Organic without fossil fuels !!!

So he's an organic farmer and thinks he's pretty smart. He has eliminated pesticides and chemical fertilizers and thus reduced his input costs and benefited the environment. On top of that he is getting twice the price for his production at the farm gate.

But on the energy front he seems to be burning up a lot of petroleum producing this organic food and fiber.

Hold it ! Organic also means sustainable in the true sense of the word. If we are dependent on non renewable energy for the production and distribution of our great organic food, stop the tractor, I want off!

Lets consider another great option. It's modular, solar powered, 4-wheel drive with power burst, programable with 340 degree vision, has a large memory bank and intelligence all its own, is soft and lovable, and it will not talk back, launch liability suits, or require paid holidays, pension plans, or unemployment insurance.

Yep, you guessed right—it's the almost forgotten draft horse.

Assuming a well-conditioned team, equipment in good repair, and 10 hours in the field, with two 1,500-pound horses, in one day you can expect to:

Plow 1 1/2 - 2 acres
cultivate (single row) 7 acres
harrow 8 - 10 acres
mow 7 acres
drill 8 - 10 acres
rake 14 acres
plant 8 - 10 acres
haul on a wagon 1 1/2 tons 20 - 25 miles

Four horses could accomplish twice as much with the same human labor, but would require implements twice as wide.

Horses do need a certain level of care year around, as well as requiring a higher level of management to work with compared to tractors. As is true of organic farming in general, the labor required for a horse-powered farm is somewhat greater than for a tractor-powered farm of the same size, a factor that can be offset to some extent by using larger hitches of horses.

So if farmers are looking for a lifestyle that gives them more time to smell the roses, nothing will offer that quicker than working the land with draft animals. While doing fieldwork one will have plenty of time to notice the natural world around , and without the constant smell of gasoline or diesel exhaust clogging up nostrils.

Sure a draft animal will "exhaust" occasionally, but the brief odor only serves as a reminder that your soil's fertility is being boosted. Of course, this would mean away from large corporate farming and back to the roots-so to speak. But then again this also might be an opprotunity to think about alternative ways of doing business...

Something to think about ??