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It's not Just Joel Salatin anymore
In article
, Billy wrote: In article , "David Hare-Scott" wrote: Billy wrote: Sci Am, April 2010 Breaking the Growth Habit by Bill McKibben For the past quarter of a century, despite the rapid spread of massive-scale agribusiness farming, pesticides and genetically engineered crops, the amount of grain per person has been dropping. I assume this means the amount of grain per farm worker working to produce it, is that right? I'm speculating that number of consumers are outstripping production. "the observed figures for 2007 show an actual increase in absolute numbers of undernourished people in the world, 923 million in 2007 versus 832 million in 1995.[88]; the more recent FAO estimates point out to an even more dramatic increase, to 1.02 billion in 2009." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpopulation I had imagined that the productivity by this measure climbed very rapidly in the early 20th century and then the rate slowed down with little surges as bigger and more automated combine harvesters, irrigation gear, better strains of grain etc were introduced. So I expected that in the last quarter century it would have levelled off like a diminishing returns curve, I didn't expect it to start going down. The other problem is that production levels are proportional to optimum humus levels in the soil. Falling humus levels require more and more chemical fertilizers to reach the same production levels. (I'll need to go through my books to come up with the citation, but I think I know where it is.) My authority for the above is The Fatal Harvest Reader Edited by Andrew Kimbrell http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Harvest-.../dp/155963944X /ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282583500&sr=1-1 This is a anthology of agricultural authors. Part 3 starts with ARTIFICIAL FERTILITY by Jason McKenny, p.121 - 129 p. 125 THE BREAKDOWN OF A SYSTEM We now know that the massive use of synthetic fertilizers to create artificial fertility has had a cascade of adverse effects on natural soil fertility and the entire soil system. Fertilizer application begins the destruction of soil biodiversity by diminishing the role of nitrogen-fixing bacteria and amplifying the role of everything that feeds on nitrogen. These feeders then speed up the decomposition of organic matter and humus. As organic matter decreases, the physical structure of soils changes. With less pore space and loss of their sponge-like qualities, soils are less efficient at retaining moisture and air. More irrigation is needed. Water leaches through soils, draining away nutrients that no longer have an effective substrate on which to cling. With less available oxygen the growth of soil microbiology slows, and the intricate ecosystem of biological exchanges breaks down. Acidity rises and further breaks down organic matter. As soil microbes decrease in volume and diversity, they less are less able to physically hold soils together in groups called aggregates. Water begins to erode these soils away. Less topsoil means less volume and biodiversity to buffer against these changes. More soils wash away. Meanwhile, all of these events have a cumulative effect of reducing the amount of nutrients available to plants. Industrial farmers address these observed deficiencies by adding more fertilizer. Such a scenario is known as a negative feedback loop; a more blunt comparison is substance abuse. 127 THE DEBT IS DUE All of these adverse effects of fertilizers result from their application. It is equally important to consider the problems associated with the production of fertilizers. The Haber process first made for the direct link of fertility to energy consumption, but this was in a time when fossil fuels were abundant and their widespread use seemed harmless. The production of nitrogenous fertilizers consumes more energy than any other aspect of the agricultural process. It takes the energy from burning 2,200 pounds of coal to produce 5.5 pounds of usable nitrogen. This means that within the industrial model of agriculture, as inputs are compared to outputs, the cost of energy has become increasingly important. Agriculture's relationship to fertility is now directly related to the price of oil. 128 This economic model made some sense throughout a farming period in which we were mining the biological reserves of fertility bound in soil humus. Now it is a crisis of diminishing returns. In 1980 in the United States, the application of a ton of fertilizers resulted in an average yield of 15 to 20 tons of corn. By 1997, this same ton of fertilizer yielded only 5 to 10 tons. Between 1910 and 1983, United States corn yields increased 346 percent while our energy consump- tion for agriculture increased 810 percent. The poor economics of this industrial agriculture began to surface. The biological health of soils has been driven into such an impoverished state at the expense of quick, easy fertility that productivity is now compromised, and fertil- izers are less and less effective. