Making a farm profitable is possable and a very good idea.

[Guest guest]

This text was posted on Practical Varnasrama by Carol.

 

I agree with the points here. I know we have seen many arguments to support

only "subsistance agriculture" to just support body and soul together, but

who is doing. Only a miniscule fraction in all of ISKCON. It may be the

advanced goal that Srila Prabhupada was talking about, but just like

Gurukulas, we haven't mathced up to the standard required. We have heard of

so many disasters. And many devotees would now only send their children to a

day Gurukula. Therefore we are not ready to fulfill this request.

So where needed the farm concept can be altered also, to encourage people to

take up some sort of more natural life-style or simple living and high

thinking and that is - rather than getting another job which is completely

different from agriculture try and start livlihoods based on farms, and thus

teach by example and try and develop real personal relationships and KEEP

THE DEVOTEES that everyone has worked so hard to make rather then just keep

making new ones.

This would be a better way forward and then the snow ball effect will be

there when they see it working.

 

Briefly, Our aim here is to start a green or Environmentally Friendly

business for devotees. I have been wirking on this for the past year. There

are many ideas out there. Our idea is to start a Recycling business for

devotees. Especially for the recycling of Organic Matter...even from

industry and households, as this is the most valuable product to recycle.

This is a lucrative market and could practically involve many many devotees.

For instance here the goverment will pay you 28.50 sterling per ton, to take

away such waste and then you can turn it into compost and again sell it. A

two edged sword. If you used it on your farm you would grow a massive amount

of food without much work. The demand for organic produce here has way

outstripped the supply. And the govt. will sponsor a community effort to

start local veg box schemes (selling direct to the public) For one small

council alone the weekly waste would amount to 400 tons per week.... Work it

out for yourselves.

 

Nanda Maharaja was not a poor farmer......but He had 900,000 cows.

 

In a message dated 1/16/00 3:58:16 PM US Mountain Standard Time,

Harsi.HKS (AT) bbt (DOT) se writes:

 

>

> That is the whole dilemma also of all ISKCON Farm communities I think,

how

to

> survive economically by farming alone.

> Normally many farms which I know were before they were bought by the

> devotees meant to just give enough income and food for the members of a

> family but now there are living many more people, so obviously it is very

> difficult for the devotees there to survive just by doing agriculture.

>

Haribol Harsi

I have talked to many devotees who have come from, Iskcon farms and the

picture I get is the farm managers don't plan to make a profit. The farm

 

garden feeds the devotees, more or less and every one else has to get a job

to make ends meet.

There seems to be this funny belief that making a profit is somehow

wrong and we should only scrape by make just enough to survive. That is why

the farms are failing. When I move out to my new farm, I plan to make a lot

of profit. It is not wrong or UN religious. That is a pile of cow pies.

If

I ran the ISKCON farms I would set up a network where I would ship excess

produce to you and crops I could grow I would that you can't we would

exchange. I would make each farm have at least one good cash crop. I plan

on my new farm to raise beneficial insects. lace wings, bees, worms, lady

bugs, and praying mantises. I would sell these mail direct, by catalog. I

would have a small section where I would have a section of u-pick it veggies

and fruits. The people picks and bags their own produce. (you have to be

careful about that though). I raise bees also and would not really sell

honey, every body does that and it is not very profitable. If I did I would

sell the honey in "cute or whimsical" little containers as a gift, you could

get five dollars for a cup of honey that way. ( make sure you get really

good

caps though for your containers). If you have any one who is any good at

making pots you could sell little containers with human feet on the bottom

or

some such, and sell the honey inside as a bonus. The big money in bee

keeping

 

is selling queens. they sell for fifteen dollars apiece and only cost one or

two dollars to ship. So I would sell a queen for say twenty-two dollars and

that includes shipping. I have done that from time to time, great way to

make fast money. I plan to set up a green house and raise bedding plants.

That only takes six weeks to raise a cash crop. I would sell direct at the

farmers market, or flee markets. I also plan to raise a small plot of

aquatic plants for ornamental ponds. I know of a fantastic sourse of cow

manure. I am looking into possibly getting a huge chipper shredder and go

by

and collect all the leaf and trees trimmings that commercial landscapers and

property maintenance people collect daily and make my own organic compost.

I

really believe that the ISKCON farms could be profitable but many just don't

seem to want to. If I had a bunch of people on my farm I would encourage

every body to develop a talent. Each would help out on the farm for wages

and would be basically stock holders (pardon the pun) they would get produce

and a share of the profits. I would, if the climate would support it raise

sprouts that is another quick cash cow. The sprout water could then be used

to accelerate the growth of other crops. The secret of making a small farm

work is to not compete with every body else. If I plant fruit trees on my

new farm I will not send all of my fruit to market. I will sun dry organic

fruit and package it and sell it by catalog and at a road side stand. The

latest rage in my area is sun dried tomatoes. I can dry fifty pounds of

tomatoes and they will fit in a one gallon (4 Liters) container. Much

lighter and take up less space than fifty pounds of fresh tomatoes. I can

sell them for an outrageous amount. If a small group of share holders moved

out to a small holding they could feed them selves and make a profit. I

would raise Koi fish also, they sell for big bucks also and take up very

 

little space and I could grow the aquatic plants in their same container.

Believe me a farm can be made to be profitable. But it takes thought

and planning and enthusiasm. Some Iskcon farms use religion to get free or

almost free labor. (service to Krishna) The few who really kill them selves,

start to resent the ones who are not very enthustic. Soon the best leave. In

actuality they have to leave they are broke and have a family and the temple

can't really support them except on a "subsistent" level and their children

and

family are always border line poverty. Then of course politics rear its

ugly

head and drive off the rest. Believe me I have heard the stories. If it

was

just one person I would believe it was just a disgruntled devotee. But I

have

heard this same story again and again each story different but more alike

than different to just dismiss the whole problem as non existent.

Carol