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You described the problem well, but missed another part of the problem, which is that mechanized monoculture usually turns over the soil, destructing the humus
by southerntofu 5y ago
You described the problem well, but missed another part of the problem, which is that mechanized monoculture usually turns over the soil, destructing the humus in the process, which is home to all sorts of micro-organic life and helps prevent the soil from turning into a desert (as we see happening now across the world where mechanized/chemical monocultures have been around for decades).
At least that's my understanding from the little i read about permaculture, but i have no specific knowledge of that field so please correct me if something is off.
- stinos 5y agoYes, I just wanted to briefly highlight one specific problem (fertilizer), but indeed there are many more problems leading to the biodiversity crisis; soil turning being just another piece of the puzzle. And the way it gets typcially used in agro-industry does in turn have even more negative consequences then what you mention (which as far as I'm aware is correct); erosion for instance is getting a serious problem in some places. Combined with heavy sustained percipation in areas which don't usually see that (also as a result of climate change) it can lead to the complete topsoil just flooding away. And then more fertilizer is needed to make the land useful again, while the part which flooded away is fertlizing/polluting downstream areas. And so on, and so on. There's quite a lot of these chains/cycles all contrbuting to, in the most pessimistic view, a man-made complete downgrade of the whole planet.