Innovation on the Farm
|  Video
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| Retha Colclasure |
| 11/5/2009 |
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| Farming and ranching have come full circle in many ways. Back before large scale production agriculture, family farmers had to find ways to add nutrients to their soil on their own. In the early to mid 1900`s, fertilizers became widely available, and cheap to use, and the old way of farming went by the wayside. Now that prices have risen again, and more farmers are realizing the need to run a sustainable operation, many farmers are turning the page back, and trying some new, old methods. There are six crops growing simultaneously in this field. But Gabe Brown won`t be harvesting any of them. "Its sole purpose is to increase organic matter, improve infiltration, add ground cover, and all that will return positively to my bottom line in the future," says Brown. After four straight years of complete or near complete crop failure from drought or hail in the early 90`s, Brown says he realized he had to change the way he did business. "Since then we came to the realization that you need to focus on soil health," says Brown. "Soil health is what matters most in a farming and ranching operation." So now, he`s focusing on what`s happening below the ground. And by doing that, what`s growing above ground improves as well. "It`s improved the resource which is to us the most important thing for future generations," Brown says. He`s not looking to make a profit on each and every field or pasture. Instead, he wants his operation as a whole to profit. That often means trying a lot of new things. Gabe Brown says he`s not afraid of failure, and that might be one of the keys to his success. "I want to fail at something every year," he says. "And I mean that, because if I`m not failing at something, I`m not trying enough new things." Brown doesn`t look at himself as an innovator. Instead, he says, he`s... "Simply a producer trying to make a living off the land, and trying to leave the land in a better state than it was when I first got it," says Brown. And he won`t stop until he succeeds. When Brown first started his cattle operation, he had three pastures. Today, he`s divided them into 70, and moves cattle from one to another every 24 to 48 hours. |
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