30 May 2003 09:53:38 -0700 Kevin Eanes wrote:
(snipped)
Archimedes,
I can give you some figures to begin comparing the costs of standard
farming methods vs. the concrete block method.
First of all, I calculated that a perfectly square acre could contain
a maximum of 17,528 8"x8"x16" concrete blocks, allowing a 3-foot space
in between for a mower. At $1.20 per block, it would cost $21,033.60
to purchase concrete blocks for one square acre.
Yes, Kevin, I believe how this is going to work best is not to make a huge
initial investment of buying alot of concreteblock but to start out small
and keep adding more block with future profits from the garden and farm.
I envision that organic farmers will make the switch faster than anyone else.
And for specialty growers such as tulips or other valuable specialities where
the concrete block is more of a modified "pot". Or a pot with its bottom
missing.
I priced a new John Deere model 7810 150-hp row crop tractor, with no
extras, at $81,707. This is a mid-level model. I live and work in a
rural agricultural area and have observed that John Deere brand
tractors are quite popular with the local farmers. One would have to
add fuel costs, maintenance costs, and eventually the replacement
cost.
Kevin, the most important data for me at this moment in time is to find
out if any of the 50 or more University Aggie schools have done their
homework. Have done the research and found out how much grass clippings
and weed clippings via a mower equals a "fair sprinkling of fertilizer".
Kevin, are you privy to any data or information as to how much grass
and weed mowing clippings would it take to fertilize a row of corn
in perpetuity? I just have the ugly feeling that Aggie College professors
are mostly salesperson proxies to the chemical and agribusiness companies
and have spent the entire 20th century touting herbicides and not a single
one of them researching how much grass/weed clippings is equal to
artificial fertilizer application.
I found your $80/acre herbicide cost to be extremely high, perhaps the
farmers in question had a unique situation. Here are the annual
per-acre costs for some commonly used herbicides:
Yes, thanks Kevin, that $80 figure was my best attempt at recall of the plight
of some NorthDakota farmers with a weed (forgotten its name -- spurge??--
don't hold me to that name). Anyway these NorthDakota farmers have a weed
that costs them more in herbicides than any crop yield return. And I am guessing
they make on average 60 dollars per acre on a crop return. So if the herbicide
costs more than 60 dollars then those NorthDakota farmers cannot plant a crop
there. But if they used the ConcreteBlock Method of farming then this weed is
a welcomed sight because we get out the mower and mow it down and it becomes
a fertilizer for the corn. In our method we welcome the most vigourous and fast
growing weeds because they give our crops more nitrogen fertilizer.
2,4-D: $1.40/acre
MCPA: $1.75/acre
Roundup (glyphosate): $6.90/acre
Sonalan (ethalfluralan): $9.18/acre
Of course, the actual herbicide(s) would depend on the particular crop
and what weed is to be killed.
Interesting, and mowing the ConcreteBlock Method of farming is not the
suburban style mowing but rather instead more like the mowing of alfalfa
about 4 or 5 times a year. And our mowing is mowing to as close to the
ground as possible and to have a mower that sprays the clippings up against
the concrete block so the crop gets the most clippings.
I estimate from my own acre of garden that it costs me about 10 dollars
per summer to mow. So, Kevin, if Roundup costs 7 dollars per acre, then
my mowing of 10 dollars per acre per summer (gasoline at 1.50 per gallon).
Then herbicide application in petrol-based farming matches the price of
just simply mowing your farm each year and the ConcreteBlock Method
needs no fertilizer. So I solved two problems in one. By mowing I solved
the need for herbicide and also solved the need for fertilizer.
It was not clear to me how the use of concrete blocks would eliminate
the need for pesticide. However, there are a variety of viable
alternatives to the use of pesticide. The average cost per acre for
pesticide (including fungicide) in the US is $24.69 per acre annually.
Wow, that is a high cost. I am not clear either as to the Optimal Strategy
for a Renewable pesticide program. ConcreteBlock Method faces the challenge
of pests just as Petrol-Based Farming. But Petrol based farming excerbates
pests with its huge fields of monocultures. Like an open invitation for swarms
of insects to eat up the crop. ConcreteBlock decreases pests because in the
planting their need not be a monoculture but a wide diversity of crop in the
field. Also, the farmfield will be much smaller in this method. Farmers can
no longer operate hundreds or thousands of acres unless they hire alot of
people. A farmfield in the ConcreteBlock Method would be 20 acres or less
per person farmer. So when a person tends and takes care of 20 acres, the
pest problem is vastly reduced. I know of many gardens that have pests
but the gardener never applies any poison pesticide.
Another alleviation of pests in the ConcreteBlock Method would be
to use biotech seed that is pest resistant. Renewable and Organic produce
is not antagonistic to biotech GMO plants that is pest resistant.
I am having difficulty quantifying the labor costs. Typical labor
costs per acre under the standard agricultural cultivation method are
about $340 per season. The concrete block method would be
substantially more labor intensive. Perhaps you could estimate the
number of labor hours required per acre and multiply by the estimated
wage.
Labor costs in Petrol-based farming is irrelevant because it is the petrol
and tractor that is creating farms of huge size where one person can farm it
all and where grain surpluses appear every year in the marketplace and why
corn is 2 dollars a bushel.
We need to reserve oil reserves for future generations. We need to
limit human population to no more than 2 billion persons at any one time.
And we need Agriculture farming that is Renewable.
For purposes of brevity I have omitted the sources of the figures and
the details of the calculations, however I could provide these on
request.
I hope the above information is helpful to you.
Best regards,
-Kevin
Kevin, in your above you say the rows are 3 feet apart. The most important
data I need at this time is how much grass/weed clippings in mowing is needed
for a row of corn so that it is fertilized during the summer? I need to know if
3 feet is the proper spacing. Of course some crops such as beans need less
fertilizing by clippings than does corn. I need to know if any scientists have
made that knowledge available.
How much grass/weed clippings equals a cupful of common fertilizer?
Archimedes Plutonium,
whole entire Universe is just one big atom where dots
of the electron-dot-cloud are galaxies