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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Norman Borlaug who passed away

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Don Bowen" <don.bowen@earthlink.net>
  • To: "'Healthy soil and sustainable growing'" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Norman Borlaug who passed away
  • Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:15:05 -0500

Mr Borlaug in his writings mentions that what he was doing was only a stop
gap measure. He knew that unless we controlled population his efforts only
meant starvation for more people.

His "Green Revolution" was only possible with massive infusion of cheap
energy. Cheap energy was required to make the fertilizers needed for the
super producing crops and cheap energy was required to pump the water needed
for those crops and cheap oil was needed as a feed stock for the
insecticides needed for the growing areas of monocrops.

It also changed farming into a commercial enterprise no different that a
factory. Seed stocks were now owned by corporate overlords, expensive
machinery was needed to farm the land needed to pay for the new seeds and
machinery. Credit requirements threw small farmers off the land into the
rapidly expanding slums where they became cheap exploitable labor.

And the expanded requirements for nitrogen provided excess cheap feedstock
for munitions that has fueled countless wars.

The green revolution was very black indeed.

Don Bowen KI6DIU
New ruralize pages, follow the link off http://www.ruralize.com
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html





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