Recycling on the Farm

Well, it finally rained. That felt good. It didn't solve the drought problem, but it did settle the dust and cleared the air. Now we will wait for the next storm.
   In the meantime we will finish watering the wheat up this weekend. Yes, even though it rained we still have to irrigate. There was only a quarter inch of rain.

   If you look carefully at the odometer you can see I turned 400,000 miles on my pickup this week. When it comes to 'reduce, recycle and reuse' farmers are experts. We have to be. There is never enough to waste on the farm. 

Recycling on the Farm

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright January 2013

The mantra from our environmental friends is, “Reduce, recycle and reuse.” We’ve been doing that on the farm forever. There has never been enough to waste on the farm. I have tractors that are forty years old. Ironically, the enviros now want me to trash those tractors and buy new ones. What happened to ‘reduce, recycle and reuse’?

 We rebuild hydraulic cylinders. We rebuild engines. Last winter we rebuilt the transmission on a forty year old tractor. We are constantly recycling on the farm. I have rebuilt farm equipment that was old when I got here over thirty years ago.

Please don’t get me wrong-recycling is a good thing. I use cloth bags at the grocery store and take my own mug to the coffee shop. Maybe instead of lecturing us with their ‘new’ ideas, folks can take a lesson from the farm and look at the long view when it comes to recycling. Which is better in the long run.? Rebuilding old equipment, or buying new stuff in the name of one dimension of the problem?

“Reduce, recycle and reuse” is not something new on the farm. It has been a way of life for a long, long time.

I hope you all have a great week.

P