Critical Agricultural Strategies from the Outside In: Approaching

Sustainability Through Doable Farming Centered Enterprise

H.C. Clarkhcclark@rice.edu

Houston area as a laboratory• Soil• Topography• Rainfall• Climate• Access• History• Culture• +Attitude

Hub + Developing Area

Outer Tier Counties

Nodes: real or virtual

Viable, doable, now. Get out of town! Get out of the box! Think of the

possibilities-from your perspective.

• Houston hub and ag opportunity as example– Good soil, water and growing climate

• Green already by food miles alone• Reasons will only become more critical• Scale—match to market, comfort and resource– Niche, Threshold, Commodity, Transitions,

• Failure is OK if end is a better place

Nodes—real and virtual

• GATHERING:washing, cold storage, assembly and distribution, processing plant—remodel, mobile, other infrastructure

• RESEARCH: experiments, long term demo• CONSULTING: design, set-up, legal, financial….• TRANSPORT—e.g. cooperatives, backhauls• SERVICES—from plowing to harvesting• SELLING: farmers’ markets, restaurants, stores

A typical farmer, kind of--Me.

Here’s my deal:

• Bought a farm, great!• Flailed about with Kansas

farming—and other foolish mistakes—lots of ‘em

• Discovered cows• Added to farm• Kept my day job• Moved to grassfed prep• Sustainable – but for truck

• Cows grandin• Vetch

Farmers’ Market got me thinking

Alternative place to sellIncubatorDistribution PointPublic Place—and all that goes with it

Farmer Examples• Perry Chickens, Rockdale• Hanka Asian Vegetables,

Pleak• Wood Duck Micro-greens,

Fostoria• McGlaughlin Grassfed,

Montgomery• Peachland Organic ,

Gundermann, Wharton• Fish Farm, Winnie• Lowell Organic Rice,

El Campo• Calvert, the town

Collier Perry, Chickens, Rockdale to Commerce to Houston

Jim and Vel HankaAhead of the curve— and the season

John and Karla McGlaughlinGrassfed

Dimitri and Jennifer Georgantas—Gulf of Mexico Shrimp

Garrett, Stacey and Joan Gundermann

Generations and more

Agricultural Green-think about it-Houston Region: Llano to Bolivar

Input technologies—opportunities from Big Ag– Precision agriculture, testing, irrigation, weed and bug

control, mechanization, long term experiments, seeds, scourges—brush, bugs, weeds

Inputs and soil building—waste becomes fertilizer– Manure, food waste, yard waste, biosolids: N sources– Coal mines: humates, flue stack by-product– Llano granite quarries: P and K– Gulf Coast seaweed

Find a place, design [re-design] it-

• Design farm layout, drainage, stock tanks…

• Water and other regs• Temporary space,

permanent space• Barns and buildings• Expansion

If this is such a great idea…?• Economic reality-You won’t get rich, but…• Costs: fertilizer, fuel, land, labor-barriers• Uncertainties-Weather, politics, resources…• Small country towns today-difficult situation• Risks-Can we take on some? Very Important.• But wait! For one thing, people ARE doing

these things: Creekstone, Ben Wheeler, Whole Foods kinda’, Piedmont Center,

• Think of each of these problems as opportunities.

Get started—different approach-doable-ness

• Vision, ideas, deal making, ….

• Get out and get learning

• Think about people, opportunities, places

• Catalog the resources, start a file, meet with colleagues, DRIVE!

• DO something and tell about it….

So now… Talk among yourselves.• Get started with the

references I’ve set up.• Get out of town!• Pick a project and do it.

• hcclark@rice.edu

Reserve slides follow

Other things

• Long term planning—crops, succession, transition, Generation gap

• Regulations of all sorts, political structure, development relations [lobbying]

• Sociology, psychology, infrastructure• Research—What are others doing?• Preservation, my favorite

Time is now

• Real pressure will increase– Transport and input– Population– Climate and other environmental variablesGreen capitalLand ownership

Start now

Road mapTown folders

vacant buildings??Geologic map, of course,

topo, soil surveyWater wells, etc.Appraisal districtEconomic development

office

• Risk• Design build