Food & Water

Which future should we prepare for, industrial or agrarian?

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The more Harrison Brown talks about the future of industrial society, the more unlikely it seems that it has a future. Brown is the author of a seminal book entitled “The Challenge of Man’s Future” which outlines the ecological predicament we find ourselves in today. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Brown’s book is that it was published in 1954 long before our predicament had taken its full shape and when there were only about 2.6 billion people on Earth.

More food, less lawn – save money with an edible landscaping plan

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I’ve seen it happen time and time again. People who are on a tight budget think they cannot afford to spend a lot of money on the landscaping; so they go to the nursery, buy a package of grass seed, and turn most of their yard into a large lawn. There are few things you can do, particularly in the West, that will cost you more over the long run.

Pasture: the foundation of garden farm success

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A sure way to tell the direction you should take in garden farming is to watch the trend in commercial farming and then do the opposite. Commercial farming has de-emphasized — and all but ignored in the corn belt — pasture and tree crop farming because these types of agriculture lack the ability to return quick and high-gross profits.

Creating bountiful yards with organic edible landscaping

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In a world where fertile soil is an endangered resource, millions of acres of our nation’s best agricultural soil are covered with ornamental shrubs and lawns. Soil can be brought into production for agriculture only at great economic and environmental cost. Why do we allow so much of what we have to remain unproductive?

The era of peak phosphorus is coming

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You probably heard of peak oil – the idea that global petroleum supplies are about to, or have, passed their peak. But have you ever heard of peak phosphorus? Probably not, but it’s something you’ll hear alot more about in years to come because when the earth’s phosphorus supplies run out, so too will food. It sounds like a doomsday scenario, but my guest today believes deposits of phosphorus could be depleted this century.