The Hidden Truths of #farmlife
Paul Harvey gave a famous speech at the Future Farmers of America conference in 1978; you’ve probably heard it or at least heard of it. “So God Made A Farmer” has been revered for years as a portrait of life in the field. In fact, Dodge used Harvey’s delivery as the soundtrack for a recent Super Bowl ad, against wistful images of weathered hands, American flags, and people in barns and on tractors.
And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker." So God made a farmer.
God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board." So God made a farmer.
No doubt about it, this passionate essay was designed to tug the heartstrings, and it succeeds. There’s a lot of truth to what Harvey says here, but there’s a lot missing here, too.
What’s really behind your spinach?
Before we put a seed in the ground, every single ranch, every lot of fertilizer, and every harvester gets audited on a yearly basis by third-party auditors that are authorized by different state and federal agencies. For food safety, the gallons of water used on every ranche are tested for human pathogens,every well, every delivery system, every ranch, every month. All of that has to be recorded and in compliance and logged for the audits.
It’s not just third-party auditors looking at our resources; state and federal organizations try to outdo each other for who has the most stringent requirements. Keeping up with those is a full-time job.
Because we have an organic component, we’re audited for organic integrity as well. Every customer wants to know which fertilizer we use, how we source our seed, etc, for every pound of produce we sell, for every bite, from field to fork. These items are written and reported daily, logged weekly, monitored monthly, and reviewed annually.
And because we also have a conventional component, the County stops by to make sure our pesticide use permit is up-to-date. We have to submit an NOI (notice of intent) if we want to spray a field tomorrow so that the County can be on site to ensure everything is posted, recorded, logged, monitored and reviewed correctly.
From a human resource perspective, OSHA works to ensure that we provide our crews adequate shade and water, as well as illness prevention (which is no small issue right now with COVID-19). Every employee on every harvest crew on every ranch is trained to know what the regulations are, and all of this is written daily, turned in weekly, monitored monthly, and reviewed yearly.
As for our water usage, California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act keeps us honest, making sure we’re not over-pumping our groundwater so that it can recharge. That requires (you guessed it!) paperwork detailing every gallon, every ranch and every crew, on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis.
The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board monitors how we manage our subsurface and surface water, making sure we’re not overusing or contaminating water that comes into contact with the ground. They have their own forms and checklists, as well as their own timelines for submitting it all.
And, of course, there’s the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which looks at the diesel motors on our equipment. We have to tell them that our engines are Tier 3 or Tier 4, which are the cleanest diesel motors in terms of emissions. This is done through the completion and submission of forms. The BAAQMD also requires updating our equipment when it’s not in compliance.
All of this has to be done before we cultivate, plant, harvest or generally enjoy farming as it should be. So sometimes, by the time all of these requirements are out of the way, it’s Saturday or Sunday. That’s often when I get to go out to the ranch and enjoy the fruits of our labor.
When the dirty work isn’t actually dirty
Let me be clear: I am not complaining. These regulations make our food the safest to eat on the planet. And I am beyond grateful for the team that works to get fresh produce on peoples’ shelves every single day.
I think most folks see the Instagram version of farm life, with the barn and the dog in the pickup truck, and the selfies of farmers in their muddy boots. They don’t know how much paper it takes to get farming done. Truth is, I cultivate paperwork more than anything else. Because if we don’t have that audit or that certificate, we don’t get to harvest product. Customers and government bodies don’t let things slide. You’re either compliant and on-the-books, or you’re not.