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Well-designed food forests and agroforestry systems can exceed the calorie production per acre of heavily mechanized and fertilized annual crops like corn, whil
by tfourb 4y ago
Well-designed food forests and agroforestry systems can exceed the calorie production per acre of heavily mechanized and fertilized annual crops like corn, while providing tons more actual nutrition and additional services like wood, good quality soil, etc. with little or no fossil-fuel-based inputs. Check out i.e. Mark Shepard (New Forest Farm) and Martin Crawford (Agroforestry Research Trust) for examples.
- seunosewa 4y agoIf this was true, commercial farmers would probably be doing it already. They tend to rapidly adopt anything that improves yield.
- fogzen 4y agoThey have little incentive since non-financial externalities are not accounted for in commercial agriculture. In other words, we aren’t accounting for the costs of topsoil and ecosystem destruction, or greenhouse gases from fertilizer and pesticide production. Industrial agriculture has increased yield mostly via unsustainable external inputs: fertilizer, pesticides, and motorized machines (oil, oil, and more oil).