Foreign farmers in Spain
As I have interviewed only five farmers, I cannot make a new theory, or assert fundamental statements. I only want to encourage thinking about new and unexpected conclusions I come to. I will like to pause on about differences in law norms of ecological agriculture which is in use in EU and member states as a representation of the official ideas of ecological agriculture and about the living reality of these five farms. In form of action research I would like speak especially about themes which represent problems to farmers, and which can be improved. I split findings with overreach known and constructive premises to two groups: migration and economical aspects.
Migration
All farmers came to Spain without experience with the country; many of them cannot speak Spanish at the beginning and a lot of them until present times. And what is most interesting for me, is the fact that all pull factors of their migration, are very weak. I am not afraid say that all of them have only one pull factor – the sun. The fact that they have stayed in Spain for already five or eight years is accidental. Modern Europe migration is now much easier than ever. People came from one country to another without sufficient knowledge. That can cause many problems in the integration process, and according to my results it is that way. It is surprising that none of the farmers had problems in the beginning. All the beginnings went quite well. But in the period of integration and long-term residence, that does not continue. Many of them live alternative isolated life and work. However, it has to be said that this can be caused by their alternative way of life in a rather conservative Spanish countryside.
The fact that the farmers do not know any other ecological farmers in their area is incredible, because immigrants always search community of their compatriots or professions. These immigrant nets are very important for life in unknown country, or isolated craft, like ecological farming is. Only one group of farmers makes such compatriots net – the British. However, we can see well in the example the traps of such institution; they do not learn nor use the local language, do not search for local life and are isolated from the native society.
Definitely but this migrants unpreparedness the farmer rescue by agriculture preparation, and on this base should come support. Like non-profit organizations, state, or self- activities of farmers in connection and better cooperation and awareness.
Economics
In ecological agriculture of these proportions it is normal that none of the farmers sell their products. However, the fact that none of the farmers is interested or have knowledge about grants and subsidies from the EU or Spain was shocking. In the European Union, the agriculture is mainly based on subsidies and grants, and the EU invests heavily sector. It is very needed to improve knowledge about these parts of the EU policies and make all needed support to farmers.
Principles and goals of ecological agriculture
Concerning the EU principles and goals of ecological agriculture, five from six main characteristic lines were reflected in the farmers thinking and methods of taking care about the soil: rational usage of waste, exploitation of renewable sources and no use of dangerous chemical substances and no growing GMO.
None of them ponders about the upkeeping of ecological stability of agricultures elements. Under this conception we can imagine for example protection of significant landscape elements, which „ are woods, peaty, moors, rivers, lakes, flood plains“1, glade etc. This part of ecological agriculture is now the very important, and most of grants and subsidies of the EU are paid off on these projects. Upkeeping ecological stability of agriculture elements has now become in Europe after one hundred and fifty yers of industrial revolution a major priority.
Evolution and support of landscaping projects deserve special care. It is really interesting that none of the farmers was interested in the chapter of nature protection. The EU should focus more on the support and motivation of this issue.
1 Law n. 114/1992 Sb., about protection of nature and landscape.
Attachment: Interviews
Q: questions A: answers
Your Name: Yair Sagy
Contact: 0034680-332169, [email protected]
Your Location: Lanjaron, Granada, Spain
Q: When did you come to Spain? A: 2002
Q: Why did you choose Spain? A: What had influenced your decision? Since I am from Israel I was looking to move together with my wife and daughter to a peaceful place with no wars but which is not far from Israel, with good climate and culture that is connected deeply to its roots.
Q: What was your motivation to leave? Why did you leave you country? A: Answer included in previous question.
Q: Had you had any experience with Spain before you moved here? A: No
Q: Had you had any experience with agriculture before you come to Spain? What kind? A: Me and my wife are from Kibutz in Israel (not the same one). So we been raised in agriculture environment although I personally didn't worked much in agriculture, I worked allot with cows and in the plastic factory of the kibbutz.
Q: Had you had any other employment apart from agriculture? Which? A: Apart from what I mentioned I also trained as an holistic therapist doing Chinese medicine, Acupuncture and Shiatsu.
Q:Why did you start with agriculture? Why organic? A: We started to cultivate our olive farm simply because we have bought thuis land with 130 olive treas and 30 almond treas and we feel responsebility to the land and the treas. We also belive that humans and the earth should be respected therre for we don't contaminate the earth and neurish our treas and our selvs with the best food.
