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| Covert Township farmer Paul Rood has been at it since 1956. Michigan Farmer magazine this year named him a Master Farmer. John Madill / H-P staff |
Master Farmer, 82, says things have changed
By Scott Aiken / H-P staff writer
Published: Monday, March 8, 2010 1:09 PM EST
Paul Rood has worked the same farm along County Road 378 in Covert Township for more than half a century, land that has been in his family since 1870.
At 82 he produces 12,000 to 15,000 bushels of pears a year, along with plums and apples, on 90 acres of fruit trees. Most of the pears are sold to Gerber Products Co. in Fremont, which uses them in baby food.
Rood grew up in Lansing and was drawn to the farm at an early age. After obtaining bachelor's and master's degrees in soil science and a Ph.D. in horticulture at Michigan State University, Rood worked in California as a USDA scientist for three years. He returned to the family farm in 1956.
This year, Michigan Farmer magazine named him a Master Farmer, recognizing him as an innovator and leader in one of Southwest Michigan's most important business sectors for much of his life.
Rood has four grown children, Kathryn Rood, Paul Rood, Phillip Rood and Laura Kao. His wife, Geraldine, died in 2009.
Staff writer Scott Aiken interviewed Rood.
What are some of the greatest changes in farming you've experienced?
A big first general is specialization. When I was a boy, we had cows and chickens and pigs and sheep. I have specialized and most of my friends have specialized.
We're growing better food than we ever used to. And those of us who still do it have more volume.
The terrible part is the regulations. The dog isn't supposed to run in the orchard. He might go to the bathroom in the orchard. We've been down there to meetings this winter (at the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center in Benton Township) and they've been telling us all the new things we've got to do.
What do you like best about the work you do?
The independence. There once was an Extension agent at southwest station named Chris Reiser that got independent. He said once you start getting up each morning and deciding what you're going to do, and doing it, and not having somebody else telling you, it's habit forming.
And Chris left that Extension work and is farming, and I'm farming, and it isn't necessarily all fun. I never tried drugs but it's worse than drugs.
With less than 1 percent of the U.S. population claiming farming as an occupation, what kind of future do you see a future in agriculture for young people?
There will be a future. The specialties have been a help to me. I sell pears to Gerber's. But the big pretty ones go to these guys that are going to Chicago farmers' markets. They like these plums and pears because they can't do that (sell at markets) and raise good fruit.
The land will be used some in agriculture. There'll be the cornfields. But increasingly, unless the regulations and the labor climate change, a lot of our food will be imported. ... It has come to be true of England, it will come to be true here.
With the cost of fuel and fertilizer so high, what are farmers doing to produce food with less energy?
We're tilling less. We're plowing less. I'm going to plant wildflowers (to attract bees) to pollinate my fruit. There's a government program. That field down the road we'll, with their approval, burn the grass.
I sprayed it last fall to kill the grass and it went into the winter dead. We'll burn it, and the soil conservation district has a no-till planter that will put seeds at the rate of two ounces to the acre, these little flower seeds. You've heard the dead bee stories in the newspapers. Well, this is the farm bill's solution to the dead bees. No-till saves a lot of fuel. And we get less erosion.
Southwest Michigan has long been important in fruit and vegetable production. Do you see that continuing?
I think it will. But the canning factory in South Haven closed, Michigan Fruit Canners as a pear canning outfit. (Gerber's) is the only pear processor in the East. It'll be specialties, and it'll be feeding the folks. Farmers' markets in Chicago will be a good fit, at least for us down here.
What are the greatest challenges to farmers in the region today?
To continue to exist. The Gerber scientist that as a friend came and said, "well, if you can continue to exist it will be a major accomplishment." That means to pass on the farms, to keep a generation of people that are interested in farming.
When I go through the past presidents of the Michigan State Horticultural Society, and the famous names down here, most of their sons did not choose to continue to farm. There's one son that may continue to farm my farm. But the succession of farm ownership is a major problem. They talk about making sustainable agriculture, but it's got to sustain the families that are continuing it. You can get in and out of vegetables pretty fast, and corn. But these pears take 15 years to come into bearing. I'm picking pears now that I planted with my pregnant wife at the end of the row telling me, drive this way.
Are farmers in the region feeling development pressure?
You can see it around Benton Harbor. You see it from South Bend coming into Berrien County and when you get up around the south side of Grand Rapids. There's pressure and it's also social pressure. I have folks that complain about my farming.
We have a right-to-farm law, and I can spray at night. I make noise. The dairy farmers can spread the manure. The infrastructure and the markets change. They're cutting the Extension service down to nothing, and they're cutting the (agricultural) experiment stations down to nothing. I depend on those.
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Source: www.heraldpalladium.com |
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| Ray Williams of Buchanan catches a steelhead Wednesday afternoon in River Park in Benton Harbor. Carrying the net is John Brawley of Niles. A community activist group is concerned about the cleanliness of the St. Joseph River.
