HOW WE'aRE DIFFERENT
At Casad Family Farms, we have worked hard
for many years to create a
Closed Loop farm system.
What does this mean?
A Closed Loop farming system is influenced by biodynamic principles in which the farm ecosystem can rely on the soil, plants, animals and earthly influences for health, productivity, for holism.
Nothing needs to be brought in, and there is no “waste” to remove.
Our farm is certified Organic by the Oregon Department of Agriculture,
but we go above and beyond Organic, read on to learn how.
We save seed year to year to replant
Some of the grains we grow Organically are harvested as feed for the pigs and the chickens, and some are saved for replanting the next season. In this way, we are growing regionally/climate adapted seeds that are resilient to drought, weather and climatic extremes, and resilient to pest pressure.
no synthetic inputs
We do not use any synthetic fertilizers, only manure and cover crops for fertility.
We rotate our crops and our animals
We rotate our crops and our animals prescriptively, with care and forethought.
Highly diverse cover crops are planted in the fall after our summer harvests. They grow all winter and maximize the winter precipitation. Cattle then graze the cover crops, followed by the chickens in the summer. The pigs are also rotationally grazed on different sections of pasture through the growing season. The manure and ammonia rich urine fertilize the soils, adding beneficial fungal and bacterial life to the soil which feeds the microbes.
The grazing stimulates a growth response in the roots of the plants which creates more organic matter in the soil.
The symbiotic nutrient cycle of plants and animals create vitality and health in the soils which no synthetic fertilizer could compare to.
Why are these efforts significant?
The health of soils translates into the health of the foods grown on those soils, which translates into the health of the people eating those foods. By investing in the soil vitality, we are ensuring you are eating vitality rich foods.
Our Closed-Loop farming system reduces our carbon footprint dramatically compared to most farming systems that need to import fertility, seeds and feed. All these external inputs being trucked from other locations result in carbon emissions, and many commodity feeds and seeds are grown in very unsustainable, mono-cropping ways.
Growing our feed, saving our seeds, and using the natural symbiosis of animals on land for fertility make our farm’s carbon footprint much less than other models of farming that rely on importing inputs.
Our Closed-Loop farming system makes our farm more resilient to natural disasters & global supply chain disruptions that might increase the prices of feed, or cause inputs to not be available due to shortages in other places of the world. Food security starts with the soils, the seeds and the systems to be resilient and self-sustaining in the face of climactic or geo-political uncertainties.
At the heart of our farming ethos is a dedication to biodiversity, sustainability, and biotic health for soils, humans and communities.
VERIFIED REGENERATIVE
we are soil stewards first
EOV Monitored & Land to Market Verified
by The Savory Institute
In 2020 we become an EOV Verified Farm. The Ecological Outcome Verification through the Savory Institute is a scientific, data-based monitoring program that measures the health of the land as a living system. EOV monitors the health of the soils, the presence of biodiversity, and the overall ecosystem function (water, mineral, nutrient and energy cycles.) The Land to Market program is a marketplace of products that come from EOV farms.
What does this mean?
Any product with the Land to Market seal comes from lands that are verifiably regenerating the health of ecosystems.
In an increasingly green-washed world of meaningless labels, we support the attentive soil monitoring and data driven process behind the EOV monitoring program.
Out beyond the use of the words "organic" "regenerative" "natural" there is a place where science and data live, and for us that is with EOV & Land to Market.