Q:What is the main difference between organic and conventional agriculture for you? A:Organic agriculture takes in to acount the health of our planet and humans and conventional agriculture does it less or not at all.
Q: What is most important about organic farming for you? A: The conciousness of unity between plants, earth and humans.
Q: Was leaving your country and begining here hard for you? What where the first difficulties? A: No, it wasn't hard. The only dificulty is that my daughter doesn't enjoy our life style. Q: What are the main difficulties now? A: Some times it is hard to keep up with the demands of the farm. For that we use the help of the WOOFF organisation when we recieve people to help us in exchange for eoom and boord.
Q: Did you take advice from the local farmers? A: Yes
Q: How do you relate to local farmers? A: We respect them and have great friendship with them.
Q: Do you know other organic farmers around? A: Yes
Q: Do you join in the local (social) life?
A:Yes . And how? We go to different activities but not very often.
Q: Do you sell any of your products? Where, to whom do you sell them? A: We sell our olive oil to clients who we treat.
Q: Are you geting any grants or dotation? A: No
Q: Can you live from your production (are you self-sufficient) if not, what do you buy? A: We can't leave of our farm and we buy some vegetables and fruits.
Q: How important is selling of your products for you? What would be the ideal profit? Do you have any other income? A: We allways sell the extra oil we produce. The ideal profit is 3 times higher than the same amount for non organic olive oil. Our main income is alternative medicine treatments.
Q: Do you export? A: No
Q: Is there a big demand for organic products in Spain? A: Not where we leave since many people grow organic here.
Q: What do you perceive (think) are the biggest ecological impacts of conventional agriculture in Spain? A: I am not sure.
Q: Do you think ecological farming could replace conventional agriculture? Can it feed all people? Is it an alternative? A: Yes I think it is possible if the govermants will support it.
Q: What does the quality of your products mean for you? How did you garantee it? A: We cultivate our farm with integrity not to use products that are bad for the enviroment. We belong to organic farms associasion (La Flor de la Alpujarras) that has a conroling body who comes for inspections once a year.
Q: How does the work differ in the individul seasons of the year? (And what are the differencies from your country?) A: Our main work concentrated between September and February when we harvest our Almonds and than the olives folowing by pruning the treas. In the summer we maily ireigating.
Q: Hou does it influence your life? A: We are very busy always.
Q: Hou does your food (what you eat) change in the individual season of the year? A: In summer and autom and spring we have more food from our garden.
Your Name: Katherine Chapman
Contact: [email protected]
Your Location: Zagra, province of Granada
Q: When did you come to Spain? A: 2001
Q: Why did you choose Spain? What had influenced your decision? A: Liked the country and the people and initially wanted a holiday home
Q: What was your motivation to leave? Why did you leave you country? A: We found a bargain property: two houses and a flat with pool and decided to try running it as holiday lettings. We left England because our jobs were high stress and the country is very overcrowded compared with Spain.
Q: Had you had any experience with Spain before you moved here? |A: Three holidays.
Q: Had you had any experience with agriculture before you come to Spain? What kind? A: Organic vegetable growing on a domestic rather than commercial scale. We had a large allotment in the UK and I have grown vegetables and fruit for the last 37 years.
Q: Had you had any other employment apart from agriculture? Which? A: I was a college lecturer teaching English language and literature and Communication Studies.
Q: Why did you start with agriculture? Why organic? A: As an adult I have always grown my own food and prefer to avoid chemical input such as fertilizers and pesticides.
Q: What is the main difference between organic and conventional agriculture for you? A: I like the balanced system that can be achieved. We keep hens, pigeons and geese and their manure, along with all kitchen and vegetable waste, goes to make compost (we have 4 large compost heaps). This adds heart and nutrients to the land, helps retain moisture and our crops are strong and resistant. I feel strongly that the land should not be used as simply a dusty patch for holding up plants whilst they are nourished by nitrates added by the farmer.
Q: What is most important about organic farming for you? A: Getting the land in good heart and not impoverishing it. Compost is the basis of my approach and I feel that as we recycle all plastic, glass and cans compost making is another form of recycling to help reduce our impact on the planet. This is more important for me than taste and goodness, although these are much better when food is organically grown.
