Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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The Scoop On Dirt (Part II)
Why We Should all Worship the Ground We Walk On

by Tamsyn Jones

Factory Farming and Feed Lots

Another side effect of modern agribusiness is that instead of raising
livestock and crops together, animals are now raised on enormous Confined
Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), while crops are mass-produced on
separate farms. Concentrating so many heavy-hoofed animals in a relatively
small space wreaks havoc on soil health, ruining its porous structure.
Excess animal waste over-fertilizes soils, and pollutes the environment.

Once upon a time, small farms used the manure generated by their animals
to naturally fertilize their crops. Today, however, it is too costly to
transport the mass quantities of manure generated on CAFOs to the big
crop-producing farms. As a result, these farms make heavy use of synthetic
fertilizers in order to support high-intensity monocrops, while the CAFOs
generate huge amounts of animal waste, which eventually pollutes the
surrounding land.

Some would argue that commercialized agriculture has been necessary to
feed the world’s growing population, and that as a result, it has been
beneficial to society. While this is true in some respects—particularly
in
our ability to supply starving people in developing nations with food, and
in our ability to allow cities to grow even as farmland has been
shrinking—agribusiness has, on the whole, fostered some disturbing social
and environmental trends. In the long run, dramatic increases in crop
yields may have disastrous implications.

Minowa likens the current state of modern agriculture to speeding up on
the highway. “People have their foot on the pedal and don’t see how
much
gas they’re using,” he says. “But intensive agriculture is disrupting
the
microorganism and nutrient ratios in soil, and causing a build-up of
pesticides.” At some point, the system may run out of gas and crash.

Some Solutions

Fortunately, there are measures we can take today to help save our soil.
Educating farmers in the U.S. and abroad about the damaging effects of
intensive agriculture and over-application of synthetic fertilizers and
pesticides is a good place to start.

Sustainable Farm Management

Progressive farmers can reduce damage to soils by reducing tillage,
managing irrigation to minimize water loss (and hence salt build-up from
evaporation) and planting cover crops. Planting wind barriers on hillsides
(also known as “shelterbelts”) and maintaining healthy grass cover on
pastures can help prevent erosion. If streams run through a farm property,
planting grassed waterways along the stream banks can help trap eroded
sediment and bind it up, keeping it from entering and polluting larger
water bodies.

Tillage, a standard procedure during planting season, is extremely
damaging to soils over time. While it has historically helped increase
plant yields, it also fosters erosion and breakdown of organic matter by
killing worms, chopping up residual root and plant parts, and disrupting
the microbe community. Ultimately, farmers are forced to make up for
declining soil fertility by relying on synthetic fertilizers.

No-till has been touted as one alternative, but it has drawbacks of its
own. Hepperly says that no-till often leads to greater rather than less
pesticide use (about four times as much, he says), and ends up costing
farmers more money. Because of this, the pesticide industry is one of the
bigger proponents of no-till. “Is tillage the lesser evil, or reduced
pesticides the lesser evil?” Hepperly asks. He argues that a combination
of no-till for some crops and tillage for others will help reduce both
damage to soil structure and use of synthetic chemicals.

Pesticide use can be greatly reduced by adopting an integrated pest
management system, which relies on such practices as crop rotation (which
deters plant-specific pests from taking up long-term residence in soil)
and natural biological controls. Planting marigolds around tomato plants
in gardens to discourage pests is one such example. Many other plants or
insects have similar beneficial pest-deterring properties when intermixed
with agricultural crops. Jerry Bisson, an environmental compliance officer
with USAID, says his agency promotes developing world farmers using simple
technologies to improve land management. “Farmers can be taught to use
string, rock and wood as barriers, for example. They can see how they
benefit.”

The Organic Revolution

Renewed interest in organic and locally grown food has been a boon to
smaller, family-run farms with good soil husbandry.
© Digital Vision/Getty Images
Even without becoming organic farmers ourselves, we can do a lot to help
soils. Buying organic food is one of the first actions consumers can take
to support sound conservation practices. Organic agriculture is based on
the principle that healthy soil is the foundation of the food chain. In
order to be certified “organic” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA), stringent requirements must be met. As a result of these
standards, organic farms employ only natural fertilizers. Healthy
populations of soil microbes thrive on organic farms, and effects of
erosion and soil compaction are greatly minimized.

Supporting organic farming also tends to support strong local communities.
Mega-farms have no obligation to circulate their profits back into local
communities, and often don’t. Buying locally has the double effect of
encouraging investment in healthy towns and a healthy environment. Even if
organic goods aren’t from a local farm, buying them still sends a
powerful
message that sustainable soil is a national priority. That message seems
to be getting through: in March 2006, statistics showing a leap in organic
food sales caused Wal-Mart to announce plans to stock more than 400
organic items in its stores (see Currents, “High-Volume Organic,” this
issue).

While industrial agriculture currently dominates the market, it may not
remain king of the hill indefinitely. As the costs of oil and natural gas
go up, the price of fertilizers, a majority of which are fossil fuel
based, is also increasing. According to Yoder, the price of nitrogen
fertilizer has almost doubled in the last two years. Because mega-farms
rely so heavily on fertilizers, and then must pay for transport to
supermarkets scattered around the country or globe, these farms are seeing
costs skyrocket.

Organic farming is the fastest growing sector of the farm industry, and is
becoming increasingly profitable. Can organic farming achieve the same
high yields as conventional agriculture? For 25 years, the Rodale
Institute has been conducting a continuous experiment on its Pennsylvania
farm, comparing organic and conventional methods. Throughout the study,
the organic plots have repeatedly performed better than the conventional
plots, especially during severe weather events.

The Big Picture

There are deeper societal issues that need to be addressed when looking at
soil conservation on a global scale. First, urbanization needs to be
better managed. The wholesale conversion of rural lands to concrete
jungles consumes and degrades vast amounts of soil. In many places,
particularly much of the developing world, the roots of mass migration to
cities—poverty, war, desperation—need to be addressed. Franklin
suggests,
“The more small farmers have control over their land, the less likely
they’ll be to mine the soil.” In addition, cities can mitigate damage
to
soils by supporting low-impact development and construction of eco-roofs
and integrated parking lots.

Fundamentally, Hepperly believes people need to reestablish their
connection to the land. “We need people to grow something—tomatoes,
raspberries, flowers—so they understand why the land, returning soil to
its rightful place in the very center of our lives.   TAMSYN JONES is a
recent graduate of the University of Missouri at Columbia, currently
pursuing further study in Tasmania.

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CONTACTS

USAID
Phone: (202)712-4320

National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service
Phone: (800)346-9140

World Resources Institute
1709 New York Avenue
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: (202) 638-6300
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