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  • From: tom <tom AT honeychrome.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Cc: Clansgian AT wmconnect.com
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Globalism
  • Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2008 10:50:54 -0500


On Feb 24, 2008, at 10:14 AM, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:

....Because when you look up my farm on an
agricultural map, you find that the amount of agricultural land in this end
of the county (and for a 100 miles east) is zero. It is classified as marginal
forrest and so does not deduct from the pool of land at all......


Excellent points and post. The argument that organic/non-monoculture agriculture cannot possibly feed the world because there just isn't enough arable land really becomes tiresome, yet so many people pick it up and repeat it ad infinitum. As industrial chem-ag (so called 'traditional' or 'organic') becomes increasingly expensive to maintain, devoting more human labor to food production will become increasingly viable (and necessary), which will change the common definition of 'arable' land and upset the 'there just isn't enough arable land' equation. American suburban lawns occupy an area roughly the size of Indiana- that land is certainly not measured as agricultural, yet if the same amount of attention and labor devoted to now keeping that land a pristine carpet of grass were devoted to intensive and diversified horticulture (which it will if prices at the grocery store go up high enough/people get hungry enough) it would produce a not insignificant amount of food.




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