; and young farmers who would be good candidates for the FSA Rural Youth Loan Program, but are not eligible because they have not had business management training or experience yet.

Outreach and recruitment for the program will run from this summer to December, for a January 1 account establishment, with the savings and education portion of the program lasting through December 2013. If you are interested, or know anyone who might be, please contact Ali Zipparo, UVM Extension’s IDA Coordinator at azipparo@uvm.edu or call 802-656-9139. The website is: http://www.uvm.edu/extension/youth/vtyouthagida/

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