NOW HIRING - Vegetable Manager Job Description

Job Opportunity – Organic Vegetable Manager, New Shoots Farm

About Soper Farms – We are a family-owned farming group spanning 4 generations and 71 family stockholders. We are absentee landlords working with farming partners. We are in the middle of transitioning our 1,000 acres near Emmetsburg Iowa from commercial corn & beans to sustainable organic systems with the desire to grow healthy food for our local and regional community. Our second organic transition program under way is our newly established New Shoots Farm.

New Shoots Farm – New Shoots a 260-acre vegetable and livestock farm. Over a four-year schedule, we are building a closed nutrient cycle organic farm with 100 acres of vegetables and extended season green houses as well as cow/calf operation with an annual harvest of 160 grass fed cattle and 9,000 broiler chickens. Our customers range from patrons in our in-town farm store with a bakery and deli, to farmer’s markets, CSA members and institutions. We also have plans to develop branded value-added food products from the farm.

We need you – We are looking for a great vegetable manager to help design and deploy our 100-acre gardens from the soil up. The position will be filled by March, 2011. Build-out and partial production will begin in 2011 with full production by 2012. If you have ever dreamed of building a larger-scale organic vegetable farm with strong support and resources behind you, this is your opportunity.

Job Description:
• Two or more years in-field experience growing fresh market produce
• Well organized and with great people skills
• A passion for all things fresh and organic
• As a member of the management team, you will plan and execute all field planting
and harvest activities and schedules.
• Familiar with biological pest control
• Familiar with green house management and production
• Enjoy being a hands-on mentor to your staff that will grow to 12-18 full-time and
seasonal field/harvest workers.
• Detail oriented towards organic records management, financial accountability and
interest in following organic standards
• Produce daily and weekly planting and production schedules
• Willing to cross train to help support the other aspects of the New Shoots Farm
• Basic tractor and equipment operation
• Quality control and post-harvest product management

Other management team members you will work with include a Livestock and Facilities Manager, Sales and Marketing Manager along with accounting and other support. Your salary will be determined by your experience and includes full health care benefits. For areas where you may lack experience we will support you with training.

You are a special breed of farmer. If you are interested, please contact me at your earliest opportunity. I prefer email but welcome all forms of communication. Please include a cover letter and resume.

My best,

Harn Soper
Deep roots, new shoots
Cell: 650-804-0198
Email: harnsoper@gmail.com
Blog/ http://soperfarms.blogspot.com/

Food Fight ... Not

There is a real food fight going on between two camps; those who support industrial, GMO-based agriculture that produces food that can only be manufactured with a bar code label on it and those who prefer local fresh and organic food that can be eaten right off the farm. Often the battle cry is over who can better feed the world. Only humans would pick this fight. All other animal species know exactly what to eat compared to humans who make food choices that put their health at risk. The CDC estimates over $147 billion is spent each year in America to treat obesity related diseases like heart disease, some cancers and type 2 diabetes, due to our high fat diet associated with a high consumption of meat.

Before we get sucked into all the rhetoric I think we would be wise to dispel this myth about which camp can best feed the world. Whose idea was it that the world needed us to feed them anyway? The most strident voices are advocates for industrial GMO agriculture such as Monsanto who routinely reference this myth that says we need to increase global food production 50% by 2030 and to double it by 2050, something they claim only their industrial GMO agriculture can do. This assumes our population grows from 6 billion today to 9 billion by 2050. This “fact” has been quoted by scientists, politicians, big agriculture and the GMO industry so often you might think it is true … not so says the Soil Association, a UK charity and organic food advocate founded in 1946.

In an effort to find the basis for these claims, the Soil Association tracked one source back to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and its 2006 report. Based on a list of assumptions that are debatable to begin with, the report stated the overall shortfall in production was only 70%. To achieve that the FAO report does indicate the need to double grain production, most of which is fed to livestock, not people. Maybe that’s where the doubling food production myth started. The report also assumes that the demand will come from developing nations who want a Western style diet filled with much higher meat consumptions. But what country in their right mind would want to abandon their own food culture for our $147 billion per year health care bill?

