The challenge is when every problem becomes a hammer in search of a nail — corn and soy being the hammer in industrial farming. Industrial agriculture is pheno

The challenge is when every problem becomes a hammer in search of a nail — corn and soy being the hammer in industrial farming. Industrial agriculture is phenomenal, and a miracle of the 20th century. But at the same time, the negative externalities (to borrow a fifty cent phrase) have basically caught up with us. Monocultures are environmentally costly, and land use change is a major driver of climate change. Personally I’d love to see a patchwork of local, regional farms supplementing an ever larger share of the food supply. There’s appetite for this type of produce — wealthy suburbanites are more and more willing to spend extra for “organic”, as flawed as that term may be.