Lessons in resilience from small farms
Brisa Ranch, California: On top of a pandemic, farmers in California were tasked with feeding the nation during the worst fire season in the state's modern history. Despite working outdoors through heavy smoke and fear of fires closing in, small farmers bounced back stronger than ever thanks to crop diversity, best soil management practices, and a supportive community. (Photo source: Cole Mazariegos-Anastassiou)
When hundreds of dry lightning bolts tore through the Northern California sky on the evening of August 17th, an unsettling sense of doom settled over the area. One of them struck in the mountains of Santa Cruz, high above Brisa Ranch, and immediately started a fire. At first, Cole Mazariegos-Anastassiou, the owner of the small, eight- acre organic farm that grows specialty heirloom peppers, cauliflower, cabbage, and broccoli, didn’t see it as a threat. But over the next few days, it became obvious the fire was growing uncontrollably. The unimaginable became Cole’s reality; the fire was on track to hit the farm, and farmworkers had about 36 hours to prepare for it.
“It was a lot of just trying to keep things alive ”
A crew member at Brisa Ranch on the bucket brigade. (Photo source: Cole Mazariegos-Anastassiou)
Firefighters across the state were already stretched thin fending off other fires, which eventually burned more than four million acres, making it California’s worst firestorm on record. Three days after lightning struck, the fire reached Brisa Ranch, and raged for three days straight. With no electricity, running water, or any aid from the state, farmers in Cole’s rural community of 600 people were left to put out the fire and water their crops by hand.
They ran five-gallon buckets of water back and forth from a nearby reservoir, eventually depleting it, and smuggled in fuel and food after police prohibited essential supplies from passing through the roadblock. “It was a lot of just trying to keep things alive,” says Cole. In the end, Brisa Ranch lost thousands of dollars worth of equipment, tools, sheds, and greenhouses.
Cole’s farm was not the only casualty, of course. Two hundred miles north in the Capay Valley, the flames, which became known as the Morgan Fire, threatened to burn more than 40 organic farms on the valley floor. Again, farmers and volunteer firefighters stepped up to protect their community. “The volunteer fire departments are a hugely important force in rural communities all over the country,” says Judith Redmond, co-owner of Full Belly Farm, which volunteers and employees worked for three days and three nights to save. “If they hadn’t been there to help, the fire would have burned across the entire valley floor.”
The fires coupled with a global pandemic laid bare both the vulnerability and the resilience of small farms. Even as Tim Mueller, co-owner of Riverdog Farm, joined the volunteer fire department to slow the blaze, his workers continued to work in smoke-filled fields, to transplant seedlings, and pick and pack tomatoes, peppers, and green beans for the farmers market.
“We have never experienced a year like this with the pandemic and the wildfire happening simultaneously,” says Trini Campbell, who shares ownership of Riverdog Farm with Mueller.“It has presented more challenges than benefits but we persevered and the farm employees have persevered.”
A fire blazing on the ridge near Riverdog Farm. (Photo Source: Trini Campbell)
The difference between small farms and industrial agriculture was laid bare from the start of the pandemic. The nation’s largest farms reacted by slaughtering millions of animals and tossing them, leaving tons of vegetables rotting in fields, and dumping hundreds of Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of milk. The public took notice and many responded by turning to local suppliers. Riverdog farm, Full Belly Farm, and Singing Frog Farms, a 25-acre farm in California, were among those that benefited. All of them saw an increase in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) sales, and leaned into it.
“The word I’ve heard the most in 2020 is ‘pivot.’”
During the fire season, they worked to keep their CSAs going. Even as people were evacuating from their homes, Singing Frog Farms made arrangements for CSA pickups directly with their customers. “The word I’ve heard the most in 2020 is ‘pivot’,” says Campbell. “Farms and other businesses that are ready to pivot can better adapt to unexpected, external changes that are beyond the control of the businesses.”
Small farms don’t get anywhere near the kind of government support big farms get. Last year, Big Ag received 22 billion dollars in subsidies, the biggest increase in farming subsidies in fourteen years. According to a study by the Environmental Working Group, the top 1 percent of farms by size received on average $183,331. Meanwhile, small farmers received on average less than $5,000.
One result is that small farmers are less beholden to the US Department of Agriculture—and more dependent on the consumers with whom they have a direct relationships. This gives them more flexibility in how they choose to grow food. Industrial farms are effectively encouraged to plant single crops over vast amounts of land, which leaves soil bare for long periods of time, and to rely on plowing, which releases carbon stored in the ground. This uses up lots of water and degrades soil. Poor soil undermines the health of plants and makes them more vulnerable to disease and pests, which in turn requires heavy doses of pesticides and fertilizers. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that farms in this country released nearly 300 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent through poor soil management in 2016 alone.
