Dan Schuler hunches over the dirt, picking up handfuls of dry earth and watching them fall back to the ground. It’s unclear what he’s measuring in his mind’s eye, but after a moment, he stands up, gives the field one more glance, and nods — as if to say, “That’ll do.”
Schuler, a first-generation farmer in the Willamette Valley, learned the art of power-harrowing, a method of cultivating topsoil for a seedbed that can withstand dry growing seasons, about 12 years ago. That’s when he and his wife, Shelley Bowerman, began Moondog’s Farm in Marcola. Their hope? To grow accessible and affordable farm-fresh food for their community sustainably, adapting their practices to combat and resist the effects of climate change.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, industrial agriculture accounts for 10.6% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., and data shows that the industry is responsible for 80% of the country’s consumptive water use. In Oregon, the stats are similar, with agriculture accounting for 85% of the state’s water use. With increased water diversions, the impacts of climate change are amplified — creating hotter, drier conditions that require even more irrigation. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, natural disasters, and changes in precipitation patterns are all factors that compromise crops and exacerbate food insecurity.
“I don't know if I see one path to a sustainable future, however, industrial agriculture is certainly not the path,” says Schuler.
His big “wake up” for came wrapped in wildfire smoke during the 2020 Holiday Farm Fires. Schuler and Bowerman had to evacuate the farm for two weeks as the fire engulfed over 173,000 acres, creeping only a couple miles away from their land.
As climate change is being felt across the Willamette Valley — average temperatures have already increased over 2.5°F and are projected to increase at least another 3-7°F in the next 75 years — many small-scale farmers are working to provide an alternative to industrial agriculture.
Schuler says that climate change is “ making production riskier,” as well as increasing costs for farmers across the board — from distribution to refrigeration. “It increases the attention and labor I need to produce things at the same level that we did 10 years ago.” Energy prices are on the rise and cold storage costs increase due to a growing demand for cooling as a result of rising temperatures and extreme weather events.
But despite the financial and physical challenges climate change creates for small family farms like Moondog’s, some, like Schuler, see an opportunity to create better food systems now for a more abundant future.
“I think there’s some silver lining with climate change because it's increasing awareness of the need for resiliency,” he says. “I need to be able to look 10 years ahead and see where this is going. What am I going to need to plan for?”
Moondog’s Farm is preparing for that future with some wisdom from the past, with Schuler and Bowerman use methods such as dry farming, cover cropping, conservation tillage and waste reduction — which use less water and resources than industrial farming methods.
Small-scale farm operations are more adaptable to environmental changes that come as a result of climate change. Plus, small, local farms help communities eat more locally and seasonally, which reduces the need for large-scale transportation and storage, and decreases the energy needed to grow foods that are out of their season or region. Regionally-produced food not only benefits local economies and improves nutritional health, but also reduces “food miles”, or the greenhouse gas emissions that come from transporting food, which is responsible for nearly 20% of all Co2 emissions worldwide. Moondog’s Farm has a mercantile, where they sell foods and products from farms around the Valley, so locals have a shop they know they can go to for locally-produced food.
“Both production and distribution are important on a small scale because as small-scale producers and distributors, we are able to access different people who have a hard time finding fresh foods in the typical commercial setting, or getting to a market where most of our local producers vend,” Schuler says. “It’s a way to increase access to both our food that we grow and also increase market access for all the different farms.”
Community-oriented distribution options — like mercantile shops and co-ops — could help create a foothold for small-scale farmers across regional markets on a national scale. But to make that reality possible, small, regional farmers have to be able to stay in business. That’s easier said than done, Schuler has found.
“Most small farms fail,” he says. That’s why Moondog’s strategy is “farming for the middle.” Schuler says that more small-scale farms are not the answer to resiliency because they are not sustainable from a socioeconomic lens, so efforts should be focused on regional producers who can make a living and reach regional markets rather than monster corporations. That means local farms should big enough to support their regions, but small enough that they dodge the harmful environmental practices of industrial agriculture.
“I think one of the biggest things that's going to have to change is collaboration between small farms. Cooperative models could be key to financially supporting small farms better. We’ve got to pool our resources,” Schuler says.
"We have a tendency in America to want to do it by ourselves and I don't think that’s the answer for changing climate and changing resource accessibility.”
After finishing his afternoon spring chores of spraying nutrients onto crops and pruning the fruit trees on their property, Schuler joins his wife inside. She is working hard preparing jars of pesto and raspberry jam for the upcoming farmer’s market. The to-do list is never done here. But Schuler wouldn’t have it any other way.
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