Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[<pbunch@cox.net>]

I think that folks in your region must have learned the value of their 
recyclable nutrients. I understand that many years ago US farmers  had 
learned this lesson and were careful about manure use. Most likely with the 
less labor intensive chemical nutrients and the shift to large acreages they 
viewed this as irrelevant. One farmer here told me that cut green material 
was valuable to him. I don't know if that is traditional knowledge or recent 
education in organic methods.

This whole issue of moving nutrients around may not be a major issue in areas 
of high fertility but for us in the cool, wet tropical highlands  I think it 
will become critical fairly soon. Harvey's comment about deep rooted species 
is interesting. Perhaps this is another means of trapping the nutrients as 
the flow by :-)

I have noticed that a lot of people here both in the city and country use  
more "green" methods in all parts of their lives than folks in the States. 
This is because their incomes are low and prices for some things are 
relatively high.


---- Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com> wrote: 
> 
> 
> --- On Fri, 9/24/10, pbunch@cox.net <pbunch@cox.net> wrote:
> > Clearly importing nutrients from neighbors is a mid-term
> > solution but what will the situation be if everyone in a
> > given area is recycling the nutrients present in their
> > systems? I suspect they will not give them up at a
> > reasonable price. 
> 
> Exactly!  Importing organic matter free of charge is only possible in a 
> wasteful society that considers "organic matter" as "waste" to be gotten 
> rid off.  I now live in one of the poorest regions of Europe, if I were to 
> ask my neighbor, who is a cattle farmer, for a load of manure; he would 
> charge me 100 Euros.  In Germany, most farmers would just give me a load of 
> manure free of charge.  Another example, when we first moved here, I asked 
> the local joiner's shop if I could have some saw dust and wood shavings for 
> mulching.  They told me to come and get as much as I wanted.  When I went 
> back to the same shop two years later, they sold bags of the same stuff for 
> 10 Euros a piece. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
> 
> Dieter Brand
> Portugal
> 
> 
> 
> While good soil structure and a healthy
> > flora and fauna provide optimal condition for local nutrient
> > cycling, nutrients are inevitably lost to leaching and where
> > produce is sold they are exported from the farm with the
> > vegetables and other products. Sustainability is a long-term
> > project and things like potassium and easily leached trace
> > minerals may become limiting factors. Calcium also can be a
> > problem in high rainfall areas. The natural geochemical
> > cycles are the ultimate constraints on what we can do. Mass
> > is conserved.
> > 
> > Eventually, and perhaps sooner than later the
> > throughput  via the human population has to be
> > addressed. I doubt if 6 billion people, with 9 billion in
> > the near future, can be supported even with the best
> > methods. 
> > 
> > 
> > ---- Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net>
> > wrote: 
> > > 
> > > Intensive gardens can also be the cash crops, as it is
> > with us. Since we don't have fields we import free
> > amendments and mulch for intensive. In both cases nearby
> > farmers have excess to get rid of and it gets recycled. The
> > sources don't have to be esp fertile. Fertility - the crumb
> > sructure and biologicals - is built up in the beds. 
> > > 
> > > paul tradingpost@lobo.net
> > > 
> > > 
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