Earlier this week our group visited Butterfield’s Farm Market,
which is a ~600 acre farm that supports two full-time farming families
(although they farm at least twice that amount by renting nearby land). Bryan
Butterfield is one of those farmers who in addition to farming owns and
operates a farm market on Hwy 73 where he sells food grown on his farm and
local food (which he considers to be about 100 mile radius from Oxford—if he can
get there and back in a day), as well as a corn maze in the fall, flowers,
Christmas trees in Nov/Dec, and various other food and wares.
There were several striking comments made by Bryan
Butterfield as he told us about his farm and answered our questions, answers which
stood out in part because of our visit to 5 Oak Organics. He said he had a real passion for farming
(much like Kristi from 5 Oaks)—he said he loved it and that you had to love it
because when you add up the hours, you do not get the hourly wage reward
(although he estimated his hourly wage to be $2/hour, which is more than the
$0.75 Kristi had calculated). (The farmers are probably not converting any of
the students to the farming life…it sounds like hard, if rewarding, work...maybe you have to be born into it.) He also seemed to like that everything rides
on his ability to plan and execute the whole process of growing, harvesting,
and selling the food—frankly, that part would stress me out, but he seems
ultra-efficient in his planning and preparations, fully calculating the costs
and weighing the options. He also had a
very pragmatic approach to everything he did where everything had a purpose—no
random pot-bellied pigs here. Although farmers are vulnerable to the ways of
weather, there is insurance that buffers to some extent the risk to complete
loss. The Butterfields also appear to be diverse in their approach, which
also helps buffer the risks: they are growing several varieties of corn or
soybeans, they have the market, corn maze, and they also have cattle which will
eat the excess crops and which they sell when they reach 500 lbs. 
Although I’ve visited Butterfield’s Market for years and it’s
a favorite stop of our families when they visit, I never had a chance to talk
extensively with any of the Butterfields about their farming practices,
although I made some assumptions about those practices, especially pesticide-use,
which were not necessarily accurate. Interestingly, they seem to respond to the
market, using no to little pesticides on the vegetables that they are growing for
their market and using pesticides that they think are least risky to the
environment. I assumed they were using atrazine on their corn, however it
sounds like they’re avoiding it because of their perceived risks and its
likelihood of getting into groundwater; he also suggested that the farmers have
been discouraged from using atrazine, which is interesting and which was not my
impression at all after my visit to EPA. (He is using Roundup early in the
season, which has also been associated with risks but it is less mobile and
breaks down more quickly than atrazine.) Additionally, he’s not growing GMO
(genetically modified organisms) crops, in large part because enough people ask
him if his corn is GMO that he decided not to grow it. GMO food has become
something of a black and white issue to some, although there are definitely
pros and cons of this practice. (From a public communication angle, it’s
interesting to see that “GMOs are bad” has infiltrated the local conscience,
however.) Interestingly, Butterfield does not advertise his sensible use of
pesticides or that his corn is not GMO. However, if you care, then you can ask and
asking apparently may influence his management. A great reason to know and talk
to your local farmer about the issues you care about. 
Most of us are not anticipating the times ahead for food,
but since it’s his livelihood, Bryan Butterfield is and he said that although
the last few years ahead have been good it was going to get tough again for
farmers over the next few years—in part because of the costs of the usual
suspects, fuel and fertilizer, but also because land is getting more scarce and
that is something we should all be thinking about, because as he said, food *is*
the most important thing. Although a year without food is a golden chance to
find out about the afterlife, I think most of us are happy to find out more
about the life of the living. A visit to Butterfields did give me renewed faith
in the small farmers growing our food, that they are thinking about the long-term
sustainability of the land, as well as the way to keep food growing in an
efficient process that minimizes the costs and environmental risks. The Butterfields seem up to challenge.
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