Mother Nature’s Curveballs

June 2022 Newsletter – Our Silverton Oregon Hemp Farm –

April Showers Bring May Flowers!

In our last month’s newsletter, we chatted about some of our challenges we have been met with in the birth of the Hemp Industry. (May 2022) This month I have been forced to discuss the challenges in farming due to Mother Nature. Oregon is known to have rain, lots of rain but this year 2022 has left farmers scratching their head with notions of how can I dry my field out so I can cut my winter crop?

April 2022 has the record of the wettest April in Oregon’s history! Whew. Coming from farming in California we have welcomed the moist weather, but as this marks our 7th year planting our Hemp, we have not been able to get into the wet fields to harvest our winter crop and prepare the ground.

Writing this on May 31st, I am looking at what challenges our farmers are facing, such as what we have endured here in Oregon, drought, fires, ice storm or our heat dome we had last June. Is this prolonged Oregon rain another “event”? We (farmers) should receive an award for having to endure so much that it is difficult to rely on our farming for a reliable income. Alongside with the challenges of Mother Nature, Family Farms are competing against billion-dollar companies who control what we eat and the quality of what we eat.

 

Family Farms that are competing against the big food producers.

The Big ”7”

Cargill – $113.5bn.

Archer Daniels Midland Company – $64.65bn.

Nestle – $63.8bn.

Sysco Corporation – $60.1bn.

JBS – $51.7bn.

George Weston – $50.1bn.

Tyson Foods – $42.4bn.

Bunge – $41.14bn.

These companies all now have an Organic arm and they have the narrative of sustainable farming but they will never live up to our standards and be assured that they do not have the same values as your local farmers. The lines between the organic and conventional are getting blurrier as these mega companies are sitting on boards to influence the regulations on the organic standards.
For every 25 farmers that retire only 1 takes it place. Our food system is collapsing and more than ever we need to take action.

Fact: We are losing our Family Farms! Competition and pricing, Mother Nature/Climate Change, Development/Sprawl on Farmland, Lack of New Farmers, Entry to Marketplace Challenges.
Fact: You can make a difference! Shop and Support your local Farmers Market – Join an advocacy group. Cornucopia Institute https://www.cornucopia.org/ (Organic Watchdog) Organic Eye https://organiceye.org/ (Organic Watchdog) Purchase Local Farm Produce from your grocery store. Join a CSA (Customer Supported Agriculture)

Look to see where it is grown. Eat for the season. Try to avoid produce that comes from other countries.

Though here at Whole Circle Farms we may be small but we are committed to growing true organic hemp.

Cornucopia says it best – The number 1 ingredient in Organic is Integrity.