Say goodbye to Organic farming???

reply to post by JustSlowlyBackAway

True, but doesn't rotating crops help avoid soil depletion...that, and avoiding monoculture, which also helps avoid disease and pests. There's a reason that you don't see just one plant for acres in nature, there is more than one nutritional niche to be taken advantage of.

reply to post by Astyanax


I disagree. Farming as we conceive of it is unsustainable. But you are taking a grand approach, where, for example, people just lived in the major metropolises of the nations like New York, Chicago, Miami, LA and so forth and all the rest of the continent were converted to farm land.

In reality, a more evenly spaced approach would be much more viable, whereby the previous century's trend of rural > urban migration were reversed and more people sought living in the country, where people can spread out.

If we go back to the great depression and the mechanization of farming, it seems as though the whole scenario that played out was basically a fast-forward for the rural > urban shift.

Look at Detroit, where so much land has been vacated in the middle of what was once a sprawling city. I'm not trying to use Detroit as a "good" example, but rather a potentiality...of what could be done.

Also, has anyone ever stopped to think how much food is grown that ends up in the land fill? I'm not trying to make an argument for composting, though we're insane not to do it. I'm trying to make the argument that we really shouldn't need all that land.

And let's not just stop at the produce section of the grocery store, let's consider the monocultured production of corn...that's ridiculous. Corn has replaced many former viable products (or has been interjected as a "created necessity" in many recipes) and this has required mass acreage to be devoted to growing it.

Hell, why do we have to have lawns? They're useless wastes of water...maintaining a simple plant just to cut it down every week or two...how ridiculous, between the cost of the water, fertilizer and either lawn service or gas/electricity/time for your mower...what are we, insane? And sure, we all like pretty flowers, but many productive plants that have beneficial uses to humans are also aesthetically pleasing. Grow spices, aloe, fruit trees, veggies and so forth. And, if you're gonna bother, why not find out what species are native to your area and plant/encourage them. I live in South Florida and most people here do not realize that there are plants that are edible or useful that are from here, but no one really knows what they are because most people are implants from somewhere else who'd just assume plant some bougainvillea, Brazilian pepper or ficus in their yard.

Organics the last thing they want more chemicals the bettter !