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Yes! Is there anyone in the industrial farming industry that's actually pursuing industrial scale polyculture technology? Monoculture is not nature and is not

by cracell 13y ago

Yes! Is there anyone in the industrial farming industry that's actually pursuing industrial scale polyculture technology? Monoculture is not nature and is not just not how plants evolved to grow. We can continue to force it as we have been but that obviously isn't working all that well.

kvb 13y ago
Define "isn't working that well". Are we not exceeding historical standards for agricultural productivity?
- mikeyouse 13y ago
  Not OP, but you're completely correct. Here's the wheat yield per hectare: http://www.earth-policy.org/images/uploads/graphs_tables/update92_yields.PNG http://www.earth-policy.org/images/uploads/graphs_tables/upd... And corn bushels per acre: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lvcQDaR56xg/Trfc71LwF3I/AAAAAAAAQKs/KKi6Ng03gVU/s1600/corn.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lvcQDaR56xg/Trfc71LwF3I/AAAAAAAAQK... Genetic engineering, as well as more traditional agriculture knowledge, has hugely improved productivity.
araes 13y ago
Actually, the Chinese, who naturally have serious concerns about feeding a billion+ people, have been looking at this for a while. They actually had some fairly promising results for test farms and plots. However, its still pretty small scale by industrial standards. Official paper: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v406/n6797/abs/406718a0.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v406/n6797/abs/406718a0... Full text alt: http://www.mindfully.org/GE/Rice-Diversity-Yield.htm http://www.mindfully.org/GE/Rice-Diversity-Yield.htm Polyculture ag. production's not a bad idea, and it obviously can improve yields under the right conditions, but to be widely adopted it either needs top down advocacy from a larger body (Gov) or be so compelling economically that individuals / companies push for and adopt it at the personal level. Yields are one thing, but there is also the additional logistical difficulty, and cost, that comes from planting many different crops. Particularly tough when you're talking about some midwest, intensive crop farming, where machinery, layouts, and storage have been designed and optimized for monoculture operations over literally millions of acres. Adapting those operations while maintaining economies of scale is one of the greatest hurdles. Also, while folks sometimes decry our farming, America isn't as bad as we often make it out to be, and many areas do significantly mix crops. Example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crops_Kansas_AST_20010624.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crops_Kansas_AST_20010624.... Shows fields of wheat, sorghum, corn, and sections left fallow that are fairly well mixed in Kansas.
- ensignavenger 13y ago
  This is the most excellent comment on this thread! Thank you for the links! To add to the last part, living in rural Southwest Missouri, I see a great deal of diversity among our local agriculture- from rice to wheat to cows and corn, and trees (Black Walnuts are a major part of my local economy).

by cracell 13y ago

kvb 13y ago

Define "isn't working that well". Are we not exceeding historical standards for agricultural productivity?

mikeyouse 13y ago
Not OP, but you're completely correct. Here's the wheat yield per hectare: http://www.earth-policy.org/images/uploads/graphs_tables/update92_yields.PNG http://www.earth-policy.org/images/uploads/graphs_tables/upd... And corn bushels per acre: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lvcQDaR56xg/Trfc71LwF3I/AAAAAAAAQKs/KKi6Ng03gVU/s1600/corn.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lvcQDaR56xg/Trfc71LwF3I/AAAAAAAAQK... Genetic engineering, as well as more traditional agriculture knowledge, has hugely improved productivity.

araes 13y ago

Actually, the Chinese, who naturally have serious concerns about feeding a billion+ people, have been looking at this for a while. They actually had some fairly promising results for test farms and plots. However, its still pretty small scale by industrial standards. Official paper: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v406/n6797/abs/406718a0.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v406/n6797/abs/406718a0... Full text alt: http://www.mindfully.org/GE/Rice-Diversity-Yield.htm http://www.mindfully.org/GE/Rice-Diversity-Yield.htm Polyculture ag. production's not a bad idea, and it obviously can improve yields under the right conditions, but to be widely adopted it either needs top down advocacy from a larger body (Gov) or be so compelling economically that individuals / companies push for and adopt it at the personal level. Yields are one thing, but there is also the additional logistical difficulty, and cost, that comes from planting many different crops. Particularly tough when you're talking about some midwest, intensive crop farming, where machinery, layouts, and storage have been designed and optimized for monoculture operations over literally millions of acres. Adapting those operations while maintaining economies of scale is one of the greatest hurdles. Also, while folks sometimes decry our farming, America isn't as bad as we often make it out to be, and many areas do significantly mix crops. Example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crops_Kansas_AST_20010624.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crops_Kansas_AST_20010624.... Shows fields of wheat, sorghum, corn, and sections left fallow that are fairly well mixed in Kansas.

ensignavenger 13y ago
This is the most excellent comment on this thread! Thank you for the links! To add to the last part, living in rural Southwest Missouri, I see a great deal of diversity among our local agriculture- from rice to wheat to cows and corn, and trees (Black Walnuts are a major part of my local economy).