John Madill / H-P staff
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Health board gets the scoop on poop in rivers
By JOHN MATUSZAK - Assistant Local Editor
Published: Thursday, March 4, 2010 1:09 PM EST
BENTON HARBOR - The waterways of "Pure Michigan" aren't so pure, a community activist group claims, and they want the Berrien County Board of Health to do something about it.
"There's poop in the (St. Joseph) river," as evidenced by the high levels of E. coli, Jim Vopat, of Harbor Country Progress, told the health board at its monthly meeting Wednesday. "People don't know how contaminated 'Pure Michigan' waterways are."
The organization learned of the contamination in a presentation from an official with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
Vopat found a "huge disconnect" between the state's slogan and the condition of the water. But this is more than a public relations problem, he added.
Contact with E. coli can cause diarrhea, kidney disease and even death, he said. Just touching the water can be a health hazard.
Having fouled water can hurt tourism and reduce property values, Vopat warned, pointing to a closing of the beach in New Buffalo last September because of dirty water.
The E.coli contamination in the St. Joseph River is not caused by faulty sewer systems or animal waste run-off from farms, according to Vopat, but is the result of inadequate or nonexistent septic systems.
That's why his organization is asking the health board to require an inspection to make sure septic systems are in place before a property is sold or transferred. Inspections also should be mandated when an addition or outbuilding is constructed, Vopat said.
"More and more, we have to protect the environment, and the Berrien County waterways especially," Vopat said.
Several counties bordering Lake Michigan have similar ordinances, Vopat told the board.
When questioned by Chairman Duane McBride, Vopat said he did not know what impact the laws had on water quality.
The board members agreed that water quality is a problem, but doubted that there could be a quick fix.
"This might take 20 or 30 years to turn around," board member Margaret Kohring said.
Dr. Frederick Johansen, the department's medical director, pointed out that the more severe effects from E.coli would come through tainted food, and not from swimming in a polluted river or lake.
Johansen said people should be careful to not overstate the threat.
He also expressed skepticism about data attributing the source of the E.coli to human run-off. He said it is more likely caused by animal run-off, and that levels spike after a heavy rain.
The board, which is working on its own sewer ordinance, did agree to give the issue a look.
Gary Witkowski, the department's environmental services manager, said the county requires a property owner to replace or fix inadequate septic systems, but most of those inspections are voluntary. While the county used to do "hundreds and hundreds" of home inspections, most of those have been taken over by private inspectors hired by banks. And those reports don't always get back to the county.
"This would get us into many more properties," he said of the point-of-sale proposal.
Board members will have a timeline for fact-finding by their April meeting.
jmatuszak@TheH-P.com
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Source: www.heraldpalladium.com |
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In agreement, former drain commission supervisor gets $65K, won't fight for job
By SCOTT AIKEN - H-P Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, March 4, 2010 1:09 PM EST
ST. JOSEPH -Berrien County has paid $65,000 to former employee Richard Hurst to settle a grievance over his firing in 2008.
Under settlement terms, Hurst, formerly a supervisor in the drain commission's office, gave up his fight to be reinstated and agreed that he never again will seek county employment.
The Bridgman resident filed a grievance claiming wrongful termination over his firing Dec. 8, 2008.
Drain Commissioner Roger Zilke fired Hurst and maintenance workers Heath Willoughby and William Schaeffer for their inability to work together.
In a letter to the three employees, Zilke said all were counseled more than a year earlier about cooperating and avoiding on-the-job conflicts. But the working relationship "deteriorated to the point that the drain maintenance department has become dysfunctional and nonproductive," Zilke wrote.
"There seems to be no solution to the problem, and I can no longer spend valuable county time and resources refereeing your daily fights," the letter continued.
Hurst, who was hired in April 2005, filed a grievance through his union, Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council, seeking reinstatement with back pay. The January settlement agreement, which requires the county to pay the taxable sum of $65,000 to Hurst, was reached without going through labor arbitration.
Hurst agreed as part of the settlement to drop his effort to get his job back by resigning retroactive to Dec. 31, 2008, and to release the county and union of any claims related to his employment or separation.
In settling the matter, the county and Hurst do not admit any liability in the matter.
The county paid $90,000 in July to settle a civil rights lawsuit filed by Willoughby and Schaeffer.
The complaint, filed in Berrien County Trial Court in late December 2007, a year before the firings, alleged that the two men were required to work in dangerous conditions, use unsafe equipment and falsify records.
Willoughby and Schaeffer also claimed that repeated complaints did not result in corrective action.
The suit named the county, Zilke and Hurst as defendants. In settling the suit for the $90,000, the defendants made no admission of wrongdoing.
Willoughby and Schaeffer withdrew the civil complaint and agreed to drop efforts to get their jobs back through labor arbitration. Each man had sought $200,000 in damages.
R. McKinley Elliott, the county's corporate counsel, said outside contractors have been hired for the drain maintenance work formerly done by the three employees.
saiken@TheH-P.com
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Source: www.heraldpalladium.com |
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