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>Isn't the issue that the arable land gets destroyed using the current practices The changes you are citing are miniscule. A rounding error. Older methods abs

>Isn't the issue that the arable land gets destroyed using the current practices The changes you are citing are miniscule. A rounding error. Older methods absolutely destroyed arable land because they had no robust method of replacing what the crops took besides manure. For example, in the US, as soil east-coast farms were depleted by intensive farming in the 1700s and 1800s, people struck out west for fresh soil. This culminated in the dust-bowl era, and a rethinking of farm management. With modern fertilizer and testing, farmers can replace and renew their soil in detail with the specific macro and micronutrients which are lacking. Furthermore, no-till methods keep the soil anchored in place while more advanced methods of manure and residue use allow for building up organic matter. There isn't any more land. Farmers are no longer migrant. It is in their bests interests to protect the vitality of their soil, and they are doing that.

modo_mario 6y ago
I do wonder tho. Are they retaining enough of the phosphates they use with those actions. It still seems like one of those issues that's ignored too much because sources drying up prices going up is still one of those distant future things but i don't know enough bout what's being done.
- bluGill 6y ago
  Phosphates are a chemical, easy to add if needed - for a price. Many soils have far more than needed, so the farmer won't add more. 30 years ago farmers never measured sulfur content of their soils - acid rain replenished it - now the coal has cleaned up their emissions farmers buy sulfur. Farming is still a learning game. When John Deere bought a tractor company they wrote a letter (in 1918) to their dealers stating more or less that tractors are an interesting fad, but the company is well aware that the horse drawn plow will forever be the backbone of the American farm. Note that I said for a price. Farmers who buy that stuff and let it run off lose money in the long run and go bankrupt.
KaiserPro 6y ago
by that logic, everyone in the "old world" would have stopped farming in 1100/1500. Until about 1870 it wasn't possible to "intensively" farm land. Intensive requires mechanisation. Practically that requires internal combustion engines. Intensive farming started when tractors became cheap enough for everyone to use. As soon as it was practical to plough hundreds of acres in a day, thats when "intensive" was a thing. In the US thats roughly the 20s. The second revolution was cheap pesticides with short half-lives. That was Glyphosate in the 70s.

modo_mario 6y ago

I do wonder tho. Are they retaining enough of the phosphates they use with those actions. It still seems like one of those issues that's ignored too much because sources drying up prices going up is still one of those distant future things but i don't know enough bout what's being done.

bluGill 6y ago
Phosphates are a chemical, easy to add if needed - for a price. Many soils have far more than needed, so the farmer won't add more. 30 years ago farmers never measured sulfur content of their soils - acid rain replenished it - now the coal has cleaned up their emissions farmers buy sulfur. Farming is still a learning game. When John Deere bought a tractor company they wrote a letter (in 1918) to their dealers stating more or less that tractors are an interesting fad, but the company is well aware that the horse drawn plow will forever be the backbone of the American farm. Note that I said for a price. Farmers who buy that stuff and let it run off lose money in the long run and go bankrupt.

KaiserPro 6y ago

by that logic, everyone in the "old world" would have stopped farming in 1100/1500. Until about 1870 it wasn't possible to "intensively" farm land. Intensive requires mechanisation. Practically that requires internal combustion engines. Intensive farming started when tractors became cheap enough for everyone to use. As soon as it was practical to plough hundreds of acres in a day, thats when "intensive" was a thing. In the US thats roughly the 20s. The second revolution was cheap pesticides with short half-lives. That was Glyphosate in the 70s.