Peterson Farm

For the past 50+ years our society has moved from its rural roots to an urban economy. We are now two or three generations removed from a direct connection with our food supply. All many people know is the grocery store shelves are always well stocked with food. They have very little understanding of the process required to produce and deliver food to their local retailer. Along the way, this trend has resulted in the loss of a connection with agriculture and a lack of awareness of the issues and implications societal change has created.

One issue is our view or value of the land, the earth, the soil. To many, the land is something to exploit for monetary purposes. It is simply undeveloped and represents a profitable venture be it homeowner or businessman. Some reports indicate rural land is being lost to development at a rate of 2 to 3 thousand acres a day in the USA. Since less than 1% of the population actually farm today, few people see land as a resource to produce food.

Since government programs have subsidized the use of cheap fossil fuels and petro-chemicals to support fewer and larger farms in mono-crop production it now takes about 10 calories of oil to produce 1 calorie of food. Most people are not aware of this nor are they aware there is a better way. The emerging sustainable agriculture movement involves a polyculture of various crops and animals on a single farm unit. The result is low off farm inputs with most energy calories coming from the sun, soil and human labor.

Another issue is a loss of appreciation for the people that work the land and produce food. This may be somewhat deserved by farmers who basically drive a machine to produce one crop. But the knowledge, skill, and management abilities to operate a diversified sustainable low input farm are quite high not to mention the high human labor requirements. It takes more than a country bumpkin to succeed.

Also, few people are aware of the loss of infrastructure to support small diversified farms. There are few processing facilities for meats or value-added products. Food safety laws are designed for large corporations not small local producers. Most farm assistance programs are designed for large operations.

These are a few of the issues our society faces and everyone that eats food has an interest and, in our view, an obligation to inform themselves.

During the month of December we plan to be at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market each Saturday from 8:00 until 3:00 unless there is snow, ice or extreme cold.

We still have turnip and mustard greens, kale, collards, and arugula.

We have all cuts of Pasture Finished Beef.

At the moment, Pork consists of mild and hot breakfast sausage, sweet Italian link sausage, and shoulder roasts.

In Pasture Raised Chicken we have whole chickens, split breast, whole legs, wings, and necks.

Special sale items are Sirloin steak 10% off, split chicken breasts 25% off, mild and hot pork breakfast sausage $4.00 lb. First come first served.