Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

Ag chemicals and GMOs no match for advanced natural methods in beating famine
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/node/426

Agroecologically sound farming is better suited to meet the food needs of 
poor farmers around the world because builds soil productivity without 
purchased inputs.

Rather than changing the genetic make-up of plants to better use external 
inputs of fertilizer and pesticies—the conventional modern 
approach—agroecological farming seeks to manage local resources to create the 
optimum environment for the natural abilities of crops suited to the area.

In a dynamic poster presentation, Cornell University’s Norman Uphoff explains 
that science-based sustainable agriculture builds upon the most insights in 
the contemporary biological and ecological domains, capitalizing particularly 
on what is becoming known in the realms of soil biology and soil ecology.

He promotes the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) because it represents a 
strategy that enhances food production and contributes to food security while 
at the same time improving the natural resource base on which agriculture and 
other human activities, as well as life itself, depend. He says it also is 
accessible to the poor, offering them greater profitability, lower economic 
risk, improved environmental benefits and the ability to teach it to one 
another.

Full story
http://www.tropentag.de/2005/proceedings/node181.html