Horizon Organic Farm

Desert Agriculture

Let’s say you’re the desert types. You love the open expanses, the dry heat, the miles of land that stretch to the horizon. You cherish the geologic features and the hearty flora and fauna. Adapting to this type of environment is not a challenge for you, but an exciting opportunity. But then that pesky issue bubbles slowly to the surface…”What if I can’t grow anything? I want land and space to build a home, but I’d also love a garden and the ability to sew some crops and feed my family.” Well, land-seekers, fear not. Even though it may seem difficult—and just plain unsustainable—it is possible to irrigate land in dry climates sustainably. Just don’t be like all those golf courses in Pheonix, Arizona, watering their greens at high noon in 100-degree heat. (Watering during the day is a silly idea for the simple fact that much of the water will evaporate before being absorbed into the soil, making it more expensive for you and more wasteful for the community.)

Let’s use Arizona as an example here. Many folks might think, “The desert equals sand, which means unfertile soil.” Well, yes and no. By weight, Arizona’s soil has approximately 1% organic matter and topsoil averages only about half an inch. But surprisingly, Arizona is no slouch when it comes to agriculture. Mother nature just needs a little bit of a helping hand.

Arizona agriculture is a $9.2 billion industry annually. Says the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, “Most of the state’s farming occurs in the alluvial basins of the Colorado, Salt, Verde and Agua Fria rivers. Massive irrigation projects with dams for water storage in lakes and reservoirs provide a large portion of the water for farming. Arizona has one of the most efficient irrigation networks in the world.”

The top agricultural crops in the state are lettuce, cotton, and hay, while cattle, calves, and the dairy products produced thereby are the most valuable farm commodities. Yet hogs, sheep and lambs, and laying hens (producing upwards of 5.8 billion eggs annually) round out the livestock market in the region.

While Arizona may not appear to be agriculturally friendly, it is quite the opposite. With roughly 260 sunny and clear days of the year, deep freezes of crops are largely unheard of and livestock are able to roam outdoors without the threats of severely cold temperatures. If you’re looking to set up a ranch, farm, or other form of agriculturally minded operation, consider checking out Arizona land for sale. Just please remember these two magic words: drip irrigation!

Horizon Organic Farms Cruelty Free?

I’ve been a vegan for a few months and my mom bought me milk from Horizon Organic Farms that her friend told her about. I looked at the website and they said they were cruelty-free and everything. And I’m thinking about only drinking this milk and being a vegan in every other area *even though that would make me a vegetarian…* but I’m not gonna do it unless I know for sure they treat there cows good. So can someone help me?

Horizon dairy is a huge corporate dairy company owned by Dean Foods. they have been taken to task and even fined a couple of times for selling milk that was not made by cows raised according to the national organic program. horizon dairies tend to be huge-1000+ head of cattle per farm. they are allowed outside but since most of the dairies are located in semi desert areas such as eastern Colorado there is no lush pasture for them to graze upon so they must be fed grain and hay. Sometimes they do not source organic grain and feed conventional so the organic cows are fed GMO’s

http://www.organicconsumers.org has a whole campaign to make Horizon dairy produce really organic milk as well as a lot of information on organic dairies in general.

Better company from which to buy your organic milk is organic Valley dairy which is a co-op of small to medium farms that really do graze their cows and keep them organic.

Best is to find a local farm that sells pastured dairy (or best of all raw milk) http://www.localharvest.org http://realmilk.org both have lists of such farms you can contact.

Support our farms with Horizon Organic Milk

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Horizon Organic 1 % Low Fat Milk, 8-Ounce Aseptic Cartons (Pack of 18) $18.60 A cold, creamy glass of organic milk – good for your family and for the environment! Our delicious organic milk is produced without antibiotics, pesticides or cloning, from cows not given added growth hormones. Our milk is as good for you as it is delicious because it’s produced with no antibiotics, no added growth hormones and no dangerous pesticides. Our cows eat only organic feed and have acces…

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Making milk even more wholesome.(Food & Beverage Fast-Trackers)(Horizon Organic Dairy’s milk brand goes beyond regional boundaries)(Cover Story): An article from: Food Processing $5.95 This digital document is an article from Food Processing, published by Putman Media, Inc. on September 1, 1999. The length of the article is 650 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.From the supplier: Longmont…

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