NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:

or that he is/was fortunate  

Farmer unable to get to family funeral because of border lockdown pays tribute in the paddock

We hosted a talk on the history of the family farm by the father of one of my collaborators. He's retired and in the early stages of Alzheimer's and wanted to get it out while he can. His father bought some crap land in the 1960s and they have been improving it and making it profitable by developing more sustainable practices. Part of that has been actively engaging with government and researchers and part by investing and protecting the land from degradation. We have been monitoring the groundwater there for 40 years and they continue to allow people to set up experiments on their land.

The then & now photos of the farm between the 1960s when the soil was bare in the summer and now when there is grass cover were striking. They have turned bare saline soils in the low areas into nature strips that prevent erosion. Their management provides plenty of feed for the stock so they don't graze the paddocks down to nothing and stock gain more weight without wasting energy scrounging around. They capture and distribute good quality water to troughs rather than making the stock drink from salty farm dams. All this is win-win for the environment.

Anyway, just wanted to share this because, well, heroes. 

 
STEVE MADDEN | Times

Farm to Fable: At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants,
you’re being fed fiction