Organic grains becoming difficult to find

We have run into a new challenge here at Little Sprouts.  It is becoming increasingly to find organic grains and bulk foods, even harder to find heirloom varieties. If this is a coming trend, it is concerning indeed. We are struggling to find good feed for our animals.

The mill where we were getting organic wheat, peas, barley, and rye has nothing left but corn and milled feed with soy in it. The other local mills are also only carrying soy and corn. Ironically these are the two grains least attractive for animal feed!

 While it is possible to buy milled feed pellets without soy, these gain are one scientists "formula" of the perfect feed. After doing this for a couple years we have come to learn that no one has the "perfect feed" and thus relying on any one formulation is dangerous. All pelleted animal feeds, even organic, has added vitamins, minerals, etc to "support health". While at face value that sounds good, it reminds me of the modern cereal box that lists a couple processed foods as ingredients, then a long list of supplements. Well... if the foods were truly whole, and grown properly, there is no reason to add supplements. The reason there are supplements is simply that the foods they started with are devoid of nutrition themselves, then are further stripped of nutrition by processing to make them more appealing, so the end result is not a food at all! then they add artificial supplements back in to make the numbers work out appealing. The bottom line though, is that this is simply not the same as starting with well raised whole foods full of natural nutrition.

to keep out animals healthy we are on a mission to find good animal feed. They deserve the same quality of food that our family consumes. If we compromise on feed quality, we will  end up with medical problems and costs, just as we do in our own family when we slip on demanding the highest quality food ourselves.

So... we are searching for whole heirloom grains and feeds, organically grown, and available in bulk.  They are hard to find. America has slipped so far from the ideal that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a source of truly good food for human or animal.

I was speaking with one out of state farmer who grows organically, and he tells me that the organic movement is struggling. Insects are plaguing his area, making it increasingly difficult to grow organic crops. This is very scary because the natural inclination of the modern farmer is to give up on organics, claiming that is "doesnt work after all" and just spray the bugs with poisons. This of course further complicates the problem for other organic farmers.

We have to remember that insects are God's cleanup crews.. they are intended to attack unhealthy crops and rid the earth of things that are too unhealthy to be growing.  That is their purpose.. genetic improvement in our foods.  The presence of bugs in a field is for 2 reasons:

1) the soil is so devoid of plant nutrients that the plants are not fit for nature to sustain. This is evidenced by the increasing need to use artificial fertilzer to grow decent crop yields. The artificial fertilizer produced bulk and yield, but does nothing to increase nutrition. Therefore the more need for this fertilizer there is, the more bugs will attack the crop, because nature is against it.

2) Monocrops are against nature. Monocrops (planting many many acres of only one crop) are simply not found in nature. Farming this way is a problem in itself, because it concentrates the bugs and diseases. In a multi species environment many of the problems that plague the monocrops of america simply dont exist, because nature has designed the various species of plants and animals to make up for each others weaknesses and complement with their strengths. Raising a single species in a large area eliminates the natural protection this affrord and increases the chances for failure due to insects or disease.

So the result is.. monocropping in "dead soil" is destined for failure. Only intesne organic methods applied for several years can restore the soil to health, and one of those methods involves multi species production. The sad irony here is that "light" organic practices are also destined to fail becasue the soil is too far gone. Farmer  trying out organic farming with "light" methods instead of intense deep organic practices will also fail, often blaming the organic movement itself.

So.. it seems inevitable that light organic practices will bring a bad name to organic farming in general and in fact inhibit the organic movement.  the more farmers "try" organic farming instead of committing to it, the less successful it will be.

Our solution, at little sprouts, seems to be to have enough land to grow our own animal food. I see no long term solution.  This is the only way to ensure that the feed we use is the right type, and highest nutritional content possible. Unfortunately 10 acres that we currently own is just not enough land to produce enough food for hte animals we plan to have so again we are faced with a need to move and expand. Until this happens, we will continue seeking out the best possible feed we can to ensure our customers hav ehte highest nutrition possible in our products.