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Some Acadiana farmers more knowledgeable about sustainable farming

Posted at 8:00 PM, Apr 20, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-20 21:00:02-04

Several Acadiana farmers now have a better understanding of sustainable farming. Brookshire Farm in Meaux hosted an international expert in organic grazing Friday evening. 

Ian Mitchell-Innes, a farmer from South Africa, came in to teach other farmers "you are what you eat." 

"My passion in life is to enable farmers and ranchers to make a good living on the land. And, it’s all about harvesting the energy. Land is like a solar panel, and we need to manage the land to put carbon in soil to enable us to hold minerals in the soil and to actually grow more grass that will capture more energy," Mitchell-Innes said. 

He spoke about increasing the size of his cattle with no fertilizer, irrigation or chemical inputs.

"The basis to all this is to manage your land to improve the soil, but at the same time, to get animal performance. Animal performance is the money side to ranching, and you need to achieve that at all times," Mitchell-Innes said.

The manager of Brookshire Farm, Bob Blanchet, hosted Mitchell-Innes to help other farmers. 

"It’s pretty amazing, actually. He was here in June of last year, and the difference I’ve seen in the health of my cattle and the soil and, just, the pastures, in general, has been pretty amazing. It’s something the experts say take 10-20 years, and it happened for us in 10 months," Blanchet said. 

Those who attended the event said they learned a lot and are looking forward to making more profit on their farm.