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Sustainable Agriculture
Sustaining agriculture is obviously a prerequisite to sustaining civilization. Much of our land was deeded to the Wheeler family by the King of England in colonial days, following years of cultivation by the native Indians. The Wheeler families did an excellent job of cultivating and improving the soil for three centuries before we acquired the land to continue the tradition of food production. We have placed an Agricultural Preservation Restriction on the land, which prevents development and requires it to remain in agriculture in perpetuity.
Requirements for sustainable agriculture are:
- Productive soils; ours are wonderful silt and fine sandy loams. They were formed from lake and river bottoms, leaving very productive soils free of stones.
- Preserve and conserve the resource; we accomplish this with the use of sound farming practices, such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and the Agricultural Preservation Restriction.
- Grow crops which are in demand and economically viable; our strategy, in this global economy, is to grow crops with superb flavor, that being our primary criteria for variety selection, be it heirloom or hybrid.
Often the yield may be less, or the fruit too soft to ship long distances - but the taste is GREAT and our customers come back for more.
Our land has been farmed continuously for many centuries, and still retains excellent productivity.
IPM (Integrated Pest Management) is what the name implies. Everything we learn about anticipated insects, diseases, weeds, nutritional requirements of the various crops, soil conditions, weather effects, cultural practices, and the various controls available are all integrated and coordinated to maximize the crops and minimize the inputs. We use cover crops with various legumes, winter rye, composted horse and chicken manures, and a combination of organic and conventional pesticides. The majority of our crops receive no insecticides or fungicides, but we do use treatments when they are required.
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