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You are correct that your argument is a common one. There is also a common response - the invention and use of artificial fertilizers allowed us to dispense wit
by TaylorAlexander 3y ago
You are correct that your argument is a common one. There is also a common response - the invention and use of artificial fertilizers allowed us to dispense with good land use practices, hammer the land with chemicals to squeeze as much crop out of it as possible, and dramatically raise the amount of crop grown for meats and industrial outputs like corn syrup and ethanol. We have way more crop land than is required to feed our population a healthy diet, we are degrading our soil, and modern farming economics have become so dependent on industrial inputs that farmers in India have committed waves of suicide after becoming so indebted to Monsanto/Bayer that they are unable to imagine any future for themselves.
You are right that we are so dependent on artificial fertilizers that we cannot simply cease production tomorrow, but that only speaks to our dependence on them due to economic and social factors, not their inherent necessity to our ability to feed ourselves. Essentially no one is saying we should shut down all the factories tomorrow so the argument is a dead end.
What many people are saying however, is that we went very far down the wrong road, and we are paying the price today. We must figure out how to bring our farming practices back in to balance with ecology.
- ponector 3y agoIs it a wrong road? Ban on chemical fertilizers in Sri Lanka resulted in famine. Rice producer became rice importer.
- TaylorAlexander 3y agoI am not familiar with how that was implemented, but I can imagine many ways a forced transition could go poorly.
- for1nner 3y ago[flagged]
- TaylorAlexander 3y ago> Did you read his post? Thanks for backing me up. I am a woman tho.
- malfist 3y ago>hammer the land with chemicals Why does it matter if I'm putting syntheticly manufacturer nitrogen on my garden or if I'm putting the blood of farm animals, dried and powdered onto my crops? The end result is the same. Blood meal is just lower yield
- bobthepanda 3y agoExcess nitrogen does run off and tend to kill the river and marine ecosystems it concentrates in. The problem is aggravated by industrial amounts of fertilizer.
- malfist 3y agoBut what does it matter if the nitrogen is from blood meal or from synthetic fertilizer? It's all the same amount of nitrogen
- bobthepanda 3y agoIt isn’t? The blood meal is lower yield because it is less nitrogen.
- TaylorAlexander 3y agoMany of the nutrients in the soil in regenerative organic come from growing beneficial plants in rotation over a period of years. The practices improve soil quality to the point where additional nitrogen does not need to be added in bulk to the soil. They literally do not dump large amounts of nitrogen on the soil in a regenerative organic system. They have other ways to make sure the soil has the nutrients it needs.
- TaylorAlexander 3y agoA regenerative organic farming system and a chemical intensive farming process have many differences. Regenerative is not just "chemical intensive farming but with organic chemicals".
- mythrwy 3y ago