Modern Farming Has Completely Damaged The Landscape
There are a lot of pressing problems in our world today, it is grim.
Water scarcity is getting worse as aquifers are drained faster than they can be refilled. Soil erosion and degradation is also rapidly worsening. Add in air and water pollution.
Some arable land and is turning into desert, and with it the biodiversity of plant and animal life.
Manure lagoons from CAFO’s (concentrated animal feeding operations) pose major hazards to our environment and health.
Scientists tell us that everything is getting more toxic, and that we may have less than 60 years’ before we reach a point at which nature will no longer sustain us on any front: water, air, or soil quality.
These problems have all been caused or made worse by modern farming practices, that led to a reduction in food quality and safety.
Nutrition has declined and toxicity has escalated, thanks to the excessive use of chemicals in agriculture.
Agricultural overuse of drugs has also led to the development of drug resistant disease, now a severe human health threat.
Regardless of whether man-made climate change is real, or whether the climate shifts are the result of wholly natural warming and cooling cycles, it is clear that the weather and environment are changing on the planet. These changes pose challenges to food security and our survival.
These challenges must be addressed with real, long-term, and sustainable solutions.
The Good News is that we already have a solution that addresses all of these problems.
It does not matter if one believes climate change is an issue worth consideration or not. It does not matter whether one believe water shortages are a pressing concern, or whether one cares about preserving the butterfly, bee, or fish populations.
Our time, money, and effort is best spent by supporting regenerative farming.
The Big Q: Why regenerative farming?
The Big A: Because regenerative farming helps rebuild and optimize soil quality, and the benefits to air, water, ecosystem, food, animal welfare and human health are downstream results of soil optimization.
Modern agriculture has completely changed the landscape.
In the early 1900’s, the grasslands of the southern US Plains were rapidly plowed up and turned into Wheat fields. These “amber waves of grain” had an unforeseen effect though. It led to the manmade disaster known as the Dust Bowl.
Drought and financial depression led to the collapse of the Wheat market, and once the Wheat dried up, there was nothing to anchor the topsoil anymore.
As the natural winds that cross the Plains picked up the dry soil, dense clouds of dust called “black blizzards” covered the region in an unprecedented years-long “storm.”
Topsoil erosion is a major problem associated with modern agriculture, where vast lands are tilled and turned into 1-crop fields.
Nearly 90-M acres of Corn were planted in the US in Y 2015, much of it grown for fuel, not food.
US prairies are being converted into Corn and Soybean fields so fast that some ecologists say grasslands are now among the most threatened ecosystems on Earth, more so than tropical rain forests.
The Ethanol fuel program was designed to reduce global warming but the loss of grasslands is set to do the opposite.
Without diversity, crop failures become more serious, and so do the environmental ramifications.
The separation of crops and animals into 2 different processes has proven itself to be a bad idea. Waste becomes pollution rather than a valuable part of the ecological cycle, and a host of land maintenance services that animals serve for free have to be replaced with chemical and mechanical means.
From The Western Producer: “We have to realize everything is interconnected and we cannot live in isolation,’ [Ontario farmer] Chris Boettcher told the Guelph Organic Conference Jan. 29 … Boettcher and his wife, Gabi, have lived what he describes as two different farming lifestyles. They farmed conventionally in the 1980s … The Boettchers were successful, but chose another path because of what they feel was an environmental issue for one of their five children …
‘I asked myself, ‘why should I use chemicals labelled with skulls and crossed bones on it to produce food?’ Biodynamics is a style of farming that emphasizes the relationships among all aspects of a farm, including the people. It looks at the whole rather than the parts, and an effort is made to build a farm’s resiliency from the inside out.”
To halt environmental destruction, and to continue growing healthy foods the eroding topsoil must be rebuilt.
Using the following the Key tenets of soil regeneration, a farmer can can build 1 inch of topsoil in a 5-year frame:
- No-tillage. Tilling is 1 of the most destructive aspects of modern-day industrial agriculture, as it disrupts and destroys soil biology. It is harmful for the mycorrhizal fungi, important soil fungi that attach to the roots of plants. Today, no-till farming has started to catch on in the Northern Plains, which is encouraging. The addition of bio-charcoal (bio-char) into the process can speed up and enhance the process
- Plant diversity and rotation
- Multispecies cover-cropping. While home gardeners can add crop cover like mulch or wood chips, large scale operations achieve the same results by planting cover crops. Cover crops may be grown before a cash crop, along with a cash crop, or after. These plants pull down and “trap” Carbon in the soil, where it does the most good. Again, the addition of bio-char in the process is very beneficial.
- Cover crops also act as insulation, so the soil does not get as hot or cold as it would if bare. This allows microbes to thrive longer. Also, the soil biology heats up the soil, which can extend your overall growing season in colder areas.
- Maintaining living roots in the soil year-round. It’s important to have living plant roots in the soil as long as possible throughout the year.
Note: Bio-char is charcoal used as a soil amendment. Like most charcoal, bio-char is made from biomass via pyrolysis. Bio-char is an efficient approach to Carbon sequestration to produce negative CO2 emissions. Inoculated bio-char contains the necessary micro-organisms to rebuild the soil.
Depleted and eroded grasslands can also be regenerated by adding compost, allowing the grasses to grow back faster, while simultaneously nourishing the soil.
Aside from the environmental harm being done by CAFOs and chemical-dependent agriculture, the current food production system also takes an huge toll on human health.
Many US children are not getting the nutrients they need in order to thrive, because about 40% of children’s diets come from added sugars and unhealthy fats.
Just 21% of youth aged 6-19 eat the recommended 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
You know I believe that the best bet for finding healthy Real Food is to grow our own. And when that is not possible then connect with a local farmer that raises crops and animals according to Organic standards.
All of us, not just farmers, can have an impact by implementing regenerative aspects of farming, such as no-till, plant diversity, introduce bio-char, and using ground cover into our home gardens.
Also, plant some pollinator species to provide a habitat for pollinators.
Monarch butterflies need milkweed to feed and reproduce. When purchasing bee-friendly plants, make sure they have not been pre-treated with pesticides that are toxic to bees.
It is very important as a consumer to use our money to drive change, and educate others as to the importance of nutrient-dense, toxin-free Real Food.
It all adds up, and together we can drive larger industries that have a huge impact on our environment and health toward more sustainable, regenerative practices.
Eat healthy, Be healthy, Live lively.
HeffX-LTN
Paul Ebeling
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