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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] great discussion/ Two agricultures not one

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] great discussion/ Two agricultures not one
  • Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 01:16:53 -0700 (PDT)

> >after reading a lot of material about homesteading and
> growing all one's
> >own food, etc., it seems to me there *have* to be some
> non-local inputs

Traditional farming has been practiced without any external inputs for
thousands of years in most regions of the World. Even on poor soil, like in
my region, there are still some traditional farmers like my neighbor who
produce everything they need for living on their own land as their ancestors
have for centuries. My neighbor is 82, the other day he broke his foot while
climbing a tree, put otherwise he is fit as a fiddle. No nutrient
deficiencies, no lifestyle induced illnesses. He is still outside in the
fields swinging his hoe most days. There is everything needed for life all
year round: grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy products, wood
for heating, clay and stones for building houses ...

The only difference between regions with poor soil and regions with rich soil
is the size of farms. In arid regions with poor soil, a 30 acre farm is
small, while a traditional Japanese farmer may farm on as little as 3 acres
of very fertile land.

Today, most people have become so used to consumer habits that they are
incapable of viewing farming as anything but an extension of consumer
society. The recommendations of what we ought to buy for putting into our
soil are mind boggling. If it is not synthetic fertilizers and
agrochemicals, then we are told to buy: hay, manure, compost, compost tea,
minerals, sea solids, EM, mycorrhiza, inoculants, and innumerable other soil
amendments. This way farming becomes an expensive hobby.

Dieter Brand
Portugal








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