Sage Mountain Farm: Highlighting the Challenges Facing America’s Small Farmers
Phil Noble had what most Americans dream of: a comfortable (almost) six figure job running a property damage unit for a large insurance company, a house in SanDiego, and a beautiful family. However, he didn’t quite feel like his roots were planted where they were supposed to be.
As he puts it, “I was getting country fever.”
Not to mention, his 16 year old son, Justin was about to turn pro in Motocross,which meant a more rural residence would make practice easier. What to do? Noble kept his job, but he and his family bought land and moved out to the country to an area at the base of a mountain that the locals called “Sage,” near Hemet and Aguanga, CA.
Having grown up in the country, Noble soon returned to activities from his youth.Growing up, he had worked in the family garden almost daily. When he’d needed money, he would simply load up his wagon with veggies he’d grown and cart them to the nearest neighbors to sell.
Naturally then, as an adult, one of the first things he did when moving back to thecountry was start a large garden to grow fresh produce for his family. The gardensoon grew beyond what his family could eat, so they began taking it to localfarmers markets on the weekend. His produce became a big hit and people at themarkets asked him to keep coming back so they could buy more. To help keep upwith demand, the Nobles bought more land around their homestead and put itinto agricultural production.
Soon, a conflict occurred: he was essentially working two full-time jobs, one as a farmer and one in the insurance industry. He was going to have to choose one or the other. “I can always go back to work, but I won’t always have an opportunity to farm,” he told himself. So, in 2010, Noble decided to leave his job in the insurance industry and become a full-time farmer. Thus, Sage Mountain Farm was born.
Despite following his passion and growing Sage Mountain Farm into a farming operation that earns $400,000 gross profit annually, Noble still has hardship in sustaining a dynamic and biodiverse organic operation. Labor shortages, rising costs, and having to compete with massive “agribusinesses” whose automated and mechanized “monoculture” growing practices grossly undercut small farm prices.
“I’m supposed to be a sustainable, dynamic farm that treats my workers fairly. Andthat’s what I am, but it costs me more to do that. My workers aren’t just doing onething; they have more functions, since we’re growing a wider variety of crops andanimals.
Because of that dynamic we are not able to meet the economy of scale thatagribusiness has.”
As much as Americans who are paying attention to these issues rightfully complain about the manifold harms caused by “monoculture” farming and the decimation of small farm economies caused by large agribusinesses, it seems that few are willing or able to pay a bit more for their food in order to support operations like Sage Mountain Farm.
Noble thinks of this as a cultural challenge, where educated consumers can help pave the way for smaller, more diversified farms that can create a higher standard of living for farmers, their families, and their workers alike–while providing a much higher quality product in return.
“I always ask people who their farmer is,” Noble adds. If people can answer with the names of the farms they source their food from, that’s indicative of a local culture that’s on the right track towards local, sustainable agriculture.
During a recent conversation, an attorney asked him what he wanted to do, what was most important to him in life. After thinking for a moment, he said: “I want to raise my kids on a farm.”