As a farmer applying both industrial GMO and organic farming systems, the jury is still out for our Soper family farms. We farm industrial corn & beans and organic row crops. Up next is a farm plan that raises grass-fed livestock and organic vegetables, all integrated into one farming system. It’s like one big farming science project. The grade we get is to be determined. But I assure you it has nothing to do with this feed-the-world myth. Let’s not get into this silly food fight at all. It is a waste. Wait, that brings up another subject of food waste. I’ll save for later. Stay tuned.

My best and don't forget to chew carefully,

Harn Soper
Soper Farms, Emmetsburg, Iowa

Job Opportunities – Vegetable & Livestock Farmers

Soper Farms is a family-owned operation spanning 4 generations and 70 family stockholders. As absentee landlords we are developing programs to transition our 1,000 acres in Iowa from commercial corn & beans to sustainable organic systems with the goal to grow healthy food for our local communities. Soper Farms Fresh is our second transition program.

Greenfield Farm - Planning is nearly complete for this 260-acre vegetable and livestock farm near Emmetsburg in Northwest Iowa (near Spencer and Lake Okoboji). Over a four-year schedule, Soper Farms is targeting a cow/calf operation with an annual harvest of 100 grass fed cattle and up to 9,000 broiler chickens. Also included is an extended season vegetable operation with several hoop houses and 40+ acres of outdoor gardens. Additional livestock and vegetable products will be added as markets develop.

A go/no-go decision on this Greenfield enterprise will be made in early August, 2010. To support this plan I need to know the talent pool that is available. Salaries and benefits are yet to be determined but they will be fair and reflect the applicant’s background and experience.

As the enterprise evolves, both retail and wholesale markets will be pursued including an extended season 500 CSA membership, institutional food service sales, farmer’s markets and wholesale channels for value added products to include but not limited to baked goods, cheese and meat products. The mix of the above will reveal itself over time as the enterprise gains expertise.

With the exception of wells, there is no other infrastructure on this farm. Imagine this Greenfield site as an opportunity to join a team building a 21st Century farm from the soil up. It includes building fencing, hoop houses, gardens, livestock handling facilities, maintenance facilities, sales & marketing offices, living quarters, on-site energy generation and a farm store with retail space and bakery.

Staffing will grow as the enterprise grows and include full-time and seasonal personnel. The farmers needed must be multi-talented and interested in cross training in all areas of the farm. Talent areas sought include:

• Rotational livestock management and labor
• Pasture management and labor
• Facilities management and labor
• Vegetable management and labor
• Vegetable and livestock production management and labor
• Sales & marketing management and labor across all media platforms
• Office management and labor
• Retail management and labor
• Value added food products development management and labor
• … to name a few

If you are interested, please contact me at your earliest opportunity. I prefer email at this time but welcome all forms of communication. Please include a cover letter and resume. I can be reached at:

Harn Soper
President – Soper Farms, Inc.
1270 Cedar Street, Palo Alto, CA 94301
h/ 650-321-9375
m/ 650-804-0198
e/ harnsoper@gmail.com

Polyface Farm, Swoope, VA, April 2009

Wecome to Polyface farms. On April 11th I rolled into Swoope, VA to meet up with Joel Salatin.

Swoope is a beautiful wide spot in the road in the Shenandoah Valley. The ladies at the post office were helpful in getting me turned around in the right direction. Finally, here I am driving into Polyface Farm.

As you’ll learn, Polyface is a family operation running for many decades. Joel and his family focus on raising organic (and beyond organic) cows, chickens, pigs, rabbits and vegetables. These cows greeted my arrival with great enthusiasm. You can see it in their eyes, really excited!

I joined Joel that day as he gave a tour to about 20 local college students from James Madison University. All his livestock are pasture-raised meaning that they spend most of their time foraging on grassland. Polyface is 550 acres with 150 in woodland.

Rabbits

Our first stop on the tour was at some movable rabbit hutches.  Meet Joel (in the hat) and his rabbits (in the hutch).

