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…or switch away from insanely inefficient (90% evaporation) center-pivot irrigation. Not to mention our practice of shunting rainwater off fields as fast as po

…or switch away from insanely inefficient (90% evaporation) center-pivot irrigation. Not to mention our practice of shunting rainwater off fields as fast as possible. This high-speed, high-runoff condition leads to soil erosion, failure to recharge aquifers, and really gives rise to the need for irrigation. Dynamically unstable monocultures are neither sustainable nor efficient. They're not even cost-optimal or land-optimal, merely labor-minimizing (most of the arable land in the US is controlled either directly or indirectly by conglomerates, who generally view labor as messy and undesirable). Again, dynamically unstable monocultures are neither sustainable nor efficient. Fortunately this means that when they inevitably collapse, we get wealthier as more efficient systems replace them.

maxerickson 13y ago
Can you point to an interpretation of the data here: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/agriculture/farms_and_farmland.html http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/agriculture/farm... that supports your 80%? Because when I interpret the data I end up at 'most acreage is owned by families, families that may have done some sort of incorporation'. I guess if you throw in some of the big forestry outfits you buy a lot of acres, but that perhaps indicates the need for a more precise phrasing or more interesting measure than arable (like, land used to produce food in the last 50 years, or something like that).
- jessaustin 13y ago
  I think what 'schiffern means to say is that 80% is farmed in corporate fashion, even if not literally by corporations. The families you're talking about have generally taken big loans to buy (or hire) big machinery and big fertilizer for their big farms. Some of that is the market talking, but much of it is big ag companies like Monsanto ensuring that corn and other subsidies stay in place [0], and their sharecro^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hcustomers can only farm in the manner that funnels all profits to the ag company. (Of course there are other family farmers who aren't like that, but they farm a small fraction of the acreage.) Apparently the Farm Bill that just passed the House is supposed to change this situation somewhat, but I'll believe that when and if I see it over the next decade or so. [0] http://www.yale.edu/sustainablefood/S9256YSF_farm_bill_s.pdf.pdf http://www.yale.edu/sustainablefood/S9256YSF_farm_bill_s.pdf...
  - maxerickson 13y ago
    That's an awful lot to dig out of the word conglomerate.
  - schiffern 13y ago
    Yep, that's exactly what I meant. Thanks for explaining it better than I could. ;)
- schiffern 13y ago
  Nope, and since it's a minor point I just fixed my post. The landowner is less important than the entity in control of what actually happens there, which in industrial farming is generally not the landowner but the seed, fertilizer, biocide, machinery, agricultural education, and financing institutes that they are beholden to.
Houshalter 13y ago
Serious question, what is more efficient than monoculture? I know there are downsides to monoculture but I wasn't aware there was another method that was more efficient. Even without taking labor costs into account, which you really should because that can be a very large cost, more than just "undesirable" (which isn't even true as lots of crops require lots of manual labor to harvest.) Perhaps with automation this cost can be brought down significantly though, so I really am curious what the optimal method would be.

maxerickson 13y ago

Can you point to an interpretation of the data here: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/agriculture/farms_and_farmland.html http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/agriculture/farm... that supports your 80%? Because when I interpret the data I end up at 'most acreage is owned by families, families that may have done some sort of incorporation'. I guess if you throw in some of the big forestry outfits you buy a lot of acres, but that perhaps indicates the need for a more precise phrasing or more interesting measure than arable (like, land used to produce food in the last 50 years, or something like that).

jessaustin 13y ago
I think what 'schiffern means to say is that 80% is farmed in corporate fashion, even if not literally by corporations. The families you're talking about have generally taken big loans to buy (or hire) big machinery and big fertilizer for their big farms. Some of that is the market talking, but much of it is big ag companies like Monsanto ensuring that corn and other subsidies stay in place [0], and their sharecro^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hcustomers can only farm in the manner that funnels all profits to the ag company. (Of course there are other family farmers who aren't like that, but they farm a small fraction of the acreage.) Apparently the Farm Bill that just passed the House is supposed to change this situation somewhat, but I'll believe that when and if I see it over the next decade or so. [0] http://www.yale.edu/sustainablefood/S9256YSF_farm_bill_s.pdf.pdf http://www.yale.edu/sustainablefood/S9256YSF_farm_bill_s.pdf...
- maxerickson 13y ago
  That's an awful lot to dig out of the word conglomerate.
- schiffern 13y ago
  Yep, that's exactly what I meant. Thanks for explaining it better than I could. ;)
schiffern 13y ago
Nope, and since it's a minor point I just fixed my post. The landowner is less important than the entity in control of what actually happens there, which in industrial farming is generally not the landowner but the seed, fertilizer, biocide, machinery, agricultural education, and financing institutes that they are beholden to.

Houshalter 13y ago

Serious question, what is more efficient than monoculture? I know there are downsides to monoculture but I wasn't aware there was another method that was more efficient. Even without taking labor costs into account, which you really should because that can be a very large cost, more than just "undesirable" (which isn't even true as lots of crops require lots of manual labor to harvest.) Perhaps with automation this cost can be brought down significantly though, so I really am curious what the optimal method would be.