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 1997 declared that Mexico and the United States had ³hit the wall" on wheat yields, with no increases shown in 13 years. Since the late 1980s, worldwide consumption of fertilizers has been in decline. Farmers are using fewer fertilizers because crops are physiologically incapable of absorbing more nutrients. The negative effects of erosion and loss of biological resiliency exceed our ability to offset them with fertilizers. The price of farm commodities is so low that it no longer offsets the cost of fertilizers. We are at full throttle and going nowhere. Economic systems assume unlimited growth capacity. Ecological systems have finite limitations. It would be wise to recognize how the industrial perspective of fertility as a mined resource drives us toward agricul- tural collapse. SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS Certainly the adverse effects of fertilizer use come as no sudden surprise to farmers. Even those who manage the most chemically based agricultural systems recognize the important roles of organic matter, microorganisms, and crop diversity ill fertility maintenance. Unfortunately, under crushing financial pressure most farmers are limited in the changes they can afford to make. Some of the greatest reductions in fertilizer use have come from conservation practices and more careful applications. These represent a savings for farmers. Better timing and less indiscriminate applica- 129 tion of fertilizers reduce the adverse effect on soil biology and the likelihood of environmental pollution. Equally important are conser- vation tillage methods in which ground disturbance is minimized and the decomposition of crop residues is promoted. Less tillage distur- bance gives a greater opportunity for microorganisms to proliferate, and more crop decomposition helps provide habitat and resources for them. More water, nutrients, and soils are retained on the farm. Organic farmers approach the management of fertility biologically rather than chemically. Most organic methods work to enhance soil nutrient cycles by relying upon strategies of crop rotation and cover-cropping to provide nutrient enrichment. Nitrogen-fixing and nutrient-building crops are grown explicitly for the purpose of improving soils, increasing organic matter and soil microbes, preventing erosion, and attracting other beneficial organisms. Soil diversity is maintained with crop plant diversity. Multiple varieties of different crops are grown in successions, which maximize nutrient use by different plant types and minimize pests and pathogens. Additional fertility is provided through organic sources. Naturally based organic fertilizers include composted plant materials, composted manures, fishery by-products, blood and bonemeals, and other materials which decay and release nutrients, participating in rather than destabilizing the nutrient cycle. Practiced well, organic methods establish a dynamic yet stable fertility. Costs of outside inputs dwindle, while soil health and overall fertility grows. snip A bit of over kill perhaps, but just to justify my assumptions about McKibben's article in the April, 2010 Scientific American. As a side bar to Frank's fear of finally having to do some work is the exchange between SciAm and McKibben in the Q & A ---- SA: The subtext here is that large, centralized, monolithic systems of agriculture, energy and other commerce drive growth. Are you saying big is bad? McKlBBEN: We built things big because it allowed for faster growth. Efficiencies were gained through size. That's not what we need now. We don't need a racehorse that is exquisitely bred to go as fast as possible but whose ankle breaks the minute there's a divot in the track. We need a plow horse built for durability. Durability needs to be our mantra, instead of expansion. SA: Is sheer size the culprit, or is it the complexity that size brings? You say that not just banks but more basic industries are "too big to fail." Should such institutions be broken up or disentangled somehow? McKIBBEN: The financial system, the energy system and the agricultural system share great similarities: a very small number of players, incredibly interwoven. In each case, cascading effects occur when something goes wrong; a chicken pot pie spreads botulism to 48 states. My house runs on solar panels. If it fails, I have a problem, but it doesn't shut down the eastern U.S. power grid. To put this in context, we are presently experiencing the recall of over 500,000,000 eggs (half a Billion eggs). http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100822/ap_on_bi_ge/us_tainted_eggs If these eggs had been produced by smaller producers, fewer people would have gotten sick. Smaller producers would create jobs that we sorely need right now. The jobs might be shoveling out chicken coops, but it would get Frank off the dole, and contributing to society. Always a pleasure Frank ;O) maybe you could get a job for your acolyte as well. He doesn't even seem to understand chook poo at all. In the meantime, for a full explanation from Bill McKibben, I must wait to be served by my library. I am 28th in the queue. At least it's not as bad as "The #1 Ladies Detective Agency". We started in 134th place with that one, and now we are down to 3rd. -- - Billy "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini. http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/2/maude http://english.aljazeera.net/video/m...515308172.html |
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