To the Editor:

I am writing in response to Mr. Mario Serfilippi’s letter to the editor in the Sept. 25, 2014 edition.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, at least 31 percent and as much as 40 percent of food that is available at supermarkets, restaurants, dining halls, and in households is wasted, and ends up in landfills, where, as it decomposes, methane gas is produced.

Additionally, the carbon footprint of and extensive use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides in the production of commercial fruits, nuts, and grains is no better than the pollution being generally attributed to meat production as a whole.  This environmental harm rises exponentially when considering imported fruits, grains, and produce, or the additional processing and packaging of prepared foods.  This is simply not sustainable either.

The deforestation for pasture referred to is not occurring in the United States.  To the contrary, a growing number of sustainable farms employ the use of sylvo-pasturing, which uniquely combines forest management with grazing.

The meat “industry” referred to in his letter is just that, industrial.  Such corporate farms are not sustainably nor humanely managed.  Though they are a contributing factor to pollution concern to an extent, they are not entirely worldwide.

Compare the 1.4 billion cattle on earth to the over 7 billion people.  Face it: Everybody toots.  Human attitude toward waste is “out of sight, out of mind” as we all flush and build largely “unseen” mountains of waste.

We must accept responsibility, too, and make changes ourselves.  We can’t blame it all on bovines, farms, farmers or the meat industry as a whole based solely on industrial management practices.

Know your farmer, know your food.  An excellent way to make such changes is to encourage and support sustainability in food production locally, here at home.

I extend an invitation to Mr. Serfilippi to visit our farm, a holistically managed family operation practicing sustainable agriculture in the Hilltowns of Albany County.  Helder-Herdwyck Farm is just one of many in the area and a growing number of similar farms nationally, which offer healthy, sustainable options.

Our livestock participate in an environmentally beneficial process in our sustainable operation by merely contributing their natural behaviors and characteristics as nature originally designed them.  We are healing our land and setting a new standard of animal health and welfare, while greatly reducing our carbon footprint and producing exceptionally healthy food and other products.

An added bonus is the eradication of invasive species of plants, such as Russian knapweed, floribunda rose, and honeysuckle merely by grazing, with no tilling or chemicals and no seeding.  That translates to no carbon footprint.

Entirely pastured from early spring for as long into the fall or winter as weather allows access for grazing, our animals enjoy space to roam, sunlight, and fresh air.  We do not use hormones, steroids, or routine antibiotics either.  We have no need to.

We carefully select our breeds of livestock to meet our sustainable requirements, such as our sheep, the rare Herdwick and our future cattle, the Irish Dexter.  We practice intensive rotational grazing with multi-species, by which the sheep are grazed within movable fencing and never spend more than four or five days on the same area of grass (sometimes less), but are constantly moved to a new area of fresh grass, not returning to the same area within 60 days.

Our laying hens and broiler chickens live outside from spring to fall, and follow the sheep in their own movable coops and fencing.  Foraging naturally on grass and insects, they produce eggs and meat far more flavorful and healthier than available in the grocery store.

Our heritage Tamworth hogs are also pastured as part of their own grazing program. The hogs are assisting in pasture reclamation by clearing and tilling overgrown pastures, a job conventionally done with tractor or bulldozer.  Again, there is no carbon footprint.

As we lose farmable land to development at a rate of over one acre per minute according to American Farmland Trust, we as a country cannot afford to lose our farmers.  Boycotting a product entirely can more readily have a negative effect on those of us who are actually making a difference.

Changing where you source your foods will begin to affect industrial farms.  It is already happening.

There are many benefits to buying food locally.  Say, “Yes Farms, Yes Food,” and support our local farms.  Visit one, or add your local farmers’ market to your weekly errands, likely just a walk or bike ride away — no carbon footprint.  There are many listings online for finding locally produced products including meats, fruits, seeds, grains, and vegetables, as well as honey and maple syrup, jams, fresh breads, and more.

I think our larger, more immediate concern should focus on the country that displays the sunrise on TV screens in the street because the smog is so thick that the mask-bearing pedestrians cannot see the real sun.  Items produced there are inexpensive partly because the factories there are not held to the same environmental protection standards as those in the United States and elsewhere.

Mr. Serfilippi, please come and see our farm and how we are literally a breath of fresh air in the way we produce our delicious, exceptionally healthy and sustainable meats and other products.  We are not alone, either.

For additional information on holistic management, visit holisticmanagement.org; locavores.com has great information about eating locally; at localharvest.org, you can search by product, ZIP code and by key words to find farms nearby.

Most farms tell you upfront how they manage their farms; if not, ask them!  For information on our sustainable practices, please contact us or visit our website at helderherdwyckfarm.com.

After all, every day, three times a day, you do need a farmer from somewhere.  Make it the ones you know.

Erin Bradt

Helder-Herdwyck Farm

East Berne