Comments on: Ag Committee Urges Council To Incubate New Options – July 20, 2011

By: diane

diane — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:18:02 +0000

Tule Fog “Farm” is a farm in name only.
And to see how a farmer really manages their place, don’t go there in warm dry July, go there in January. See how their animals and land are faring when the weather is bad, 75% of the year.
Having had some experience with livestock and TFF, I will NEVER have anything to do with them again. They are NOT farmers, they have a field with some animals. No permanent buildings, no reasonable way to provide income with the operation that they have. It’s a joke and an insult to call that place a “farm” as it is so out of touch with the reality of producing actual farm income.

By: Sean Armstrong

Sean Armstrong — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 06:26:35 +0000

Ian, I truly am looking forward to meeting you, because it’s obvious that we share a number of interests. I think your opposition (really!?) to an incubator farm is not totally off the mark, because it’s true that a bad farmer can make a big mess. Honestly, I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately.

But my experience out here is that row crops have done well. Johnny planted beans for a couple of years following Paul, and I didn’t see dust blowing. When Kevin did our fields in grain for two years, no problems except when he was tractoring–there was some dust, but not an alarming amount. But there’s the Right to Farm Act to consider, which protects standard land based farming. Not to put to fine a point on it, just simple math on what Emmi would cover with pavement and buildings, 4 acres one yard deep, is more soil than will blow off that field in centuries of normal farming. If ever, because I haven’t seen it yet. Maybe during a bad drought….

Farming thoughts. I’m serious, come out for a tour of Tule Fog Farm. Your company isn’t going to go through with it next door, and you’re obviously interested, and we could get a little further with less time typing…

Regards,
Sean

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:23:50 +0000

So MacFarland is going to buy the property and have it converted to the farm startup… problem solved. Hope you find a way to make it profitable, or do you want the city to absorb that?

No truer words have been spoken about some of our fellow citizens.

“It just irritates you that they do what they want with other people’s property without telling you,” Daniels said.

By: kevpod

kevpod — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:02:47 +0000

The City staff report recommends against acquiring what it calls the “Gilardini” property.

http://arcata.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=8&event_id=14&meta_id=58135

By: Ian Ray

Ian Ray — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:49:24 +0000

I don’t intend to be too skeptical of this incubator project, but I have some concerns. Primarily, if we are worried about topsoil erosion, is converting pasture to segmented “incubator” cropland wise? I’ve witnessed what happens when pasture is converted like this and the result can be erosion and compaction. It is different if the idea is permaculture or some form of no-till production. I am getting the impression that the plan is just to let people fertilize and grow on pasture. That plan seems too simple. Hopefully Lisa Brown or someone else can clarify what is really being proposed.