Dad always appreciated a good team. Seventy years ago, a good team meant a team of horses that worked and pulled together. If one horse was always waiting for the other to pull first, Dad gave him a good slap with the lines to wake him up. If he didn’t change his ways, he got traded or replaced with another horse that was more eager to work.
Most of us have a favourite . . .
sports team, hockey, baseball, football or some other sports team. A sports team really brings out the meaning of team. If there is one player, the chief scout, the coach, the manager, the owner, who doesn’t work for the good of the entire winning team, then they probably are not going to be the team that gets the cup.
Political parties with a leader who wants to control rather than develop a winning team that addresses all the problems that may arise in a country will find out that a one person party doesn’t stay in power very long.
A farm that remains in the same family for several generations has a team that works together. More than several family members make the farm tick. There is usually a very good mechanic who will ensure that parts are ordered on time and repairs are made before equipment is needed. A nutritionist that works with the veterinarian to keep the herd healthy. A crop specialist advises the owners what crops to plant and how to fertilize them to end up with the best feed for the nutritionist to work with when he balances the feed ration. A banker-financial advisor must be familiar with the same kind of successful farms. Equipment suppliers must be aware of changes in agriculture that require different equipment. A geneticist must be able to look at the herd and production records and advise what changes in breeding will best benefit the future of the farm. A marketing specialist will know when is the best time to market animals or crops. The dairy inspector should advise the dairyman what changes will improve milk quality. The one who feeds the animals must deliver the precise ration to each animal at the right time each day. The barn manager must remove all stress on the animals all the time (temperature, bedding, noise, light at the correct intensity and hours each day, cleaning, grooming, moving animals that bully to another pen, and assuring that adequate and clean water is provided for every animal).
We have been warned for several years that our climate is warming much faster than we expected. Now farmers are expected to be some of the first to fix it. This will include a reduction in chemical fertilizer use, which will require the soil to produce more of the nutrients needed to grow crops. This will require the farmers to improve the life of trillions of miniature animals in the soil. Farmers will be expected to use less herbicide and insecticide that kills some life in the soil. Farmers will then have to use soil biologists to advise them how to improve soil life.
With the increase and intensity of flooding and dry spells, farmers will have to use more cover crops to keep soil covered with vegetation. All this must be accomplished while the population of our planet is increasing each year. Less use of chemical fertilizer and chemical sprays will improve nutritional value of grains and forages (this has already been proven), but one third of the food produced by farmers goes into the land fill every year. This wasteful practice must be reduced or stopped so we can feed our planet.
When Europeans arrived in North America in 1492, they found people living here who ate everything that they grew, killed, or caught. Sometimes we must look back before we move ahead.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.
gladcrest@gmail.com
