Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

These issues with industrial agriculture outlined below are dealt with by
various types of biointensive growing, or whatever name we want to call it.
The issues of water and soil, land for food production, energy, as well as
financial viability are handled by low cost, permanent, no-till, organic
mulched beds, double cropping, season extension techniques, and retailing
for local consumption. It doesn't need government action, votes, more
scientists, or foundation funding. It's doable by millions of people who
aren't experts.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net


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

On 12/19/2007 at 7:09 PM TradingPostPaul wrote:

>Current food production system due for collapse
>http://www.i-sis.org.uk/SustainableWorldInitiativeF.php
>
>World grain yield fell for four successive years from 2000 to 2003,
>bringing reserves to the lowest in thirty years. The situation has not
>improved despite a 'bumper' harvest in 2004, which was just enough to
>satisfy world consumption.
>
>In too many food production regions of the world, conventional farming
>practices have severely depleted the underground water to the point where
>rivers and lakes have dried out, topsoil has been eroded away, and wild
>life decimated. At the same time, world oil production may have passed its
>peak; oil price hit a record high of US$58 a barrel on 4 April 2005, and
is
>expected to top US$100 within two years. This spells looming disaster for
>conventional industrial agriculture, which is heavily dependent on both
oil
>and water. The true costs of our current food production system are
>becoming all too clear (see Box 1).
>
>Box 1
>True costs of industrial food production system
>
>    * 1 000 tonnes of water are consumed to produce one tonne of grain
>
>    * 10 energy units are spent for every energy unit of food on our
dinner
>table
>
>    * 1 000 energy units are used for every energy unit of processed food
>
>    * 17% of the total energy use in the United States goes into food
>production & distribution, accounting for more than 20% of all transport
>within the country; this excludes energy used in import & export
>
>    * 12.5 energy units are wasted for every energy unit of food
>transported per thousand air-miles
>
>    * 20% of all greenhouse gases in the world come from current
>agriculture
>
>    * US$318 billion of taxpayer's money was spent to subsidize
agriculture
>in OECD countries in 2002, while more than 2 billion subsistence farmers
in
>developing countries tried to survive on $2 a day
>
>    * 90% of the agricultural subsidies benefit corporations and big
>farmers growing food for export; while 500 family farms close down every
>week in the United States
>
>    * Subsidized surplus food dumped on developing countries creates
>poverty, hunger and homelessness on a massive scale
>
>Getting our food production sustainable is the most urgent task for
>humanity; it is also the key to delivering health, ameliorating the worst
>effects of climate change and saving the planet from destructive
>exploitation. The benefits of sustainable food production systems are also
>becoming evident (see Box 2).
>Box 2
>Some benefits of sustainable food production systems
>
>    * 2- to 10-fold energy saving on switching to low-input/organic
>agriculture
>
>    * 5 to 15% global fossil fuel emissions offset by sequestration of
>carbon in organically managed soil
>
>    * 50 to 92% reduction in carbon dioxide emission from the soil on
>switching from conventional tillage to no-till agriculture
>
>    * 5 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission disappear with every tonne of
>nitrogen fertilizer phased out
>
>    * 2-3-fold increase in crop yield using compost in Ethiopia,
>outperforming chemical fertilizers
>
>    * Organic farming performs as well or slightly better than
conventional
>industrial farming in the US
>
>    * Small farms are 2 to 10 times more productive than larger farms
>
>    * Organic farms support significantly more birds, bats, invertebrates
>and wild plants than conventional farm in Europe
>
>    * Organic foods contain more vitamins, minerals and other
>micronutrients than conventionally produced foods
>
>    * 1 000 or more community-supported farms across US and Canada bring
>$36m income per year directly to the farms
>
>    * £50-78m go directly into the pocket of farmers trading in some 200
>established local farmers' markets in the UK
>
>    * Buying food in local farmers' market generates twice as much for the
>local economy than buying food in supermarkets chains
>
>    * Money spent with a local supplier is worth four times as much as
>money spent with non-local supplier
>
>The Independent Science Panel (ISP) and the Institute of Science in
Society
>(ISIS) are launching this Sustainable World initiative to engage with all
>sectors of civil society to make our food production system truly
>sustainable.
>
>We are convening a special ISP group on Sustainable Agriculture (ISP-SA) -
>currently 18 strong - and a task force of sponsoring organizations and
>individuals who will make direct input into a comprehensive report on
>sustainable agriculture at the end of a year. The report will include a
>series of recommendations for government and inter-governmental agencies
on
>the social, economic and political policy and structural changes needed to
>implement a sustainable food production system.
>
>ISIS and ISP are in a unique position to draw these previously disparate
>strands together into a powerful scientific and social consensus. We have
>scientists in many disciplines working together and some of the scientists
>are competent across several disciplines. A majority of the scientists are
>already working with grass-roots organisations and local communities in
>both the developed and developing countries, or are supporting their
>activities in other ways.
>
>There will be a series of consultations (by post or e-mail) with our
>sponsors, and two to three working conferences throughout the year when
the
>report is being drafted, depending on finances available.
>