> We don't rely on topsoil, or care. Modern farming, especially since the fifties, is chemistry. The soil is merely a growing medium. We test it and add whateve

> We don't rely on topsoil, or care. Modern farming, especially since the fifties, is chemistry. The soil is merely a growing medium. We test it and add whatever is needed via petrochemical fertilizers. Better soil is better for the farmer, but far from necessary. I agree the article is hyperbolic, but there's a wealth of research showing that this approach has long-term negative consequences on soil health and the crops themselves, leading to long-term declines in yields. Not to mention the contamination of rivers and underground aquifers with nitrogen and potassium leading to widespread algal blooms deoxygenating rivers and leading to mass deaths in (literally) downstream aquatic ecosystems. One thing the industrial approach ignores entirely is the community of bacteria that live in symbiosis with plants. This includes both nitrogen-fixing bacteria (which presumably we bypass by just adding nitrogen directly). The better approach is to understand farming as part of greater ecosystem flows, and to work with the soil and not treat it as a barren Petri Dish.