Also in Today's Boston Globe is an article about Blueberry farmers having trouble burning their fields due to the high cost of fuel. Apparently, in order to properly manage wild blueberries, you need to either mow or burn your fields. The photo in the article is a striking one - like a fire breathing tractor.
It occurred to me while reading the article: they are using fuel to burn their crops? Let's see... they put fuel into their tractors, drive around their field and use even more fuel to force a flame to come out and burn their fields. With all this dry weather we had, is that really necessary? Seems somehow extravagant to me. With all the brushfires we had last week, maybe they should be driving around spraying water instead?
932 gallons of fuel to burn 13 acres of blueberries. That's nearly 72 acres of fuel for an acre! I have an acre of land, roughly square and roughly open. I cannot imagine somehow using 72 gallons of fuel on it in ANY way - let alone pouring 72 gallons of fuel on the land and lighting it up (although I'm sure they use more of a flame-torch approach). Especially during the past two weeks when the whole place would have gone up with one match. There's no WAY that's an efficient use of fuel.
I'm sorry, but its very difficult to feel for their fuel pinch. 72 gallons of fuel an acre. Is that guy nuts?
Nevermind the issue with particulates in the atmosphere. Burning DOES have some positive effects on the soil, but maybe they could do it a little more intelligently. Maybe burn every 5 or 6 years and then mow in between. That guy would have saved some $3,000 in fuel. I bet it costs the same amount to drive the tractor to burn as it does to drive the tractor to mow.
My favorite part of the article is the guy who is apparently a bit smarter - because of the high cost of fuel, he is now mowing 80% of his fields and is only burning the places that are difficult to mow (physically) or have pest problems. At least SOMEBODY is thinking.
The article also mentioned that the prices of fertilizer are going up... Maybe articles like this will make people realize that fertilizers are petroleum based, and that crap is going into your food, and then into your body, where it is stored in your fat cells. For you athletes - when you burn that fat, the fertilizers and pesticides interfere with your cell's ability to create energy.
Maybe I don't need to be supporting the Maine Blueberry growers after all...
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2 comments:
Burning a field (between crops) produces a better benefit than mowing. When mowed, the ends of the vines become gnarly and will eventually cause some difficulty when harvesting. Burning doesn't have to be done by "Fire Breathing Tractor". A very effective method is to spread straw in the Fall, let it sit over the Winter, and burn the straw in the Spring. It requires more attention, but straw is cheaper than fuel.
thanks, anonymous- I'm glad to know there is a more reasonable way to burn the blueberry fields. Makes perfect sense.
This reminds me of Mr. Wendell Berry- faster and "easier" isn't always better. And technology - such as the fire breathing tractor shown in the original article- isn't always a step forward. Seems like half the time its a step back. There is value in GOOD work as opposed to fast work. Good work like thinking ahead and putting straw down in the fall to carefully burn in the spring.
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