Q:Was leaving your country and begining here hard for you? What where the first difficulties? A: It was exciting and challenging rather than hard. It was difficult starting a new business and getting customers for the holiday rentals.
Q: What are the main difficulties now? A: Having enough time and energy to balance the demands of a holiday business and running a large fruit and vegetable garden. We have had a lot of help fro WWOOF volunteers in order to overcome these difficulties.
Q: Did you take advice from the local farmers? A: Yes, all the time. Particularly about when to sow, methods for irrigation, pruning of fruit trees – all very different from in the colder climate of N Europe.
Q: How do you relate to local farmers? A: Very well – they are our best friends and neighbours around here and are unstintingly generous and helpful, although often very critical of the way I do things!
Q: Do you know other organic farmers around? A: No, my local neighbours (all Spanish) use pretty intensive methods (ie no rotation of crops until the soil gets sick) and although they do use goat manure, they rely heavily on fertilizers and pesticides.
Q: Do you join in the local (social) life? And how? A: Yes, we both speak Spanish, shop in the local village, sell our eggs to the local supermarket, go to fiestas and go to our neighbour’s matanza (pig killing).
Q: Do you sell any of your products? Where, to whom do you sell them? A: We sell eggs locally, as mentioned, and sell vegetables and fruit to guests in our holiday rental houses.
Q:Are you geting any grants or dotation? A:No
Q: Can you live from your production (are you self-sufficient) if not, what do you buy? A: No. We buy a wide range of veg and fruit when they are not available in the garden.
Q: How important is selling of your products for you? What would be the ideal profit? Do you have any other income? A: The selling of our products is subsidiary to our holiday rental business which provides our main income.
Q: Do you export? A: No
Q: Is there a big demand for organic products in Spain? A: I think not – not nearly as much as in the UK. It’s beginning but is small.
Q: What do you perceive (think) are the biggest ecological impacts of conventional agriculture in Spain? A: We lived near Motril on the Mediterranean coast for 3 years and were near the horror of intensive, plastic covered greenhouses. These are a disaster to the local and wider environment and to the people who work in them, often illegal immigrants on low wages, sufferring the effects of exposure to insecticides in an enclosed area. The tops of hills are chopped off to make huge flat areas to be covered in plastic and the adjacent valleys, often the home to nightingales, reptiles and mammals are filled in with the removed hilltop. This, inevitably, is a sterile environment devoid of plants and animals. Their use of water is enormous and seriously affects the aquifers and in August each year they burn the old plastic creating black palls of smoke to add to the problems of global warming. We now live in an olive growing area and at this time of year planes go over spraying fungicide onto the olives. No one seems to have analysed the effects of this on health.
Q: Do you think ecological farming could replace conventional agriculture? Can it feed all people? Is it an alternative? A: I would hope so, but feel that with the world population growing as it is, conventional agriculture will still be seen as a short term fix.
Q: What does the quality of your products mean for you? How did you garantee it? A: Quality means a lot as we are the ones eating it, but it is difficult to guarantee as pests and diseases are rife.
Q: How does the work differ in the individul seasons of the year? (And what are the differencies from your country?) A: Much greater need for irrigation and much wider range of crops here. Winters are harsh and we use that time for rotovating and adding compost. We get crops (beans, potatoes, roots, tomatoes, cucurbitae) all much earlier than in the UK and can grow peaches and apricots in the open here, although apples and plums do not do nearly as well as in the UK.
Q: Hou does it influence your life? A: It means we are constantly learning, listening to locals and adapting our cultivation to the local climate.
Q: Hou does your food (what you eat) change in the individual season of the year? A: Summer is great with lots of delicious tomatoes, squashes, melons etc. In Spring we eat lots of peas and broad beans, salads through most of the year, brassicas in late winter and tree fruit from June through to August. In Spring/summer we eat a lot less meat because we have so many good vegetables. We eat more meat and potatoes, carrots etc in winter because it is very cold and we work a lot outdoors.
Your Name: Johnny Azpilicueta
Contact:
Your Location: Tarifa Cádiz Spain
Q: When did you come to Spain? A: I am from Spain
Q: Why did you choose Spain? What had influenced your decision? A: -
Q: What was your motivation to leave? Why did you leave you country? A:-
Q: Had you had any experience with Spain before you moved here? A -
Q: Had you had any experience with agriculture before you come to Spain? What kind? A-
Q: Had you had any other employment apart from agriculture? Which? A: Yes. Many. Entrepeaneur, designer, consultant, teacher, etc…
Q: Why did you start with agriculture? Why organic? A: For self sufficiency.
