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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Rethinking soil

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: drwillhite@earthlink.net, livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Rethinking soil
  • Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2007 09:33:18 -0700


Great material. The work of Sir Albert Howard, Lady Eve Balfour and J.I.
Rodale is precisely what will be needed to build soil and promote healthy
food production as fossil fuels get too expensive and farmland keeps
degrading under factory farming. It's encouraging to see a place like the
Leopold Center pushing this.

Another reports in that winter newsletter caught my attention:

Traveling 'beyond food miles' crucial to local food efforts
http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/nwl/2007/2007-4-leoletter/miles.htm
“Food miles have been used as one of the arguments for eating locally
grown foods, because the assumption is that lower food miles mean lower
environmental impact,” Pirog said. “But when greenhouse gas emissions
are the indicator used to look at environmental impacts, food miles are not
a reliable indicator; you need to know the mode of transport, the fuel
efficiency of the transport, and the emissions generated across the entire
food chain.”

As usual I have to add my $.02. To take it step further, look at more than
just greenhouse gas emissions; compare total energy use as well as nutrient
quality. Another aspect is whether "local" means Whole Paycheck buying
wholesale from the locals or growers retailing to local customers. Some
storebought isn't as fresh, tasty and nutritious as produce picked and sold
the same day. One last point: the varieties bred for cross country shipping
and mechanical handling don't come close to our locally grown, heirloom
varieties bred for taste and nutrition and handed down through generations.
If the kids won't eat the tasteless stuff from the store, then for them the
whole supply chain is a waste.

Another last point. If modern hybrids are bred to need all the chemicals
and NPK, then when fossil fuel-derived synthetics get too expensive or
scarce we'll have to turn back to tried and true heirlooms to grow in
natural soil. Let's stay ahead of the curve...

Will one of these sustainability centers study that?

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 12/31/2007 at 4:38 AM Douglas Willhite wrote:

>The Leopold Center folk's are our good allies in raising vital awareness
>of critical food production issues. Check out their newsletter here:
>http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/nwl/2007/2007-4-leoletter.pdf.
> Doug

Rethinking soil
> By Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann
>







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