Friday, July 3, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Research Visit #1: D-Acres
This past week I visited D-Acres, an "organic farm and educational homestead" in New Hampshire. I stayed from Sunday through Wednesday, engaging in a combination of work observation, meeting observation, interviews, and participatory learning.
My major finding was that D-Acres is more of an educational venture than a farm, and most of the farming done on the property is for demonstration purposes and in pursuit of self-sufficiency. The founder, Josh, embraces a vision of sustainability in which humanity would return to an agrarian lifestyle. In such a society, individual homesteads would mainly harvest their own resources and re-integrate their own waste streams in a closed-loop system.
The goal of D-Acres is not, therefore, the production of excess produce and meat for sale to non-farm populations. This raised questions about the fit of a case study on D-Acres within the scope of my research questions. While not expressly articulated prior to this research trip, I am primarily interested in how the food supply to non-farm populations can be raised in an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable way.
On the other hand, Josh's vision raises relevant questions about what it means to transition to a sustainable society. Perhaps the shift to true sustainability would indeed involve a return to significant home production for the vast majority of households. For the time being, I see this as one point on a spectrum of possible models of agricultural sustainability.
In order to next explore the idea of creating a sustainable food supply for non-farmers, I will seek out a sustainability-oriented "commercial" farm - i.e. one with significant off-farm sales. A leading suggestion is Intervale of Vermont, an organic-farm incubator project on 300 acres.
Meanwhile, please feel free to comment and to review my research notes.
My major finding was that D-Acres is more of an educational venture than a farm, and most of the farming done on the property is for demonstration purposes and in pursuit of self-sufficiency. The founder, Josh, embraces a vision of sustainability in which humanity would return to an agrarian lifestyle. In such a society, individual homesteads would mainly harvest their own resources and re-integrate their own waste streams in a closed-loop system.
The goal of D-Acres is not, therefore, the production of excess produce and meat for sale to non-farm populations. This raised questions about the fit of a case study on D-Acres within the scope of my research questions. While not expressly articulated prior to this research trip, I am primarily interested in how the food supply to non-farm populations can be raised in an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable way.
On the other hand, Josh's vision raises relevant questions about what it means to transition to a sustainable society. Perhaps the shift to true sustainability would indeed involve a return to significant home production for the vast majority of households. For the time being, I see this as one point on a spectrum of possible models of agricultural sustainability.
In order to next explore the idea of creating a sustainable food supply for non-farmers, I will seek out a sustainability-oriented "commercial" farm - i.e. one with significant off-farm sales. A leading suggestion is Intervale of Vermont, an organic-farm incubator project on 300 acres.
Meanwhile, please feel free to comment and to review my research notes.
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