Jean-Paul Courtens: To Till Or Not To Till On A Vegetable Farm

#020: Biodynamic farmer Jean-Paul Courtens discusses the complexities of tillage through the eyes of a vegetable farmer, as well as necessary changes in his practices due to the increasing effects of Climate Change.

Jean-Paul Courtens is a well-known Biodynamic farmer living in New York's Hudson Valley and a valuable resource to the farming community. After spending decades growing organic food for over eight hundred CSA members in his region he turned his attention to educating and mentoring the next generation of farmers. In 2018, he was awarded NOFA NY's Farmer of the Year Award.

To watch a video version of this podcast please visit:
https://www.realorganicproject.org/jean-paul-courtens-to-till-or-not-to-till-on-a-vegetable-farm-episode-twenty

The Real Organic Podcast is hosted by Dave Chapman and Linley Dixon, engineered by Brandon StCyr, and edited and produced by Jenny Prince.

The Real Organic Project is a farmer-led movement working towards certifying 1,000 farms across the United States this year. Our add-on food label distinguishes soil-grown fruits and vegetables from hydroponically-raised produce. It also identifies pasture-raised meat, milk, and eggs as compared to products harvested from animals in horrific confinement (CAFOs - confined animal feeding operations).

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We believe that the organic standards, with their focus on soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare were written as they should be. But the current lack of enforcement of those standards is jeopardizing small farms that follow the law. The lack of enforcement is also jeopardizing the overall health of the customers who support the organic movement; customers who are not getting what they pay for at market but are still paying a premium price. The lack of enforcement is jeopardizing the very cycles (water, air, nutrients) that Earth relies upon to provide us all with a place to live, by pushing extractive, chemical agriculture to the forefront.

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