“Farms supported directly by consumers can better adapt to climate changes.”
Whereas industrial farms contribute to global warming, small farms do the opposite. Brisa Ranch, Full Belly, and Riverdog all work to build organically rich soil by using crop rotation, composting, cover cropping, and intercropping. These methods are scientifically proven to promote healthy soils by retaining more nutrients, water, and carbon. Healthy soil is like a sponge; it absorbs water and stores it during periods of drought, is well aerated, and maintains its structural integrity even when wet.
The soil is also flexible, meaning it is better able to respond to drastic shifts in weather and temperature than poor soil. In the event of a fire, temperatures can change from over 100 degrees to below freezing in a day. Healthy soil makes plants more resilient. If a power outage cuts off irrigation during a fire, for instance, plants have a fighting chance at making a comeback. Another source of resilience: diversity. Small farms together produce 2,100,000 varieties of crops whereas industrial produce only 80,000, making them far more vulnerable to extreme weather. “Diverse farms are better equipped to handle changes to the climate,” says Campbell. “Farms supported directly by consumers can better adapt to climate changes.”
Consuelo Romo tended to thousands of seedlings in the greenhouses at Riverdog Farm as the hills burned not a mile away. “While the fires were happening we never thought it would reach all the way to the Ranch's property or our neighboring homes,” Consuelo recalls, “We saw the poor response coming from the government in assisting us with the fires. With so few firefighters and helicopters helping there was definitely a feeling of pressure on the volunteers. During the whole situation we prayed to Mother Nature that there would be some rain. Not only were we affected but so were the animals. As a whole we should all start taking more care of our environment.” (Photo Source: Trini Campbell)
Proponents of big agriculture point out the need to feed billions of people—something that can only happen at scale. But regenerative farmers are proving the same practices adopted by small farmers can be adopted by big ones. In a 2018 study at South Dakota State University, researchers found that farms using pesticides had ten times the insect trouble and half the profits compared to those that relied on organic, regenerative farming methods instead. And Gabe Brown, a North Dakota farmer who famously turned his 1,800 acres of wheat, barley, and oats into a far more productive, cost-effective 5,000-acre operation by adopting regenerative practices. He’s among those proving that feeding the world is possible while taking care of the land.
Says Cole Mazariegos-Anastassiou, of Brisa Ranch: “I hope what comes out of this is that it will cause us as a community, as a state, and as a society to rethink how we examine land stewardship.”
Small farmers are there for us when the world feels like it is falling apart. How can we be there for them?
Find a CSA program near you to support your local farm today. “Directly support food producers whenever possible. When the majority of food dollars go to farms, it helps the farms survive. We need to get to the point where consumers prioritize spending their food dollars to help farms go beyond surviving and get to the level of thriving.”- Trini Campbell, Riverdog Farm
Establish an emergency plan. “The whole state was on fire simultaneously. It was tough for Calfire resources to be available to all. Each region, each county needs to have an emergency plan to intervene in the event that state resources are not available. Even ordinary citizens need to organize and plan for emergency preparedness.” - Trini Campbell, Riverdog Farm.
The crew at Brisa Ranch showing off seasonal squash on a break. Says the owner: “Farmers are critical players in the climate crisis.”
Get to know your local farmer. “Just telling the story is a big part of it. The pandemic and fires provided a wakeup call for people in the food system. Watching big industrial companies have huge COVID outbreaks, and pour their meat and eggs down the drain while our CSA sales increased shows how well small farms responded to severe changes in the food system.’
“Farmers markets never missed a beat and continued to provide innovative avenues to getting food to people when they needed it. Education about our food system is crucial to helping small farms thrive in times of crisis.” -Judith Redmond, Full Belly Farm.
Support regenerative farming. “Folks who have experience managing land, like farmers, should be able to have more of a role that goes beyond the fields we are working on in preventing wildfires, capturing carbon, and creating ecosystems that are a little more natural.”
“In our community a lot of land is owned by rich folks that they didn’t buy themselves. For instance, low intensity burns are so essential to maintaining the health of our ecosystem. By forgetting those processes it creates a dangerous situation which is only further exacerbated by climate change. More land needs to be leased out to small farmers so they can begin to implement these land management strategies. I hope this allows us to reimagine the role of land managers and farmers to be a part of the solution in this way. Farmers are critical players in the climate crisis.” -Cole Mazariegos-Anastassiou, Brisa Ranch
Cailyn Schmidt is a Stone Pier Press News Fellow based in Monterey, CA
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