Plastic Mulch?

[Farm Thoughts - VI]

There’s a common “technology” to reduce weed pressure between crops, warm the soil early in the spring to lengthen the growing season, and make harvest cleaner and more efficient: plastic mulch.

Black plastic. Used to cover growing beds. With holes through which individual plants grow.

It has a one-time use, which means it produces great vegetables and a lot of waste. Organic growers struggle with the ethics of this. They wince when the topic is brought up. They squirm when asked their opinion. They shake their head when pressed to justify it.

But they keep growing beautiful, nutritious, healthy produce.

Plastic mulch is a compromise. With environmental ideals on one end and productivity demands on the other, the grower finds herself settling somewhere in the middle.

Is plastic mulch a slippery slope to petro-chemical fertilizers?
Is it a sign of future mono-cropping?
Is it a reason to consolidate and grow only corn and soy?

Of course not.

But it is the conundrum people like us are faced with.

Compromise is not what we do on our way to giving up; it’s what we do to bide our time and still be productive until we innovate and move ever more closely to our ideals, principles, and convictions.