How Sustainable Farming Can Be Better than Organic Agriculture

Tips, Tricks

41659View count

57m 32sLength in seconds

John from http://www.growingyourgreens.com/ visits his friends farm to share with you how sustainable farming can be better than simply organic agriculture. In this episode, John shares with you a small farm on Maui that is growing food in the most natural, "organic" and sustainable way as possible with primary focus on reusing on-site materials vs bringing in external inputs such as fertilizer as much as possible. In this episode you will learn about many of the elements of this sustainable farm that make it a viable family business operation in the tropics with year-round growing conditions. You will discover some of the lesser known and uncommon crops that can be easy to grow in places that do not get a freeze. You will also discover different growing techniques that will allow you to grow more diversity on your farm by providing different environments to your plants. Finally, John will interview Ryan and ask him about why he has been successful quitting his job to work on the farm full time as well as some tips that will help and make you a better gardener or farmer. After watching this episode, you will be more familiar with a more sustainable way of farming besides most industrial organic agriculture as well as learn many tips, and techniques that you can put into practice to grow food more sustainably, locally, and organically for you, your family, your community and the world. Watch the original episode at Ryan's place at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUY8KdODlIA Watch the other episode in Hawaii where NO animal manures are used on a sustainable permaculture homestead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uAmdB7nxuc

Comments

This has been one of your best videos yet that i have watched. Covered so much relevant ground for either small or larger farmers. Don't be intimidated, be grateful and get busy !

Slow down, John. Take a breath. Breathe.

Cool farm, if I planted I would follow this mixed style.
I would like to see a video where you talk about how to recover soil which was used to tradicional farming, how to recover it from fertilizers and from being sterile.

not to say anything about strippers or anything! lol!

Right on

John and Ryan, please tell us how Ryan acquired his four acres for farming. Land is prohibitively expensive to buy here in Hawaii, and if you lease it, most often you can't live on it so any money your farm makes goes to pay high rent someplace. Please give us tips on getting around these difficulties here in Hawaii. aloha, Mary

20 strippers disliked this video lol

You did an AMAZING job editing. Great Job! <3

There's tons of analogies that you could've done without putting down people who strip for a living.

Celery root is way better than the stock.

great video, all around, subscribed

oh he was so close to cracking it.. but didn't quite get it :)

this works... as long as nothing leaves the farm

Please help WEEKEND FARMING establish an integrated farm through your contributions. Get few days free stay to 30% discounts for the organic produce as perks for your contribution.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/get-rejuvenated-by-nature-through-weekend-farming/x/9958647

10:18 bacteria actually take some of the nutrients when breaking down the weeds in a composter as they decompose, so you still dont get all that was in the weeds

john i laugh everytime u bust out a sex joke

i study agriculture in austria and right now learn about tropical and subtropical farming which im really interested in ! your video is just a perfect roundup for getting an idea of a practical strategies that work great :) thanks for that ! best regards an keep stacking that soil !

beautiful, just beautiful, great jog John and Ryan what a man!

Our neighbor had somewhere around 60 hives. For some reason most of his hives swarmed and left. What I was told by my local bee keepers assoc. was that he had too many in one area. I noticed that my garden in the spring had an abundance of bees down to zero. Good thing the Bumble Bees took over as well as a few ants crawling on my flowers. I think the rule here is 5 hives per 5 miles. There was just not enough food for that amount of bees.When all those hives were active I couldn't step outside. I'm the only neighbor with a garden or flowers. They were even grabbing what they could from my Hummingbird feeders. I live in a very rural area. Most farmers have hay fields, not crops.

The sad truth is that many people who want to grow organically are working with much less than 4 acres. Therefore, people like myself are limited to using at least some purchased materials. I live in the Midwest, where we're surrounded by GM-crop fields. Most of the farmland is taken and is being used for industrial ag, leaving little for people who want small farms. I have less than 1/4 acre to work with in suburbia and we're not allowed to have any kind of farm animals. Composting scraps and leaves is about the only way I can manage on-site inputs, and that's a serious challenge when it's cold for over half the year. Worm composting is also hard in such climates. Most of my compost isn't composted when it goes into my raised beds. I have to let it compost in place many times.

Unfortunately, having such limited funds is a real hindrance to productivity, as well; no fancy compost tumblers or anything like that. No more money to build additional raised beds (no more places to put them that aren't shaded by 75' maple trees, anyways). Growing in containers has proved almost impossible because although we can't have farm animals, someone forgot to tell the squirrels to vacate the city and they wreak havoc in containers. At least I've figured out a way to somewhat protect the raised beds...