We all practice husbandry and agriculture. Of a sort.
There was a time not too long ago when many local state agricultural offices, particularly in suburban areas, were interested devoted to “truck and ornamentals.”
That phrase might sound foreign to many, but the meaning made more sense in an earlier age, when local nurseries and homeowners participated in agriculture and ate food from “truck farms” that served locals. The landscape plants found at nurseries used in yards and cities were known as “ornamentals.”
These were but two parts of plant-based agriculture. There was also a concern with animals in agriculture, which was not too long ago called “husbandry.”
These were not separate worlds, but all of one discipline, agriculture.
Today, there are some local farms and agriculture, but it is rare that the food we eat is local. Even at a local farmer’s market (on island or in Englewood or North Port), much of the produce comes from some distance. We are far away from the ideal of local agriculture and truck farms, and are not going back anytime soon, or easily. On Gasparilla Island, the Worden Farm in Punta Gorda has supplied many tables here and spoken to the Friends of Boca Grande on sustainable farming. Many work on rebuilding this old ideal, but it is a small part of our diet, and expensive. That is why it is so pleasing when staff brings local bananas to the office, or other specialties like star fruit.
We are quite divorced from the truck farm.
But the reality, if we think about it, is that we all still connect with agriculture, and the historic patterns of life that fed us for generations. We just do it in new ways. Our pets require as much care and veterinary care as many of the farm animals that you would raise to eat. Our yards, and our golf courses, require vast nurseries and horticulture staffs. The weekly mowing of grass, and the trimming of tropical trees, means many of us are in the “ag” field, somehow, or another. Most of us occasionally grow patio tomatoes, or herbs, just for the thrill.
Even if you do not grow your own, John Deere and International Harvester are still part of the landscape, but as tools of the landscaper, and the golf course crew.
And speaking of John Deere…
The current edition of the venerable John Deere magazine, “The Furrow”, features a cover article that would surprise many. It is called “How Weeds are Changing.” The thrust is that the easy era of weeds resistant to pesticides is over, and new ideas are needed. The Furrow, which began publication in 1895, is familiar to so many farm families, as it comes free to Deere customers. Today, Deere stands for big agriculture, which has become so dependent on Roundup. Those large machines, and even larger farms, feed us cheaply, quickly and easily.
That has come at a cost.
Out in Illinois, The Furrow reports that there are plants like kochia, that have developed resistance to herbicides. Each plant can produce 600,000 seeds. Palmer amaranth is resistant to at least six different herbicides. The verdict from the king of farm equipment?
“I lived through the gold period of farming when you could just kill anything with just Roundup herbicide,” said Kansas farmer Ted Bannister. “Honestly, I just want to kill a freakin’ weed.”
The magazine quotes Sarah Lancaster, a weed management specialist at Kansas State. She recommends narrow row crop spacing, different seed rates, changing planting dates and weed electrocution. In Illinois, they are also using more cover crops, which keep weeds out and build up soil.
Roundup and pesticides are not just an issue for our farming and weed resistance. Many of us do not even know what is put on our yards, and how often. That is our part of agriculture.
The Deere magazine also talks about tropical agriculture in San Felipe, Belize, where cohune nut palms, papaya trees and breadfruit are growing on farms. Add to that trees bearing cinnamon, allspice, ginger, cardamom, chilies and lemongrass. There is even “frankincense-like” copal. Most interesting, there is cocoa, aka chocolate, in the variety of Ixcacao cocoa.
The farmers there are investigating what grew in Mayan cities 1,200 years ago. This is all very enticing. Locals are also researching how the Mayans farmed fish in irrigation canals, all forgotten knowledge.
Belize has long been known for its Mennonite farms, just as in Florida, Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania.
Of course, our latitude hits Texas, and Belize is a bit below that. But Belize is close to us climate-wise, and that sort of innovation in farming perhaps can inspire.
Garland Pollard is editor of the Beacon. Email letters and comments to editor@bocabeacon.com.
