Hi again from an organic farmer

[Diana]

I posted here maybe 5 years ago but lost my profile.

I own land in Brazil which I inherited, and am growing organic produce. I wish to share my practices with those who want to learn about It, and to trade ideas for solving some issues.

I value biodiversity, non violence, compassion and longterm sustainability. I am still seeking answers.

I am vegan first out of anti-cruelty to animals and human workers. Also for biodiversity and climate, and secondly for health because I want to live a long healthy life and be an example for others to follow.

I expect to learn and share and grow with others here.
Thank you very much for your time.

Oh my favorite philosophers are (in no particular order) Daniel Dennett, Richard Rorty, Peter Singer, Ailton Krenak, Paulo Freire, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, among others

[Red]

Hi Diana! I think I remember you, when I get the chance later I'll look to see if I can find your original posts.

Welcome back! Anything new you wanna share with us?

[Diana]

Test - oh no It looks like a really long reply I wrote got Lost!
Is there a limit on words?

[Red]

Test - oh no It looks like a really long reply I wrote got Lost!
Is there a limit on words?

May have been a bug, or maybe since you're new there's a character limit?

[Diana]

I Will divide It...

The good news:
I got certified organic with QIMA-IBD Brazil.

I don't use any products derived from animals that I know of and I do check. But there is no need to use such products.

The part that I wish I didn't have to do is sometimes I do kill insects using approved bacteria and fungi (there are many that aren't ) but it is a last resort. I use crop rotation and repellents that I make using lemongrass, mint and marigolds that I grow. I don't like killing insects because they are sentient as far as I know.

[Diana]

Fair labor: this certifier requires fair labor practices, and all my workers are registered full time with unemployment insurance, disability, etc and belong to the local farmworker's union. They get overtime if they work on holidays or weekends or over 8 hours.
This is not the case for conventional growers I have seen, most of them don't even provide bathrooms, they employ minors, and other violations of Brazilian labor law.

[Diana]

Land use: I don't know how my yield per hectare compares to conventional averages, but. We tolerate quite a lot more spontanious plants and we see abundance of predators during the day who have accustomed to us such as Seriema, armadillos, falcons, owls, etc as well as their prey such as lizards, voles, and ants, beetles, etc and at night many wild canids and felids which indicate a rich biodiversity not present in conventional, glyphosate drenched fields.

[Diana]

Land use continued:
Brazilian law requires rural landowners to reserve at least 20% of their land for native vegetation, forbidding comercial use or any domestic animal from entering It. You can't even take dead wood or leaves out.
According to lawyers I know, however, this is routinely violated; many use 100% of their useable land, intensively.
But organic growers cannot get away with that because we are audited yearly or twice yearly (semi-annually.) My property hás 30% set aside, and other organic farmers I know have 50% Forest reserve.
There are other reasons land use is less of a problem with organic farms if anyone wishes to discuss

[Diana]

Now the bad news:
I do rent part of my land to three other farmers. Two grow bananas conventionally.
One of them raises cattle. He has 80 cows and one bull. They roam freely and the bull inseminates them naturally. When. The calves are some 8 months, I am guessing, he sells them to other ranchers to fatten and sell for slaughter. I wasn't a vegan when I started renting to him.
Well, I can't truly call myself a vegan since I make money from this. And I want to get out of It. It's not really for the money as it's about a quarter per hectare that the banana guys pay me.
I feel so bad for the cows and their babies. I was walking by them and started to apologize to them and then stopped because It was so phony. Why should they ever forgive me?
I guess I try not to think about It.
I have dreams about the future that don't include exploiting such worthy animals. I have 4 bovines as pets and take good care of them but am such a hypocrite.
I have to find a way out of this

[Diana]

Okay that is all for now. I eagerly await any replies from this thoughtful and informed community