One of the best books I’ve ever read on this subject is “Tree Crops”, Smith, 1929. Soil erosion is his main focus and he quotes FDR who says that a nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.
The subtitle of the book, A Permanent Agriculture, inspired Permaculture — a niche but growing group of farmers who look towards perennial crops with their deep root systems, and less fickle needs for inputs and maintenance. Because these plants are permanent, tilling is all but eliminated.
The green revolution with its world-changing chemicals born out of the world wars led to a boom in yields, and has fed the world for the past century. But with our changing climate, and the obvious destructiveness of industrial farming (runoff, land use change and deforestation, emissions from tilling, emissions from chemical production and transportation), it’s pretty clear we need a new model.
If you look at my post history, I recently linked to The Carbon Farming Solution — it’s fascinating and phenomenally well sourced. There’s an active push to develop perennials to replace many of our staple crops. This is, er, fertile ground for research.
The subtitle of the book, A Permanent Agriculture, inspired Permaculture — a niche but growing group of farmers who look towards perennial crops with their deep root systems, and less fickle needs for inputs and maintenance. Because these plants are permanent, tilling is all but eliminated.
The green revolution with its world-changing chemicals born out of the world wars led to a boom in yields, and has fed the world for the past century. But with our changing climate, and the obvious destructiveness of industrial farming (runoff, land use change and deforestation, emissions from tilling, emissions from chemical production and transportation), it’s pretty clear we need a new model.
If you look at my post history, I recently linked to The Carbon Farming Solution — it’s fascinating and phenomenally well sourced. There’s an active push to develop perennials to replace many of our staple crops. This is, er, fertile ground for research.