Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] The Skeptical Environmentalist

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] The Skeptical Environmentalist
  • Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:40:36 -0700


>From all I've ever heard voc ag just isn't producing farmers. And show
animals is a waste of school money. I've seen this since I took it in high
school in the '50s. I think you're right; new farmers are coming from
outside conventional agriculture. And I'm convinced conventional
agriculture, with resource depletion and rising costs, is going to reach a
tipping point and upend our whole food system at some point. All the forces
are in place.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 11/27/2007 at 5:27 PM Ken Hargesheimer wrote:

>Mostly I see it framed in a shortage of farmers
>
> This is the first time I have read such a statement. That is the most
>truthful statement I have read in years. I have been a substitute teacher
>for 11 years and many weeks spent in vocational ag. Lubbock is cotton.
>The high school where I sub has 702 students. 125 in VA. 2 "interested"
>in farming. But remember this: many, if not most, of the new comers to
>farming are from outside "agriculture". Most of the insiders have a
>mindset against organic and no-till. The wife of a cotton farmer told me
>"he will not stop plowing".
>
> Ken Hargesheimer
>
>
>"E. E. Mitchamore Jr" <emitch@att.net> wrote:
> Lomberg's book was printed in 2001, before the latest run-up in
>prices. Since my first email on the subject, I started his chapter on
>energy, and was amused to see his prediction of $17 - $30/bbl oil through
>2020. The current price increase doesn't make him a complete idiot, any
>more than Brown's earlier predictions of failure that did not materialize.
> It does, however, emphasize his assumption of continued energy
>availability for agriculture. That seems unlikely, if not because of
>absolute scarcity, then because of our crazy economy.
>
> Is there a good analysis of a global transition to sustainable
>agriculture? Mostly I see it framed in a shortage of farmers, rather
>than a shortage of land, water, or anything else (though there are clearly
>concerns about all those things). It's a lot easier to see steps that we
>can take for ourselves and our families, but what about the world at
>large? Is there any possibility of a smooth transition? Looks like we're
>running full speed until some disaster intervenes.
>
SNIP







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page