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Nothing is going to get better until we understand that "yield" isn't just the produce harvested. Synthetic fertilizer yields the most pounds of produce, but th
by davexunit 6y ago
Nothing is going to get better until we understand that "yield" isn't just the produce harvested. Synthetic fertilizer yields the most pounds of produce, but the yields of nutrient-dense food, soil microbes, insects, atmospheric carbon sequestration, etc. are all abysmal. Farmers farm right up against waterways which they then pollute with fertilizer runoff because they have to maximize output at all costs. We're systematically killing our soils because capitalism allows for nothing else.
- kickout 6y agoThat's the current incentive structure for better or worse. Someone (maybe the USDA, maybe SV) needs to pony up money to compete with using that ground for cropland. In an ideal scenario, the ground surrounding waterways should be easily worth $300/acre (which enables it to compete with row crop rental prices). Problem is people laugh at that concept and then complain we have overproduction, dwindling soil health, and poor water quality.
- davexunit 6y agoI do laugh at the idea that some more capitalism is the solution. In an ideal scenario, the ground surrounding waterways would be unowned wild riparian buffers that prevent erosion and provide long stretches of contiguous habitat for animals.
- chordalkeyboard 6y agoyeah but the people deprived of the opportunity to develop that land seem to prefer a system where they have opportunities rather than a system where entrenched interests use the power of the state to inhibit anyone from competing. In an ideal scenario agriculture would not have been discovered but once it was then it became necessary to compete or be assimilated.
- Game_Ender 6y agoUsing less labor to grow food is what makes society productive enough for scientific and medical research. Those in turn address common public health issues and create more labor saving technologies allowing people to do things that they enjoy.
- chordalkeyboard 6y agoYes, in essence, capitalism. But the discussion was about regulating the use of undeveloped land (“idle capital”) and that disproportionately benefits those in society who already own land (“capital”).
- Igelau 6y ago> Synthetic fertilizer yields the most pounds of produce, but the yields of nutrient-dense food, soil microbes, insects, atmospheric carbon sequestration, etc. are all abysmal. Please explain how synthetic fertilizer reduces the yield of nutrient dense food. I can't find anything to support this in my cursory searches.
- davexunit 6y agoAlong with the synthetic fertilizer comes other interests in our industrialized food system: Plant varieties are bred and grown for their shelf life, not their nutritional density or taste. Here in the US our food comes half way across the country (or all the way if it was grown in California and you live on the east coast) to get to a supermarket so it needs to stay good for a long time. And that's why we end up with cheap, flavorless iceberg lettuce that has no real nutrition in it. The greens worth eating are expensive.
- estsauver 6y agoIt’s worth noting that the question on yields is actually pretty orthogonal to the question of taste. You can optimize for taste and yield pretty effectively, but humans generally use yield and appearance as what we pick our veggies on. It’s also really easy to make organic and untasty things, as any struggling gardener will tell you. :)
- Devils-Avocado 6y agoThe underlying factor here is population. A lower population - through reduced immigration and voluntary euthanasia for the aged - allows a better quality of life for each individual, and more farmland and nutrients per capita.
- davexunit 6y agoFuck off fascist.