Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Harvey Ussery <harvey@themodernhomestead.us>]

> How long that can go on is uncertain. Because Canadian and U.S. governments 
> are already heavily in debt and running deficits, any additional subsidies 
> are added to the national debt and increase the deficit. That is clearly 
> unsustainable, and eventually real food prices will have to be paid. The 
> longer the subsidies remain in place, the greater the ultimate pain.
> Questions? Disagreements?   ~Paul

More and more I'm seeing the stratospheric levels of debt (both public 
and private) as the key to the developing crisis and its consequences. 
In this case, the staggering debt of this country will limit the ability 
of the government to continue heavily subsidizing agriculture, despite 
the fact that sharply rising food costs are politically unpalatable. 
Higher food costs as the article notes will necessarily bring big 
changes in how we do agriculture. But as it also notes, it's not all bad 
news--changes to more people-intensive agriculture could go a long way 
toward relieving the unemployment crisis.

~Harvey

--
Harvey in northern Virginia
www.themodernhomestead.us

Industrial agriculture is good for the father but bad for the sons.