Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[<pbunch@cox.net>]

In a world rapidly approaching a population of 9 billion, scale is critical. 
I doubt if small agriculture will capable of providing the required resources 
for a world mostly made up of urban dwellers. The world recently (2008 if I 
recall correctly) passed the point where more than 50% of the total 
population lives in cities. I don't think they are going to be going back to 
the farm in large numbers and both the logistics and politics of getting them 
there would be difficult if not impossible. 

 I am not willing to write off a high percentage of the population without 
making an effort to develop systems that can effectively feed and cloth them. 
There are significant challenges but  I don't really see an alternative.


---- John D'hondt <dhondt@eircom.net> wrote: 
> 
> And good to meet you again too Dieter. I could not agree more. At the 
> moment 
> the Amazon is burning more to grow tofu than cattle.
> And yes it is all about scale and intensity. Industrial farming will 
> destroy 
> soil and fertility on the best soil in on average twenty years whatever the 
> end product they are producing.
> Old fashioned and varied, mixed agriculture in old China went on for more 
> than four thousand years on the same land and ended up with better 
> fertility 
> than it started with.
> john
> 
> > Hi John,
> >
> > Good to hear from you again!  What you say about Ireland applies to the 
> > South of Portugal and most arid or semi-arid regions of the World too. 
> > Much of the land is too poor to sustain farming, it can however be used 
> > as 
> > grazing land for goats and sheep.  The goat and sheep manure is 
> > traditionally used to feed the land that can be used for farming.  
> > Without 
> > that manure the soil has to be fed by synthetic fertilizers.
> >
> > I think Tommy doesn't understand the difference between traditional 
> > farming and conventional or industrial farming.  Traditional farming has 
> > increased and maintained soil fertility in many parts of the World for 
> > numerous centuries; while industrial farming has destroyed this same soil 
> > fertility within a few short decades only, among other things to produce 
> > grains for vegetarians.
> >
> > The problem is not the feedstock in farming; the problem is the way 
> > industrial farming works.  Industrial farming is destructive no matter 
> > whether it is used for producing meat, vegetables or grains.  Vegans like 
> > to point to the methane gas produced by cows, conveniently forgetting all 
> > about the methane gas produced by paddy culture of rice, for example.
> >
> > Dieter Brand
> > Portugal
> >
> >
> > --- On Fri, 6/4/10, John D'hondt <dhondt@eircom.net> wrote:
> > Sorry to say that where I live in Ireland it is impossible to be a vegan 
> > or even a vegetarian and self sufficient both. What grows best here is 
> > grass. There are traditional ways to keep farm animals without being 
> > cruel 
> > or dirty and I can see no other way as long as we are desperately failing 
> > to grow climate adapted nut and fruit trees. (we have been working on it 
> > for close to 25 years and we probably need another 100 years to succeed)
> > john
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> > 
> 
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