Easton Courier
October 9, 2008
By Laura Modlin
Correspondent
Many farmers might be able to relate to the recent losses suffered by
America’s banking industry. Over the last several decades, their trade has
been struggling with frequent farm closures and monetary losses.
But Patti Popp, owner of Sport Hill Farm, is hoping to breathe new life
into the farming field.
According to the Community Food Security Coalition’s Web site, family
farming “is facing the greatest decline of all occupations in the U.S.”
The site reports less than 2% of Americans are choosing farming for a
career, almost half of the current American farmers are over 55, and amere
8% are under 35.
With statistics like these, Popp, 40, wonders who will take care of the
farms in the future and where Americans will get their food.
“It’s important to know if there is no farming, there is no food,” she said.
Popp says farming is “a lot of work, time and patience” and nowadays
“nobody teaches you to be a farmer when you grow up.”
Well, she will.
Popp gives talks on farming at her farm, outdoors when the weather is nice
or in the greenhouse when conditions become inclement. She hopes to build
a bigger barn one day “for more space for teaching.”
On a recent sunny Friday afternoon, 16 students from a Fairfield University
environmental science class came to her farm with their teacher, Jim
Biardi, assistant professor of biology, to learn about the farming life.
Popp talked to the students on the patio outside her barn. She explained
to them what goes into taking care of a farm, and she fielded questions
from her rapt audience.
“Most haven’t visited a farm since they were little,” said Biardi.
Biardi found Popp through the farm’s Web site.
“It’s great to have someone who wants to not just farm but also educate
the public about farming,” Biardi said.
“We’re doing a unit on food production and distribution and I’m hoping
they’ll get a flavor for an alternative method than what’s done now.”
The modern conventional farming system — which is mostly responsible for
the food at your local supermarket — began evolving away from buying
locally following the Second World War. Farms grew larger, and farms were
fewer and farther between, and the use of synthetic fertilizers,
pesticides and herbicides increased.
It’s more cost-effective to produce larger quantities of one crop than
smaller quantities of a variety of crops. So farmers started to specialize
more as a focus on commerce grew and the number of miles food traveled to
reach the family dinner table soared.
Recently, however, Popp sees the tide turning, as she has noticed an
increasing number of area residents getting their produce from local farms
— including her own.
“I hope the trend continues,” she said. “It’s a good thing. This year has
been so huge for me.”
She recognizes that people have their routine and for some it doesn’t
include buying food from local farms.
“People buy produce at the store when there are five miles of farms in
town.Don’t be afraid to buy things in town. It’s better and it’s fresher.”
Popp, who exclusively grows organic food, considers herself “an accidental
farmer,” and says she never expected to be one while she was growing up.
In fact, she never even wanted to go outside and weed when her father asked.
“You don’t know what you’re going to be. You change so much. Sometimes you
just have to go with the flow and let things happen … and here I sit.”
Nowadays, Popp says that even when it gets tough, “it keeps you going to
know how much people enjoy it.”
Popp currently farms about four of her property’s nine acres, which also
contain the family home and the barn — both dating back to 1740 — which
she shares with her husband, Al, and their two children.
The farm’s growing season runs from May until the first frost in autumn.
Popp operates a farm stand on her property during the growing season along
with a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.
Popp began farming on her land on Sport Hill Road in 2001, and is
finishing up her second year running the CSA program, which will go until
Oct. 16this year.
CSA is a growing alternative to grocery stores. It’s an agreement between
farmers and area residents where the residents pay a fee in advance of the
growing season. The farmer uses the money from them to produce food on the
farm. Then during the growing season residents get freshly grown food from
the farm on a regular basis.
To be able to see the process by which food is grown and who is growing it
is a big draw of local farming.
“I think CSA is going to be of the future,” said Popp, who sold 42 shares
in her CSA program to area residents this season.
Popp wants the public to know that if they wish to learn, she’s there for
them.
“Kids aren’t exposed in school. They go to the grocery store in the dead
of winter and if they want strawberries, they’re there.”
Popp hopes children will see that farming is a possibility for them.
“It’s important to know what it takes to grow food,” said Popp.
Copyright Easton Courier 2008. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
