Do we eat what we grow?
Have you ever wondered: How much food farmers really grow? Do farmers eat what they grow?
These are common questions I am asked. The perception of farms, is that we grow enough to feed a family or two, and that we grow what we eat. This isn’t necessarily the case any more.
Do what you do best
Since my great grandfather started farming, we have become more specialized and grow larger amounts of food. Today our farm grows only crops. We have rented our pasture land to a local cattleman. Doing so has helped us focus on what we do best; Raise high quality crops.
How much food do we grow?
In 2014 the crops we grew fed more people than ever before. On a piece of land a little smaller than a football field, we grew enough canola to make 363 litres of canola oil. Using the same size, our field of wheat produced 6,300 loaves of whole wheat bread. Across the entire farm we produced 83,500 litres of canola oil and 3.78 million loaves of bread!
Processing can be a good thing
Many of the crops we grow need some processing before we eat them. I don’t recommend sitting down to a bowl of raw wheat, it is very dry, hard, and bland. Instead we take the profits from selling our crop and spend them at the store, where we buy our bread, milk, and many veggies. We do however purchase beef directly from a local farmer. It is important to remember that farmers are consumers too, and that everyone benefits from a healthy farm.
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Eat Well…Simon
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