Q: What is the main difference between organic and conventional agriculture for you? A: Size, variety. No syntetic chemicals.
Q: What is most important about organic farming for you? A: Respecto for the land, animals, plants. Bieng conciuos about everything you do.
Q: Was leaving your country and begining here hard for you? What where the first difficulties? A -
Q: What are the main difficulties now? A: Regulations
Q: Did you take advice from the local farmers? A: Yes
Q: How do you relate to local farmers? A:-
Q: Do you know other organic farmers around? A: Not many
Q: Do you join in the local (social) life? And how? A: -
Q: Do you sell any of your products? Where, to whom do you sell them? A: Yes in local shop and restaurant. And exchanging with neighbours.
Q: Are you geting any grants or dotation? A: NO
Q: Can you live from your production (are you self-sufficient) if not, what do you buy? A: We are almost selfsufficient. We buy grains.
Q: How important is selling of your products for you? What would be the ideal profit? Do you have any other income? A:Yes we have other incomes, like yoga retreats and courses
Q: Do you export? A: No
Q: Is there a big demand for organic products in Spain? A: Not enough
Q: What do you perceive (think) are the biggest ecological impacts of conventional agriculture in A: Spain?
Q: Do you think ecological farming could replace conventional agriculture? Can it feed all people? Is it an alternative? A: Yes it can, it should, it will. Yes. yes
Q: What does the quality of your products mean for you? How did you garantee it? A: My product is mainly for self consumption, we only sell or exchange excess.
Q: How does the work differ in the individul seasons of the year? (And what are the differencies from your country?) A: In many different ways. We plant completely different things and the tasks vary largely.
Q: Hou does it influence your life? A: My life dances with the seassons. I am very connected with the rythms of nature.
Q: Hou does your food (what you eat) change in the individual season of the year? A: We always eat completely seasonal. Except for grains and self preserved fruits and vegetalbles.
Name: Mrs. Jacqueline Palmer
Contact: 0034 956 452 031
Location: Casa Luz, El Colorado, conil de la Frontera, Cadiz, Dpsin 11140
Q:When did you come to Spain? A: November 2002
Q: Why did you choose Spain? What had influenced your decision? A: The climate and the lifestyle
Q: What was your motivation to leave? Why did you leave you country? A: Resigned from teaching and wanted a complete change of lifestyle. A warmer climate suited our family as we are outdoor people.
Q: Had you had any experience with Spain before you moved here? A: Very little – just a few holidays in the North and inland.
Q: Had you had any experience with agriculture before you come to Spain? What kind? A: Have always been a keen gardener and always grown our own vegetables as much as the climate in the UK would allow.
Q: Had you had any other employment apart from agriculture? Which? A: Yes I was a teacher and my husband works as an off-shore surveyor.
Q: Why did you start with agriculture? Why organic? A: We bought our house with an existing orange orchard and good agricultural land so decided to grow vegetabloes organically. Spanish farmers use lots of chemicals (pesticides and insecticides)
Q: What is the main difference between organic and conventional agriculture for you? A: The main difference is that organically grow vegetables have not been sprayed with potentially harmful chemicals – they are grown naturally. In conventional farming the soil is contaminated with artificial fertilisers and chemicals from spraying. This is very harmful to wildlife and the environment.
Q: What is most important about organic farming for you? A: The food produced in organic farming is more natural and it is healthier to eat food that has not been contaminated. So better for health and better for the environment. We have lots of birds in our garden and hedghogs, snakes , lizards etc, There is nothing to harm them on the land (just the cats)! Insects and butterflies are not harmed in an organic garden or farm. There are alternatives to using harmful chemicals to treat diseases and pests – ther are lots of organic methods of dealing with pests.
Q: Was leaving your country and begining here hard for you? What where the first difficulties? A: Yes it was hard initially – the language, the bureaucracy and finding a suitable new home in the right location – but it can be done and we are very happy with our new life.
