Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["David Inglis" <mhcsa@verizon.net>]

Fair enough Dieter,

Like I said “I commend you for what you are doing.” There are many more paths than one to the top of the mountain and I am glad the view from yours is so pleasing.

 

What nature has not done before is support this many folk. My guess is one way or another that will sort itself out; that process has been going on for eons too. The modern epoch is unique in that there is essentially no new land, or at least insufficient, to move on to, or even conquer as our stewardship, or lack of stewardship, degrades the land we are on. This is essentially a new challenge.

 

I find the Grassland v forest issue interesting though I don’t know enough about the claims to even compare the two. My assumption had been that forest represents the optimal carbon sink but I am aware that it is an assumption and welcome the challenge to that idea [especially by those willing to reciprocate ]. That will be a Winter project.

I have farmed in  the Northern tier of Europe, California, Continental US and Maritime US and my observation of how soil OM and thus the soil ‘durability’ behaves is that it does not depend so much on how it came about [though it does differ ] but rather the current prevailing climatic conditions, especially in the soil and especially soil temperatures. The soil temperature and moisture level at which OM  formation exceeds breakdown is fairly narrow. In my opinion successful soil stewardship, using whatever tool or technique, depends on keeping the soil as close to this range for as long as possible  Trees can have a dramatic effect on soil temps and moisture levels both through shading and the reduction of surface wind speed even in the form of savanna. Cut all the trees down and the Springs dry up and, as you say Dieter, so does the grass

David

PS at the risk of opening a Pandora’s box. In a recent article in our local newspaper A local ‘Farm celebrity’ suggested that  "The thing is, you can't be a farmer and not believe in God,"

What do you folk think?

           

 

-----Original Message-----
From: livingontheland-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:livingontheland-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Dieter Brand
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2007 5:03 AM
To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Carbon Farmer

 

David,

 

You said it! “Nature has done it for eons.” We humans haven’t done

it even once, yet we think that we always know best how nature ought

to do its thing. The result is the sorry state of affaires we are in today.

But we keep on making the same mistake, people come up with

one clever idea after the other about how we can trick nature into

doing all kinds of things. There is always the next quick-fix to sort

out all the mistakes of the past. The bill for that will invariably have to

be paid some time in the future.

 

Regarding the issue at hand, I have nothing against subsoiling or Keyline.

I believe you if you tell me that your soil looks good, your grass is green

and your cows are happy. But looking good doesn’t tell us anything about

the quality of the humus produced. And the greenness of the grass is not yet

an indicator for the additional amount of CO2 sequestered, especially if

it isn’t offset against the additional amount of fuel consumed and the

amount of methane emitted.

 

Even if we admit that Keyline is the greatest thing that ever happened

to grassland, we are not going to convert the entire globe to grazing land

and start eating big chunks of beef for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There

are many places were this is simply not possible and not even desirable.

Agriculture has to improve soil fertility and make its contribution towards

reducing greenhouse gas emissions by converting to no-till and using cover

crops, fewer passes with fuel-gobbling monsters, less synthetic fertilizer and

techniques for avoiding methane emissions.

 

A one-sided preference for grassland and arguing against the merit of forests

is certainly not helpful. Looking at the fragility of the environmental envelop

in Australia or at the dust bowl in the US, and comparing these to soils in

Northern and Central Europe, which even after generations of deep ploughing

are holding up much better, suggests that the quality of the long term humus

produced by forests is of a different quality than that produced by grassland.

There is a place for both, but I think cattle farmers may also want to think

about the introduction of agroforestry trees into their landscape.

 

As to me, I don’t have to wait for eons to obtain results. By letting

nature have its share of native woody perennials and trees, I can

observe a difference in soil and vegetation every year. And regarding

CO2 sequestration, I have continuous cover for 12 months a year

even without being paid for it. There is nothing more anyone could

achieve. On this soil and in this climate, grassland goes dry for 6 months

a year. My neighbour feeds his cows cabbages and all kinds of stuff

because his 50 hectares (over 120 acres) of land aren’t enough for

sustaining 11 cows. I don’t know why he bothers, perhaps he loves

his cows, or perhaps the subsidies make it worthwhile, I don’t know.

Anyway, some of my grassland is still green when his fields have gone

dry for months.

 

I discovered by chance the importance of combining green annuals

with woody perennials. One of my fields, ploughed for wheat

production by the previous owner until about 12 years ago had

become completely overgrown by brambles, bushes and trees.

Clearing this field, I just cut everything (except for the trees)

and left the residues on the surface while all the roots remain

in the soil which was not disturbed. Grass and weeds now

dominate, but the brambles and bushes are still growing back.

This may be the only field in the whole region where grass stays

green for 12 months a year without irrigation. My neighbour,

who has a field with exactly the some soil on his side, ploughed

his grazing land every year under the mistaken impression that

ploughing increases fertility. His grass looks bad even during

the rainy season and goes completely dry in summer. I noticed

though, that he didn’t plough last year, he didn’t say a thing,

he just didn’t plough. Perhaps he had a look across the fence.

 

Dieter