The Importance of Farming
There is a growing disconnect between us and food. As food production and distribution systems become increasingly mechanized, and as our supermarkets become ever more sophisticated, it grows harder to make the cognitive leap between the food displayed before us and where it came from. As we move through our busy days, few of us stop to think about the farm, the farmer and the farmer’s place in our lives and yet, almost all that we eat, much of what we wear and more and more of what we use for fuel is brought to us by farmers. Even the wood we use to build and furnish our homes is farmed. Think about it, over 96% of the timber harvest comes from farmed forests.

In the U.S., less than 2% of the population is working in agriculture of some sort - on farms, ranches, groves, vineyards or orchards. But without the work of these good folks, we would be getting almost all of our food, fuel, fabric and timber from other countries where up to 43% of the population of some countries is still engaged in growing crops.

At Woodstock Farms, we honor the farmers that provide us with the things we need for a good, healthy and comfortable life. To those who are engaged in the risky business of production agriculture, we say thank you. We heed the call to support farmers.

The Story of Agriculture
The relationship between man and plants has not always been a close one. It was one that evolved out of the need to survive, curiosity, imagination and ingenuity. Many thousands of years ago, there were few areas hospitable to plant growth. Much of the world was covered with glacial ice and even when the glaciers began to disappear, over 12,000 years ago, ancient man could only survive from hunting wild animals and foraging for what little wild plant life existed – nuts, seeds, berries. They were nomads, traveling in search of food. Only when the land warmed enough to welcome growth did it become possible to domesticate some of these wild plants and grow them for their own use. In concert with this, they learned to domesticate animals to aid in the task of farming.

Agriculture arose first in the part of the Near East known as the Fertile Crescent, which is now the countries of Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. The land was good and the climate conducive to growing crops such as wheat, rye, barley, lentils and chickpeas. Somewhere, around 10,000 years ago, the knowledge of agriculture began to spread from this area and peoples in other parts of the world, such as China, started planting and harvesting different crops indigenous to their locale: among them rice, mung and soy. Knowledge further spread to different continents as travel became easier and people in places, like the Americas, began to experiment with other crops such as potatoes, corn and tomatoes.

The ingenuity of ancient man, and the desire for a better life, was the driving force behind the discovery of agriculture. The relationship between agriculture and technology evolved as men looked for more and easier ways to tend the land. Their need for tools for tilling, for removing boulders, for weeding, for controlling pests spurred an ever-growing creativity, talent and imagination.

Populations grew as food became more abundant. There arose a need for permanent communities because the nomadic life was no longer necessary – they could stay in one place to tend their crops and care for their animals. This, in turn, necessitated the creation of more sophisticated social structures such as governments to preserve the stability of the communities. Knowledge of weather, climate, changing seasons gave birth to the sciences, mathematics and later, writing.

From agriculture came civilization, and Woodstock Farms is proud to contribute to this evolution. We actively support those engaged in agricultural pursuits and their contribution to improving the quality of life.

Innovations in Agriculture
Successful farming is all about a good yield of healthy food. Over the centuries, farmers have devised strategies to improve these yields, strategies such as the development of varieties and the improvement of those varieties. For example, when one plant proves itself stronger and more productive than others that plant is harvested primarily for its seeds which are planted again the following year, thus improving the overall strength of that crop. And plants were discovered that thrived better in certain conditions. Over thousands of generations, high yielding plants were developed and different varieties created to grow better in different locations.

Irrigation has always been an essential part of farming. Plants need the right amount of water to thrive and getting it to them efficiently resulted in the development of civil engineering. This discipline created more sophisticated techniques of irrigation including the creation of dikes, dams and canals.

Managing soil fertility is also key to successful farming. Maintaining the fertility of the soil is no easy task. Different crops demand different nutrients and levels of fertility so the farmers had to devise ways to determine the fertility of the soil and create the right balance of nutrients for each crop. They discovered that adding amendments like manure and compost improve the soil and rotating crops help prevent the deterioration of the soil.

Controlling pests has always been a challenge. The most common pests are insects, birds, animals and weeds but disease is in the mix too. Devising labor-efficient methods to deal with these pests was essential to ensuring a healthy crop – and a healthy farmer. Weeds, for instance, were traditionally eliminated by the arduous task of hand pulling or hoeing which was very time-consuming, hard work. The farmers discovered that using an animal to pull an implement designed to remove weeds was infinitely more efficient and faster. The same can be said of devising methods to deal with insects and other pests.

The health and care of the animals on the farm was of tremendous important and this gave rise to the development of the veterinary sciences. Similarly, mechanical engineering came about from the need to build and care for farm equipment.

Over thousands of years, crop yields have been increased by man’s ingenuity in finding better ways to farm. From the earliest farmers in the Fertile Crescent with their crude scythes to the farmers of today using sophisticated equipment and knowledge, every generation of farmers has created tools to make their job easier.

Woodstock Farms' farmers continue the quest to improve farming methods to bring you healthier food. We are proud to work alongside them in this endeavor.