Q: What are the main difficulties now? A: It is often difficult to sell our organic vegetables and oranges for a good price. The Spanish are not really interested in organic produce. We mainly sell to German and British people. Difficult to buy organic seeds – have to order from the UK
Q: Did you take advice from the local farmers? A: Yes we had to take a lot of advice from local Spanish farmer especially relating to planting times and where to find suppliers of organic manure etc.
Q: How do you relate to local farmers? A: We have good relations with local Spanish farmers although most of them don’t farm organically. They are always very helpful and want to give us their produce.
Q: Do you know other organic farmers around? A: Yes a few and they are very helpful
Q: Do you join in the local (social) life? And how? A: We have Spanish friends althoug mainly we socialise with other English people in this area. We have been invited to first communions which are like weddings and also the odd meal or BBQ.
Q: Do you sell any of your products? Where, to whom do you sell them? A: Yes we well our oranges privatley to local people and also we sell to the local co-op but they don’t pay us any extra for the fact that they are organically grown oranges. We sell boxes of vegetables to local people and to friends.
Q: Are you geting any grants or dotation? A: No
Q: Can you live from your production (are you self-sufficient) if not, what do you buy? A: No we don’t earn enough from our produce to live but we are almost self sufficient in vegetables. We buy a few vegetables – e.g. mushrooms. We also preserve lots of fruit and vegetables – chutneys, marmalades and jams.
Q: How important is selling of your products for you? What would be the ideal profit? Do you have any other income? A: We could not survive from the profit made by selling our produce. We are not really a commercial farm – we just grow what we can and sell the excess. We could gow more and make more profit but it is very labour intensive work and her in Spain people are not prepared to pay a reasonable price for the produce.
Q: Do you export? A: No
Q: Is there a big demand for organic products in Spain? A: No, not in Cadiz province. There is very little organic produce in the supermarkets and none in the fruit and vegetable markets. Most of the organice produce grown in Spain is exported to th Uk or Germany. There are large organic farms inland from here and it is almost all exported.
Q: What do you perceive (think) are the biggest ecological impacts of conventional agriculture in Spain?
Q: Do you think ecological farming could replace conventional agriculture? Can it feed all people? Is it an alternative? A: I think it could be possible bu tnot for a long time. Ecological products for treating pests and diseases and not readily available for farmers in this area (Andalucia) altough there is a movement here towards organic farming methods There are several large organic farms inland in Villamartin and they have a representative who meets with local farmers to try to persuade them to go organic. The problem is that the won’t receive much more money for their produce in this area so they are not encouraged.
Q: What does the quality of your products mean for you? How did you garantee it? A: The quality depends on the soil preparation and the after-care of the crops. We cannot always guarantee the quality of the produce due to weather conditions and other outside factors but usually it is all very good.
Q: How does the work differ in the individul seasons of the year? (And what are the differencies from your country?) A: The work does vary according to the times of the year but we grow all the year round so there is always weeding etc. Really we ae harvesting and planting all year round but of course we have summer crops – tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, chillies etc in summer and all the green veg and potatoes in the winter months. The orange harvest is from November to January. We have periods of pruning all the year round. The work is very different from the work in the UK (apart from the weeding) because the climate is different so we grow different crops which require different care. We don’t rotavate any more – we use the “no dig“ system which reduces the work.
Q: Hou does it influence your life? A: The work we do here has a big influence on our lives as it takes a lot of our time and lots of planning. We have Woofers here all the year round to help with the crips and also help to maintain the land generally.
Q: Hou does your food (what you eat) change in the individual season of the year? A: The food changes greatly. Summer – tomatoes, beans, aubergines, peppers, sweet potatoes, sweetcorn, basil etc. Winter and Spring we have cabbages, broccoli, lettuce, potatoes, beetroot etc. We always have a good crop of vegetables to eat all the year round.
Your Name: Anne and Simon Wilson
Contact:0034982363182
Your Location: Galicia.
Q: When did you come to Spain? A: April 2004
Q: Why did you choose Spain? What had influenced your decision? A: We had decided to take early retirement due to my husbands health problems, Spain seemed to offer a far cheaper cost of living than Ireland.