Polyface rabbits were started by Joel”s son as a 4H project.  Starting with commercial rabbits who’s genetics were not forage-based, it took 5 years of line breeding (no outside genetics) with up to 50% mortality rates until he achieved these forage-based commercial rabbits who could thrive, as wild rabbits do, on grass. Joel is a believer in developing stock that is acclimatized to the farmer’s specific region rather than just depending on heritage breeds, most of which were developed in Europe hundreds of years ago.

Joel supports building North American breeds to add to the cornucopia of choice for his grandchildren because every breed carries genetic memory of its bioregion. Notice how inexpensive the infrastructure is. The hutch is moved daily providing new forage for the rabbits and adding their effluents to fertilize the ground over a large area. In the winter these animals are housed in a hoop house with the chickens. When the hoop house is emptied in the spring and the chickens and rabbits hit the pasture, Joel plants corn inside utilizing the nutrients from the chickens and rabbits and getting a jump on the corn season.

Chickens

Pasture poultry is a centerpiece of Polyface Farm. This picture is of Joel’s “broilers” (meat) chickens.  They are “industrial” chicks compared to the “layers” that are heritage chickens for egg production. They are started indoors at a few days old.  At three weeks they come out to the pasture, weather permitting.

These (again, not fancy) shelters are 10’x 12’ by 2’ high and house up to 75 birds per shelter. At 8 weeks old the chick’s growth will fill the shelter area. Because the chick have juvenile immune systems they stay on one area of pasture for just one day and then are moved so no pathogens can build up. That spot won’t see another chicken for one year giving it a good long recovery cycle. The shelters are designed so as to be easily moved by only one person each morning.

One person can move 5,000 birds in one hour. There is no manure to haul, no odor, no flies, just healthy chickens.

Joel believes the creation of this food should be aesthetic, aromatic, and a sensual romantic pleasure. After all isn’t that what you would like in a meal when you sit down at the table. Instead, our industrial food system has an obnoxious affect on the human olfactory and sensory system to such an extent that we have to hide livestock confinement production as far out of site and out of mind as possible … and then expect people to have an integrity relationship with a plate of food.

Here Joel shows that he isn’t a Luddite, farming only like grandpa used to, but takes advantage of technology like this lightweight and portable fencing with built in electrical wires to keep out predators.

Like we hear about crop rotation for vegetables, Joel does the same with animals where his chickens follow the cows so they can eat all the goodies the cows leave behind as well as forage in the grass for grubs.  Joel will also supplement their feed with some grain.  Joel makes the point that his broiler chickens come from commercial stock, as they are the breeds of choice for consumers.  It is after all, a business … but these birds are healthy, happy and after one bad day … taste great.

Joel raises other hens (layers) for their eggs. Here is one of his movable egg-mobiles.

Again, nothing fancy.  For the same reason he keeps moving the broiler chickens, he moves the layers as well so they add to the bio diversity of his pastures and they benefit from the grubs, worms and fly maggots in the ground. 

Joel uses nocturnal guard dogs that are working dogs. The dog bonds with the chickens and keep predators away.  This pup is a cross between an Anatolian Sheppard and an Ockbosh. 

These hens add about $30,000 to Joel’s operation per year.  Joel warns not to move the coop in the daytime because the chickens might get lost coming home.  He moves the coop at dusk when they all have come home to roost.  Keep in mind how small a chicken’s brain is.

Pigs

The pigs on Polyface farm also are pasture raised.  There are a lot of forested areas on Joel’s 550 acres, which turns out to be great grazing for pigs.  They eat weeds and root around for acorns, which clears out the area for new pasture under growth.  These pigs live behind a double row of electric fence and, like the other livestock, are moved around at intervals.

Like the pigs on Herrmannsdorfer Farm in Germany, they come up to you for a good scratch and the off chance you might have something in your pocket for them. This is a 2-acre lightly forested pasture divided into quarter acre paddocks. In addition to their foraging the pigs are fed local GMO-free grain. After they eat a ton they move on to the next paddock. What keeps the area from smelling at all is the continual paddock rotation. Compare that from being down wind from a hog confinement facility. The formula for keeping pathogens out of your heard is to go 21 days host-free (no pigs on the ground) to break the pathogen cycle … thus there is no need for antibiotics. This formula is the same for cows, chickens, rabbits (maybe even people).  This area gives the pigs a chance to wonder and play and to eat what ever they want to express their full pigness. No wonder they are so content. Man is probably the only creature on earth you have to tell what to eat.

