A letter from John Rowe…
…. first, and most importantly to me, is to thank those of you who buy from Rowe Farms! You have enabled me to grow our food in a thoughtful way.
I believe that looking for ways to live within Mother Nature’s system (also known as the eco-system), rather than being consumers that deplete resources, will serve our world and us best. This belief has kept me adaptive and open to learning about different farming practices that may benefit the earth and us most.
I’ve always fed my cattle a mostly grass fed diet, but over the last few years I have begun raising my cattle on a COMPLETELY grass fed diet.
Interview with John Rowe for the Sustainable Farm Awards 2011
Why Grass Fed?
The most efficient production of calories for our bodies comes from stewarding with nature. While we gain the calories we need, we can benefit the rest of the natural environment. In our climate a very significant way of doing this is to use ruminants (grass eating animals, eg. cows) to produce calories for us. The reason I believe this to be efficient is because appropriately raised cattle are a factor in the most efficient conversion of carbon dioxide (green house gasses) to a stored stable carbon (which is part of fertile soil).
Let me explain… Plant growth uses carbon dioxide out of the air, plants then replace carbon dioxide (CO2) with oxygen (this is a good thing!). Carbon then becomes a part of the plant. Cows eat most of the plant, converting the plant into useable calories. The remaining part of the plant is tramped into the ground by the cows, which allows the carbon in the plant to be turned into topsoil (the primary ingredient of topsoil is carbon). A big part of this picture is that unlike humans cows can eat grass, which is a perennial (plants that grow back yearly). This is significant because large carbon losses occur during annual tillage (the turning of the soil), to grow crops like corn (the lost carbon is released into the atmosphere). By feeding our cows carbon rich grass we minimize the amount of carbon that is released into the environment, compared to conventional farming that makes use of annual crops (like corn). So working with Mother Nature in this way gives us three benefits;
1) Great tasting food (many who try it say grass fed beef has a richer flavour).
2) Healthier Food (for eg. grass fed beef has less low-density lipids ie. bad fats).
3) Large environmental benefits, because we have produced oxygen and removed significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (and created a natural rich fertilizer).
John Rowe – 2011