Q: What was your motivation to leave? Why did you leave you country? A: We knew that we would not be able to maintain our standard of living if we gave up our organic farm , Ireland is a very expensive country in which to live, also we found that the Organic Standards as defined by the EU were slowly being eroded from our own standards, which was allowing conventional farmers to go in to Organic convertion but with no belief in the whole ethic of Organics
Q: Had you had any experience with Spain before you moved here? A: Apart from holidays, none
Q: Had you had any experience with agriculture before you come to Spain? What kind? A: Yes. Organic Egg production, we were the first certified egg unit in Ireland, Organic vegetables, supplying local shops and vegetable boxes schemes, herbs and soft fruit.
Q: Had you had any other employment apart from agriculture? Which? A: I had been a Public House mangeress, my husband had been an Engineer
Q: Why did you start with agriculture? Why organic? A: We wanted out of the rat race, we originate from the UK, and first moved to Wales where we bought a smallholding, we wished to grow our own vegetables with out chemicals, we had in the past when we were still members of the rat race bought organic vegetables, we quickly found that there was a demand for any surplus that we produced. We then moved to Ireland to a small farm and went into Organic Convertion.
Q: What is the main difference between organic and conventional agriculture for you? A: Care of the land, low input farming, the benefits to the wild life, natural increase of fertility of the soil by composting, no damage to soil structure and no soil erosion. It is a sustainable form of farming, but no quick fixes.
Q: What is most important about organic farming for you? A:We consider ourselves as caretakers of our land, conventional farming is built upon the agrochemical industry, and is dependent on oil, it also destroys the land, and indeed the land becomes a chemical junky, requiring more and more chemicals to be added to get a yield.
Q: Was leaving your country and begining here hard for you? What where the first difficulties? A: We viewed it as an adventure, however when we first moved to Spain it was to Catalonia where we found the lack of water a big problem and it was impossible to grow vegetables, so we moved to Galicia, the language was the main problem, and still is.
Q: What are the main difficulties now? A: The languge.
Q:Did you take advice from the local farmers? A: Yes.
Q: How do you relate to local farmers? A: Most of our local farmers are subsistance farmers and are self sufficient in most things.
Q: Do you know other organic farmers around? A: Not really, we do know a couple, one from whom we buy our organic flour .
Q: Do you join in the local (social) life? And how? A: Very little.
Q: Do you sell any of your products? Where, to whom do you sell them? A: No, but we always have spare vegetables to give to friends.
Q: Are you getting any grants or donations? A: No.
Q: Can you live from your production (are you self-sufficient) if not, what do you buy? A: We are selfsufficient in vegetables and fruit, we produce rabbit meat for the table and eggs, we have to buy some animal feed, mainly for the rabbits. We also buy cat and dog food, flour for bread, some meat [ beef] from our local butcher locally produced, butter and milk untill our goats produce young.
Q: How important is selling of your products for you? What would be the ideal profit? Do you have any other income? A: We dont sell our products, we have a pension from Ireland.
Q: Do you export? A: No
Q: Is there a big demand for organic products in Spain? A: Probably, although it is almost impossible to find outside the major towns and city , there is a demand for good quality food throughout Spain.
Q: What do you perceive (think) are the biggest ecological impacts of conventional agriculture in Spain? A: Soil erosion [which we have witnessed first hand] and GMO’s
Q: Do you think ecological farming could replace conventional agriculture? Can it feed all people? Is it an alternative? A: Yes, we do believe that it could replace conventional farming, it should be able to feed all, it is the ONLY alternative. The worlds oil will run out, how do the powers that be think the farmers are going to manage their lands without it? It has to be by good land mangerment and good farming practices, not by chemicals which degrade the soil further.
Q: What does the quality of your products mean for you? How did you guarantee it? A: When we were a commercial enterprise we took a pride in our product and presentation, we were careful in our pricing and careful to whom we supplied, we gave a recommended selling price, if we found that this was being exceeded we withdrew our products.
Q: How does the work differ in the individul seasons of the year? (And what are the differencies from your country?) A: Not too much, there is more weeding in the spring and summer, but planting continues for most of the year, as does cropping, as it did in Ireland, we do have a longer planting season here.
Q: Hou does it influence your life? A: It is our life, the one we have chosen.
Q: Hou does your food (what you eat) change in the individual season of the year? A: What ever is in season at any particular time of year, plus anything that is stored, ie, onions potatoes, garlic, swede, we preserve a lot of fruit, make jam and pickles. We have in the past frozen vegetables, but as we have a constant supply of fresh produces from the garden all year round, no longer do so.