I wish people would do their homework on a subject before calling accurate information dogma.
http://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/handle/2097/764
http://www.farmingandtheenvironment.org/
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/farm-business/budgets/summer-crops/dryland-ne/ne-dryland-maize-07-08.pdf
http://www.notill.org/past_conf/wc08/watson_dryland_article.pdf
Just four of hundreds available.
Ken Hargesheimer
--- On Fri, 7/4/08, Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] TxBee Dry Land Farming
To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Friday, July 4, 2008, 4:17 PM
|
I have tried to stay out of the discussion since it is driven by dogma rather than facts.
Without wanting to repeat my arguments that have been ignored too often, I would like to remind everyone that there is no method of no-till farming (and I’m talking farming not mulched gardening) for arid or semi-arid regions. Dry-land farming is practiced by millions of farmers in the arid regions of the World by ploughing the soil at the onset of the dry season so as to produce a dirt mulch that will very effectively conserve humidity. It is not possible to grow crops in these regions without ploughing.
Dieter
--- On Fri, 7/4/08, Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net> wrote:
From: Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net>
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] TxBee Dry Land Farming
To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Friday, July 4, 2008, 7:35 PM
I think you said it very well. Esp "If it doesn't have water for
maximum production, then putting extra money into labor and machinery won't
make it any more profitable."
paul tradingpost@lobo.net
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
On 7/4/2008 at 1:01 PM Dan Conine wrote:
>Hi Mark,
> I don't think much of the discussion seems to be getting where you
>intend to be. The lack of water is your key point. I think most of us
>have places with at least some water available as drip irrigation or
>ponding. I am reading Wendell Berry's book, "The Gift of Good
Land".
>There is a chapter on native peoples' dry land farming on the Mexican
>border that will probably interest you. The key is knowing your
>particular place. It may not seem farm-able to most of us here, but if
>you have the land, the idea is to understand what you can do with it.
>Trees or shrubs that hold the soil, plants that maximize available
>moisture, long fallow periods (some places in the Andes have 7 year
>fallow periods) in the rotation so that native plants can grow and build
>soil. Have you looked into the various methods of moisture capture from
>other dry lands (rock cairns, etc.)?
>One of the factors we all must consider is the labor availability. It is
>hard to plan for a large operation when you haven't had much success
yet
>to know the value per acre. Generally, an acre of land is the maximum
>one person can take care of without machinery (oil). We adjust from
>there to hire help, cut back the amount of land, or use machines (or
>animals) to do the work. If the land is a type that requires hand work
>to prevent erosion and to selectively tend to integrated crops, then the
>primary decision driver is how much it can produce with the resources
>available. If it doesn't have water for maximum production, then
putting
>extra money into labor and machinery won't make it any more profitable.
>What kind of wild biology does the area have now? What similar things
>can you grow?.....those kinds of questions...not typically what the
>county extension agent is going to be used to dealing with.
>
>Good luck,
>Back to making hay today..
>
>Dan C.
>Belgium,WI
>
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