Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["E. E. Mitchamore Jr" <emitch@att.net>]

But why do "traditional" farmers feel that they can no longer continue with that tradition?  What I read most often is that they move to the cities "to escape the grinding poverty of subsistence farming".

 

E. E. "Mitch" Mitchamore
www.hillcountrynatives.biz

----- Original Message -----

From: Ken Hargesheimer

To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 7:15 PM

Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Populations

The reason it has never been raised because I believe it is not true.  As income increases, population goes down over time. 

 

The population of shanty towns and cities explode because the subsistence farmers cannot compete with below cost of production prices that corn, etc sells for.  They move to the city. They live on corn, beans, rice, cassava/yucca, etc.  With prices increasing, probably cannot afford that now. 

 

Farmers in Honduras who adopted organic, no-till farming have not moved to the city because they can make a decent living on their farms.  I have visited them and seen it for myself.  It is the only way to stop migration to the cities. 

 

Ken Hargesheimer

Daniel Conine <dconine@bertramwireless.com> wrote:

One of the issues that I have never seen raised is that the prosperity of the Western countries directly increases the populations of the Third World. 

 

Once they have money, their populations explode in shanty towns and cities, living on imported industrialized foods.

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