Standard Process Inc.

Farming in the Present -
Learning from the Past

January 2009 News From The Farm SP News Article

Christine Mason,
Farm Manager

As we turn a page on the calendar this month and look forward to a new year and new beginnings, we also find ourselves reflecting on Standard Process' 80th anniversary in 2009.

Farmers have always been in the business of everyday miracles. We plant a small seed and then hope to feed our family as well as others from the results. I think all farmers that have a passion for growing food can see the beauty in the entire process. That passion has been the same since the beginning of agriculture. What I think has changed the most in the past 80 years for Standard Process is that this enthusiasm for agronomy has encouraged us to look deeper into the "whys" and the "how can we do things even better."

America, to a large degree, expanded west as we wore out the farms in the east. A farmer would till under sod and grow terrific crops for several years, and when his soil became depleted and the yields went down, the family would pile back into the wagon and move further west to a new piece of land where they could plow up fresh soil and start again.

Dr. Lee was adamant in his belief that healthy people were a result of healthy food, which had its beginning in healthy soil. Most of the crops that Standard Process grows today are those used by Dr. Lee in his core products 80 years before. His relationship with Dr. Albrecht, a pioneer in soil science, is reflective of the fact that Dr. Lee was very much in tune with soil health being the foundation of his product line. He knew from the beginning that our soil needed to be nurtured before our bodies could be. Eighty years ago the entire concept of maintaining soil health, versus getting the most out of the land as fast as you could, was as revolutionary as his products were.

At Standard Process, we have a five-year rotation to keep our soil free from disease. We rotate crops so that a crop needing nitrogen follows a crop that makes nitrogen. We also incorporate green manure or cover crops to continually feed our soil naturally. We have soil and tissue tests and HPLC (high pressure liquid chromatography) results that can directly reveal the health of the soil and whether our current practices are sustaining. Soil science has come a long way and I think that Dr. Lee would be fascinated by what a soil test can now reflect.

Healthy soil has been one of the most fundamental cornerstones of the Standard Process philosophy for 80 years. We are proud to carry on this tradition every season, and for seasons to come.