3 ms·

> GMOs just make it faster. No, GMOs will inherently change the game in the long term. We'll be able to truly engineer life to be an optimal food supply, e.g.

by avar 10y ago

> GMOs just make it faster. No, GMOs will inherently change the game in the long term. We'll be able to truly engineer life to be an optimal food supply, e.g. there's no inherent reason there can't be a plant that can sit in your window, withstand freezing temperatures, and grow both tomatoes, avocados and bananas. Some versions of this are already happening with GMO food, they're surgically introducing features to these plants that wouldn't be doable with just mutation farming. > I can't see a combine getting up there, can you? No, but that was my point. The author of the article is railing against industrialized farming and then producing a counterexample of some farm in Austria that clearly isn't and can't be mechanized easily. That's clearly not something you can use as a rebuke to current industrialized farming, one feeds the world, another is a backyard hobby project. > They can't afford mechanisation, so have to manually plough and weed[...] Yes, and the solution to this is to enrich their societies, starting with the introduction of modern farming practices. No need to start doing something revolutionary we haven't tried in the west, just introduce them to mechanized farming. > Yes, they can be more drought resistant, but why are there droughts? [...] Even if we perfectly manage everything else GMOs would still be a great tool to expand the use of our land for farming. E.g. you could grow some cactus in the middle of the Sahara that was easily edible. > Farming is fucking complex, I'd suggest you go and work on a permaculture and "modern" farm, to see just what's required. And I suggest that if you're trying to make some point here about some hidden knowledge I'm obviously missing and could only acquire through hands-on experience you just come out and point that out, rather than effectively make an ad-hominem argument by proxy.

KaiserPro 10y ago
I take your last point, I apologise. So, the problem with permaculture, its that they like to share techniques but not the results in any meaningful way. There are some places that do proper scientific studies, but they are often drowned out by the "beardy weirdies" Its very difficult to asses which technique is worth trying. However, the take away is that you make nature do most of the work. For example mixing crops in the same field, This increases yields in some cases, and reduces the need for weeding (mechanical or not) in others. You also have to take care of the soil, some crops are nitrogen fixers, some are not. Other leave nutrients, some take them away. One example still in use is beans. You'll see bean crops rotting in the ground after harvest, this is so that the root nodules release the nitrogen they fix during life. Traditionally, you'd rotate the usage of a field, sometimes wheat, sometimes beet, potatoes, and then lay to grass and get the animals to shit all over it. However that doesn't work everywhere. Some places, laying to grass means you loose half your soil. But, with average field sizes growing, and subsidies, it means its often not practical to run animals over it. plus it can be a massive hit in profits, having a whole field devoted to animals. Then there is drainage. Pesticides kill the soil. I know that sounds stupid, but the soil is a massive sprawling savannah of microbes, beetles, fungii, worms, bacteria, and things not yet known to science. Why is that important? because a) it provides a way of transmuting stuff to nutirents, and b) it makes a soft, water retaining self regulating temperature controlled sponge. You can make some your self. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta if you are feeling advances. Or more simply, take one weeks food waste (a good mix of wet and or fibrous material) shove in cardboard box in the corner somewhere, not to hot or cold. leave for a few months (if you're lucky it'll generate heat) then take the rich dark odourless compost, and grow something in it. as a control, take sand, and use which ever balanced fertiliser liquid you like. sorry that was rambling. However, does that help in any way?

by avar 10y ago

KaiserPro 10y ago

I take your last point, I apologise. So, the problem with permaculture, its that they like to share techniques but not the results in any meaningful way. There are some places that do proper scientific studies, but they are often drowned out by the "beardy weirdies" Its very difficult to asses which technique is worth trying. However, the take away is that you make nature do most of the work. For example mixing crops in the same field, This increases yields in some cases, and reduces the need for weeding (mechanical or not) in others. You also have to take care of the soil, some crops are nitrogen fixers, some are not. Other leave nutrients, some take them away. One example still in use is beans. You'll see bean crops rotting in the ground after harvest, this is so that the root nodules release the nitrogen they fix during life. Traditionally, you'd rotate the usage of a field, sometimes wheat, sometimes beet, potatoes, and then lay to grass and get the animals to shit all over it. However that doesn't work everywhere. Some places, laying to grass means you loose half your soil. But, with average field sizes growing, and subsidies, it means its often not practical to run animals over it. plus it can be a massive hit in profits, having a whole field devoted to animals. Then there is drainage. Pesticides kill the soil. I know that sounds stupid, but the soil is a massive sprawling savannah of microbes, beetles, fungii, worms, bacteria, and things not yet known to science. Why is that important? because a) it provides a way of transmuting stuff to nutirents, and b) it makes a soft, water retaining self regulating temperature controlled sponge. You can make some your self. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta if you are feeling advances. Or more simply, take one weeks food waste (a good mix of wet and or fibrous material) shove in cardboard box in the corner somewhere, not to hot or cold. leave for a few months (if you're lucky it'll generate heat) then take the rich dark odourless compost, and grow something in it. as a control, take sand, and use which ever balanced fertiliser liquid you like. sorry that was rambling. However, does that help in any way?