4 ms·
Yup. Visited the US Midwest (Minnesota) recently and driving from the airport city to another smaller city, started going out into farmland. At first, it seem
by toss1 4y ago
Yup. Visited the US Midwest (Minnesota) recently and driving from the airport city to another smaller city, started going out into farmland.
At first, it seemed like a nice bucolic change. But soon, it took on a far darker aspect - this was a barren monoculture, as far as the eye could see, for dozens of miles. Where to the birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and insects live? The land is not only covered with chemicals to kill or repel any now-unwelcome residents, but there is simply no usable habitat (and a thin row of trees every mile or so doesn't count).
It was a truly dystopian experience, and more so by knowing that this goes on for thousands of square miles. This is not our grandparent's farmland anymore. This is not nature. This is one species becoming a literal plague on the planet. It is not sustainable.
- anon84873628 4y agoAt one point during the development of California agriculture, there was an idea that farms should only be 160 acres in size, since that was what was manageable and profitable for a smallholder family. I wonder what the land would be like if we had managed to enforce that. There would probably be more crop diversity at least, and habitats in between the farms. Kind of like anti-trust enforcement for the land itself
- willnonya 4y agoThe only thing you can know for sure is that it would have driven up prices and reduced supply.
- toss1 4y agoNonsense It could have just as easily driven innovation towards efficiently working those kinds of plots, reduced topsoil loss and degradation (reducing fertilizer costs), reduced requirements for pesticides (lower costs again), and improved yields driving down prices. Especially now with accelerating agri-robotics developments, mid-sized farms like that can take best advantage. That kind of comment shows that you are using zero knowledge of growing, farming, or that complexities of soil chemistry and soil biology even exist. Not helpful. If you have some such actual knowledge, show some. Sheesh.
- willnonya 4y agoThere is certainly more I could learn about soil chemistry and biology. Jaut like there seems to be plenty more you could learn about basic economics and market psychology.
- toss1 4y agoWow, would have been brilliant. (thx for the info)
- fleddr 4y agoYes, we call them billiard sheets. People for leisure cycle through these areas and thoroughly enjoy all this "greenery". A day spent in "nature". You're looking at poison and death.