Donald Trump is the farmer's friend (maybe)!

Donald Trump could be the best thing that has happened to farming in a long long time.  We have to take a moment to look at what his presidency would mean and how that would relate to the farming community.
The U.S, economy is a complex machine and I do not pretend to know everything about it.  I do know that NAFTA, GATT, and other trade treaties that we have with the world.  The language in these treaties is long a hard to wrap my mind around, but for the most part it boils down to trade with the world is good and they have largely been positive.
What happens when Trump takes office?
When Trump takes office, he will bring those jobs which we are outsourcing to other countries, and those products that we are producing overseas back tot he U.S.  Great, right?  Well lets take a look at two things.
First we have to ask ourselves are we ready to take up the volume that the U.S. market would want versus what they are supplied. Would the current farming system be able to make up for the shortfalls in produce?
Second we have to ask if we are in a position to produce the diversity and the volume that we have gotten used to?  Would we be able to give up coconut milk or pay twice as much for a cup of coffee?
Third, assuming that farmers are able to make up for those shortfalls, those in conjunction with the decrease in labor that will no doubt be brought on by the crackdown on migrant labor similar to what happened in Georgia in 2011.
Let's look at the time frame.  Donald Trump says that within a day of taking office, he will work to repeal these measures that have been in place for 20 or more years. As I am writing this, it is the middle of summer and we are thinking about fall and the coming spring.  Would we do well to plant more in preparation for a scarcity?
The Floating Farm has to take it a step further.  A lot of what we are doing this year is centering on helping to get better food to more people.  Right now, that is an expensive proposition because good food is so expensive.  With the price of good food going up, where does that leave those in need?
Eventually, the market will adjust.  We will see a dip in produce that will likely last about 8 months or more before the demand levels off and other market forces come into play (small deals made, situational acceptance, etc.)
That is the economical.  What about the philosophical?  We have long lived without soy milk, coconut milk, and almond milk. We can stand to pay a little more for guacamole at Chipoltle.  What about everything else?  Are we ready to stop wasting food?  Are we ready to curb desire for things that we might not need?
As a grower are we prepared to turn away those in need who cannot afford the prices we are putting forward?
As growers, are we prepared to diversify our crops to account for a booming market?
For me, the answer to a lot of these questions is that," I don't know."  2017 is going to be an agile market if Trump is elected and he begins to work to repeal NAFTA and come down on undocumented workers.
The key to this post is to think about what this election means to you because your food and how it is produced is going to be a big very important!

3rd World in the 1st World.

We are surrounded by people who go out and buy things.  It is not that there is anything wrong with that, really.  I think that we live in a world where certain things are taken for granted.  The roots of the floating farm project go quite a ways back.  This project is the result of seeing how 90 percent of the world uses resources and the things that we take for granted here in the 1st world.

I will not go into a long discussion about what makes a region first world or what makes it third world. Let's just say that there are a lot of things lacking in the third world that we have an abundance of in the western or first world.  These are things that we throw out. These are the things that I find most fascinating.

We have all heard all of the statistics.  We throw away more than half of the food we produce in this country.  Sometimes it goes unsold because it has a blemish or a dent in it in the supermarket and sometimes it is thrown away after preparation because we simply do not eat it all when it hits our plate.  Why is this a problem in our culture?  Does it exist in other cultures?  The fast answer is that yes it does happen in other cultures among the affluent.  In many cultures it is the very sign of affluence to throw away food; to be so wealthy that you do not have to eat everything and the exhibition of power by throwing things away unecessarily.

The accompanying problems and situation are also signs of affluence.  We do not eat healthy to begin with, we eat what we want then, go to the gym or have surgery to fix food related health issues.

We started looking at this issue from another angle though. We may have gotten just a little too comfortable in our current society.  What if we attacked the problems that we have in the first world with a third world mentality.

Let's look at the story of William Kamkwamba.  William was 14 years old and lived in Malawi.  His problem was simple, he needed power.  His solution was simple, he built a windmill.  Third world mentality is based on the idea that neccesity is the mother of invention, but moreso on the notion that there are a series of technological advances that make things a lot more convenient.  William did not reinvent the wheel, or in this case the windmill.

There is an elegance and simplicity to the third world and that combined with an abundance of resources can create some amazing things.  There is a question of what we would consider an abundance and what we consider a resource.

As I am writing this, I am sitting outside of a Starbucks.  When I talk to the baristas, they tell me that they throw out an average of 25 to 50 pounds of coffee grounds each day.  Your local supermarket throws out hundreds of pounds of organic matter each day.  Numbers have gone up in the past few years, but very little of that organic matter gets recycled or composted.  It is, more often than not, wrapped in plastic and buried.

The River Lab is based on this principle.  It is based on a study to better utilize the resources that surround us and that are often thrown away.  Think about what is possible and what can be achieved from the waste that we create.

How we grow...
The vertical garden system is based on the concepts of maximizing space, and energy while simultaneously using things that were discarded.  We are diverting mass from the trash stream and putting it back to good use.

Our initial project is to reclaim as much organic matter as we can, compost it, and use it to grow as much food as we can.

Things are coming along rather nicely and the project is growing up.

Growing in this method allows for a lot of really interesting problems and opportunities for some great solutions.

Sunlight is a killer.
We are facing 12 to 14 hour days here. The temperature yesterday reached about 96 degrees and it is only July.  The hottest days are ahead of us.  On top of that, this are area is in technical drought   So, right off the bat, we have issues of heat and water and right off the bat, we have easier solutions than the average farmer.

We grow in discarded plastic crates that are used for carting produce all over.  Even the brands that produce these crates vary, they are incredibly similar and the sizes do not vary much, a centimeter here and there. but they are the same height and width and depth for the sake of uniformity in transportation.  So, for us, they are a lot like Legos.

As we grow up, we are able to utilize two surfaces at minimum.  This method of growing allows us to grow things that love sunlight on one side, while growing things that are shade tolerant on the other.

We are also able to manage the water content and usage better than a standard garden.  Watering from the top down we are able to put drought tolerant plants at the top and water needy plants and heavy feeders at the bottom.

We use wood chips and compost that keep just the right amount of moisture in the crates, keeping the plants watered.  We are able to control just about every aspect of growth AND keep our carbon footprint low, if not non-existent.

So, where to next?
The next goal is to get into the water.  The reason we are calling this the Floating Farm, is because we are taking to the water.  First because it is cool, but secondly, because there are a number of things that being on the water allows for especially as we get later into the year.

We will be able to move the vessel to face the sun and optimize sunlight as daylight hours get shorter.
Projects on the horizon...
Water purification
Solar Power
Mushroom growing
Aquaponics and the incorporation of catfish, bream, and trout into a grow system.
Black soldier fly composting and management

We have a lot coming up but we wanted to show people that the core of what we are doing centers on affordability and sustainability.

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If you would like to be a part of any of these projects or come to visit, please contact us at thelifecooperative@gmail.com

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