Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Pedaling our bicycles and gear across the American West at a steady 12 miles an hour, my friend Neil and I have begun to fathom just how much land our society dedicates to growing food, particularly grains.
This week’s guest on Sea Change Radio, author Dean Kuipers, explores how farms get the money they need to grow the food we eat.
Let’s be clear from the outset: I’m no fan of conventional desalination.
“Agroecology applies the principles of ecology to the design and management of sustainable food systems.”
The old cliché of a mugger’s threat sums up well the choice before us in these times: "Your money or your life".
In other words, agriculture turned destructive not because of some intrinsic flaw within larger-scale, more sophisticated cultivation. It turned destructive for the same reason mining, conflict, grazing, or governance turned destructive.
Without serious efforts to stem the mining of groundwater, food production will decline.
Imagine if each tap that delivered water from the Colorado River – whether to a farm, a factory, or a home – suddenly went dry for a year. What would happen to the West’s economy?
A new conservation practice reduces cropland erosion to sustainable levels even on moderately sloping land: contoured strips within corn and bean fields, planted to native prairie grasses. The deep rooted grasses slow runoff, trapping suspended soil and nutrients. They also provide habitat for insects and wildlife.
We know enough right now to start doing biochar: making it, getting it into the soil, and getting it into the hands of “regular farmers”. We’ll improve as we go along, but just using what is now known, the farmers, soil, crops, and atmosphere will all benefit.
If you never thought ‘dirt’ could be interesting or ultra important, UNU’s Robert Blasiak recommends a fascinating book demonstrating how soil management has impacted the rise and fall of civilizations.
With water so tight in this part of the country, success depended on a remarkable degree of cooperation among an unlikely group of partners.
