2009 Newsletter W
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A Farm Family Reinvents Its Business
Nutrient Dense Farming: The Next Frontier
By Tracy Frisch
Adapted by Tracy Frisch, with permission, from an article by Dan Kittredge
momentous day, which he and his wife Joanne had long been planning for. It would take some time to adjust to not having to rise before dawn to milk and not having a biweekly milk check to depend on. But Dan, who had milked cows all his life -- since age 12 – and had been selling organic milk since 1999, was not giving up on agriculture.
ing the soil of minerals. If we do not replenish the minerals removed -- up to a level where everything that we want in our bodies is in our crops -- we are not doing the best job of crop production. That's where Nutrient Dense farming comes in.
When Dan Tilley sold his herd of Holsteins in early 2008, it was a Every time we harvest crops off a field, we are strategically min-
Today Tilldale Farm in the hamlet of Hoosick near the Vermont border produces organic heritage breed pork and grass-fed beef, sold from the farm and at farmers markets. Confident that his meat is healthy, Dan, a modest man, says in his low-key way, "I'm hoping it's something that can do people a lot of good." Dan's wife Joanne was the catalyst for the new enterprise. She had suggested that turning 55 would be time for Dan to try a less physically demanding type of farming. Together they explored many options. They learned to make cheese and considered other animals. Finally "we decided to do what we knew," said Heritage Breed Devons Joanne. To prepare to fill the growing demand for organic meats, he had been acquiring heritage breed animals, including two dozen Red Devon cross cattle from Wisconsin and a purebred from Rhode Island, as well as Tamsworth and Berkshire hogs. Dan is very excited about Devons. They do well on grass and even the cross-breeds have tender meat. Raised exclusively on grass and balage, their meat contains healthy fats -- CLAs and omega 3s. The heritage pigs have more flavor and less fat than the pink ones he once raised. On over 200 acres of certified organic ground, owned and rented, Dan pastures his animals and grows all their feed. He puts up round bales of hay and balage, the fermented grass with a sweet aroma preserved in plastic wrap that his cattle love, plus up to 40 acres of shell corn and 20 acres of soybeans, some sold as organic feed. It takes Dan much longer to raise a pig than it takes conventional farms (8 to 12 months vs. 6), because he limits their grain intake to 5 pounds daily, feeding "a lot of hay" instead. Except for the little ones, his pigs live outside year round, moved from paddock to paddock periodically. Dan believes that, with its lower expenses, the income potential from his organic meat business could exceed organic dairy. But for now, Dan and Joanne are developing their marketing skills and customer base while Dan increases his cattle herd. [P-3]
Nutrient Dense farming aims to create a highly functioning soil ecosystem in which the crops that are harvested have a measurably larger quantity of a broad spectrum of different minerals, vitamins, phyto-nutrients, and antioxidants than ordinary crops. These nutrient components are also in healthy ratios with each other. Second generation organic farmer Dan Kittredge has made it his mission to help lots of Northeast farmers succeed at producing Nutrient Dense food. He created and directs the Real Food Campaign, and in 2010 he will be leading workshop series on the subject in five states in the region, including a year-long course sponsored by RFFP. The intriguing promise of Nutrient Dense farming goes beyond nutrition. Fruits and vegetables grown with these principles have more complex and intense flavor, and a longer shelf life. These crops have a higher yield and are more resistant to plant diseases and insect pests. If his predictions come true, this system will soon emerge as the next big advancement in ecological agriculture – and the favorite of health-conscious consumers as well. He says consumers are beginning to understand that they can discern the quality of the produce by its flavor and by measuring its brix with a refractometer. While nutritionists refer to certain fruits and vegetables as nutrient dense, Kittredge points out that the levels of different nutrients in blueberries from one blueberry patch can vary tremendously from those grown in another field. Soil conditions largely determine the quality of a harvest [P-2] RFFP is offering a year long workshop series which will take the farmer/gardener through an entire growing season, from ordering inputs, seedlings, planting, cultivation, harvest and field/plot preparation for the 2010 growing season, with step by step guidance to insure optimal success. Register: www.farmandfood.org or info@farmandfood.org RFFP Members: $250 series of six / $45 single session Non-Members: $270 series of six / $50 single session Dates: Jan 10, Mar 7, May 8, Jul 10, Sep 11 & Nov 7