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I said centuries, not the 1930s. Industrialization culture upended many tried and true practices that had been used for a millennium and not all of their replac

I said centuries, not the 1930s. Industrialization culture upended many tried and true practices that had been used for a millennium and not all of their replacements are equally sustainable, even if they are more efficient in the short term. The best thing society could do for itself is stop obsessing over growth-seeking and find a way to live sustainably again.

bryanlarsen 4y ago
Farms in the 1930s were still mostly animal powered and used the same techniques that have been used for thousands of years. From the perspective of the soil, "industrial agriculture" means the plough and monoculture, both of which have been around for over 5000 years. Any replacement for industrial agriculture has to feed 7 billion people without raising prices significantly. Good luck with that.
- flangola7 4y ago
  That's wrong and obviously so. Established farming practices did not work for 5000 years and then suddenly stop working in the past century. The practices themselves changed. If you want something to search up, there's the increasingly common term "peak fertilizer." > Any replacement for industrial agriculture has to feed 7 billion people without raising prices significantly. Good luck with that. It's 8 billion now. The single most important thing that can be done in that arena is curtail meat consumption. Calories-per-acre are several times higher when the crops are used to feed humans directly rather than the inefficient roundabout of feeding animals then feeding the animals to humans. We will both increase our total food supply and reduce the need for tilling and artificial soil fertilization without having to add a single acre of cropfield. Crops also require much fewer resources (water, electricity, human labor, land area, etc.) to produce and manage than livestock, and do not emit methane.
  - bryanlarsen 4y ago
    Historical breadbaskets such as the Middle East, Egypt, Ethiopia and Mexico did not lose that status in the past 100 years, nor were they destroyed by fertilizer. Today, the breadbaskets of the world are places like North America and the Ukraine that have been under cultivation for less than 500 years. Crop yields have increased substantially in the past century. Established farming practices did not suddenly stop working in the past century.

bryanlarsen 4y ago

Farms in the 1930s were still mostly animal powered and used the same techniques that have been used for thousands of years. From the perspective of the soil, "industrial agriculture" means the plough and monoculture, both of which have been around for over 5000 years. Any replacement for industrial agriculture has to feed 7 billion people without raising prices significantly. Good luck with that.

flangola7 4y ago
That's wrong and obviously so. Established farming practices did not work for 5000 years and then suddenly stop working in the past century. The practices themselves changed. If you want something to search up, there's the increasingly common term "peak fertilizer." > Any replacement for industrial agriculture has to feed 7 billion people without raising prices significantly. Good luck with that. It's 8 billion now. The single most important thing that can be done in that arena is curtail meat consumption. Calories-per-acre are several times higher when the crops are used to feed humans directly rather than the inefficient roundabout of feeding animals then feeding the animals to humans. We will both increase our total food supply and reduce the need for tilling and artificial soil fertilization without having to add a single acre of cropfield. Crops also require much fewer resources (water, electricity, human labor, land area, etc.) to produce and manage than livestock, and do not emit methane.
- bryanlarsen 4y ago
  Historical breadbaskets such as the Middle East, Egypt, Ethiopia and Mexico did not lose that status in the past 100 years, nor were they destroyed by fertilizer. Today, the breadbaskets of the world are places like North America and the Ukraine that have been under cultivation for less than 500 years. Crop yields have increased substantially in the past century. Established farming practices did not suddenly stop working in the past century.