Rural Enterprise Center

Juan Marinez, is a friend and MSU Federal Liaison at Michigan State University and a great resource on federal farm and agriculture trade policy. He forwarded a message that gives so much meaning to our chicken operation in Northfield, that I thought I would post it for your enjoyment and hopefully trigger some new thinking.

As you read this article, keep in mind that NAFTA was approved in January 1994 under the Clinton Administration, but it was not until this last January 2008 that it was fully implemented.

Our chickens won’t be marching to protest NAFTA downtown Northfield, and those of us working on this business have too much work, but we can all oppose unfair trade and agriculture policies by being responsible consumers as we go about our day, this is something that we can all benefit from and CAN be done by everyone.

If you think that building local food systems and linking consumers directly to farmers is something you would like to support, then stop for a minute, print our order form and send in your order for Northfield grown pastured chickens.

Two Chicken Stories: NAFTA’s Real Winners and Losers

Laura Carlsen | April 17, 2008

Americas Program, Center for International Policy (CIP)

Pedro Martin works on a chicken farm just outside the village of Pegueros, Jalisco. The state of Jalisco ranks among Mexico’s top chicken-producing states, providing the nation with 11% of all chicken meat produced.

Many of Pedro’s friends and relatives have already left Pegueros, pushed up north by the bleak joblessness and poverty of their hometown. But Pedro told the Washington Post that he’s determined to stick it out in Mexico.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week was full of activity, we had a business training workshop on Saturday and worked on planting some of the cover crops and forage for the chickens in our poultry operation, Martha Ortega, of Agstar was there as well as a trainee and to share her experiences working with beginning farmers as a financial associate with the organization. This new effort, added to last year’s training on farming and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operations management. Here is a slideshow of those experiences including last Saturday’s group, tomorrow (Wednesday April 23) we have a continuation of this work at the Northfield Community Resource Center from 6 to 9:30 pm.

Yesterday, we had a larger crew finishing the roof on the outdoor chicken house (serves as night shelter, and watering and feeding area for the birds) and planting more cover crops.

We are experimenting with four different cover crops, two types of clover, a mix of pasture grasses, legumes and clover, and black beans as foraging material (worked well last year). We will be documenting how the birds utilize this forages this year so that we can make more informed and better decisions in the future. We will keep experimenting with other plants as well, including Portulaca oleracia L or Pursley (I believe is commonly called), which is allegedly much richer in Omega 3 than flax, Camelina sativa or spinach.

Here is a slideshow on yesterday’s activities, including all of the attention that the little birds are getting from customers and neighbors visiting our operation.

Though there is much work going on besides the poultry operation, we still need more customers, so I am trying to stay focused in posting about this initiative for a while longer. We now have received the first batch of chickens and are officially in business every day. I also participated recently in various events, including the statewide conference on microenterprises in St. Cloud, organized two workshops on business planning, together with the Northfield Enterprise Center, and have been supporting individual entrepreneurs one-on-one. The poultry operation includes supporting its organizing and training the leaders in business management and planning. I am also working with a larger group of organizations on a statewide Latinos in Agriculture Program with the purpose of supporting the many Latino families in rural MN who want to get into agriculture operations.

Over the last couple of months and over the next month, the group working to produce chickens for direct marketing (click here to print order form), has been working hard to get the structure in place. Though the housing for the first two weeks after the birds arrive is ready, the paddocks where they will be raised need some more work, specially in building a roof that can be shared by all of the paddocks.

The first order will arrive on April 18th to be grown for the first delivery on June 13, then birds will arrive every two weeks.

In recent weeks, much work has been done, here is a quick photo update.