At 200 pounds the pigs are moved further into the forest where their consumption drops in half as they forage for the grubs, acorns, and forest clutter.  This causes what is described as a “disturbance” in the ground that is essential for the health of the forest.  Again, the natural cycle of interdependency between animal and plant life is essential to a healthy ecosystem and tasty pigs. They are 200 pounds at about 6 months of age and ready for harvesting around 8 months after their last romp through the forest.

Salatin Philosophy

Successional movement always comes on the heels of a disturbance.  200 years ago the buffalo would have come through a million at a time, caused massive disturbance to the ground and forest from which the Great Plains and healthy forests grew. Think about the universality of this as relates to life and relationships.  When you have a difficult conversation with your mate, a new plateau can be reached in your relationship which otherwise wouldn’t have happened without working through that problem (disturbance).  Joel is a farmer’s philosopher as well. 

Pasture

This view is of Joel’s neighbor’s pasture (top left) that hasn’t been grazed on since last November when the cows were taken in for the winter. That is all the growth for the past 5 months. In the foreground is Joel’s pasture where the pasture is much healthier. Why you ask?  Because Joel’s rotation cycle puts his cattle on his pastures 3 times a year instead of the traditional once per year.  In this picture this is the third growth cycle on Joel’s field. In his county, the typical cow days-per-acre is 80.  Using Joel’s program, he averages 400 cow-days-per acre and the ground is better off for it and produces more. 

… and the ground hasn’t been plowed, seeded, disked, or added any chemical fertilizer in 50 years. In his forested areas, every acre offsets $500 in pig feed costs and his forests are made all the healthier for it.

Cow Manure & Carbon

During the winter when he shelters the cows, Joel optimizes everything. The cows eat local hay and every day each cow drops 50 pounds of material out their backside. As this waste builds up, he simply raises the hay-feeding trough with pulleys as the bedding beneath their feet builds up.

The manure is highly soluble and as it gets dry it will vaporize with all the associated odor.  If it gets wet it will leach into the ground and into ground water. The problem is that in the winter months all the bacteria are hibernating and can’t eat the manure, die to then pass the nutrients on to plants.   So Joel adds wood chips, junk hay, straw (all stored carbon) to create a massive bed of mulch.  The result is very warm (90°F) mulch that has no smell and is ready to be spread on the fields in the spring. To finish off the mulching process he moves the cows out and puts his pigs in for several weeks where they root around looking for corn he has mixed in to tempt them… mixing it all up with their snouts.

Size & Philosophy

Joel rents another 1,000 acres where he places former Polyface interns who follow his practices to grow organic products and sell through the Polyface CSA channel, offering more products to market. In order to stay within the ecological constraints of their farming practices yet still grow, Polyface has developed a multi-point convictional business protocol to prevent them from going from a good small business to becoming a bad big business. Polyface contrarian business protocols include:

1.     They can never have a sales target. Why, because they then begin to look at their people differently, their practices differently in order to meet the goal and in so doing, loose sight of their core values.

2.     No public stock or IPOs. Why, so as not to be tempted with a large chunk of cash to blur your core values.

3.     They only sell 4 hours from the farm. Why, so they don’t get distracted from being local and serving their community.

4.     They are not in the transportation of waste products business. All their waste has to stay on the farm. Why, to keep their wastes within the ecological limits of their farm and not to become someone else’s problem.

5.     No trademarks or patents. Why, because this forces them to be innovative and stay ahead of the copyists.  Wow, imagine having enough confidence in yourself to know you can stay ahead of the competition without building legal walls around yourself.

Like Polyface farm, it is important for Soper Farms to maintain its principles as well … in soil we trust and being good stewards of the earth.  If our size (974 acres) seems incongruous with the smaller size of many organic farms, Joel would beg to differ … just don’t loose sight of the reasons you are organic and/or sustainable in the first place and have a plan. Joel Salatin’s Polyface farm is an example of leveraging the natural interdependence between plants and animals with a farm that incorporates them all together.  It is like going back in farming time to create a sustainable future.