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Agriculture in the Northeast has changed over the years based on changes in the economy. Stonewalls throughout woodlands, representing the boundaries of agricultural fields, are silent reminders of an earlier day. Agricultural history in the northeast is the story of change and things are changing again.
New techniques for grass farming offer the possibility for a resurgence of farming in the United States. Intensive rotational grazing or grass farming is a technique that has been perfected in New Zealand and Australia for many years. It consists of using a system of portable electric fence to move animals quite often (even daily) onto a fresh "bite" of grass. This method spreads the manures evenly across the land, gives the best possible nutrition for a ruminant animal, and then rests the land until the next rotation.
As a result, grass is continually being grazed at an adolescent stage when the vitamins, minerals ,and protiens are at their best. This method requires quite a bit of skill to work with the weather patterns of wet and dry as well as the seasons. What it does not require is much infrastructure: buildings and equipment are kept to a minimum with the major capital costs being fence, charger, and plastic water line and water troughs. These methods are very different than historic methods but have been tried in the Northeast and actually work quite well.
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