Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>]

It is good to remember from time to time that agriculture is now defined as 
: " the conversion of oil into food through the means of land".
When cheap oil stops (and some predict this could happen this year) this 
sort of agriculture stops. I would not invest in a big or expensive, small 
machine that guzzles oil now or indeed ever.
And the farming game is a mugs game. Most farmers barely scrape by from year 
to year and many have to borrow to buy next years seeds. Even the ones with 
a lot of land and big machines. A neighbor of mine won the national "Dairy 
farmer of the year award" a while ago. He had spend and borrowed a lot of 
money to modernise his dairy operation and make it super efficient. ^6 
months later he was in jail for fraudulently injecting his cattle with an 
agent that would allow him to claim compensation in the disease eradication 
program. There was for him no other financial way out.
I would think small which is beautiful.
john

> I totally agree that we need to get away from large scale agriculture.
> Having said that how are you going to get past the fact that the small 
> farmer has to buy the machinery (tractors, combines etc) to make a farm 
> pay for itself.
> Now the simple fact is that one man can only physically harvest so much 
> wheat using hand tools such as scythes etc. This amount generally equates 
> to enough to feed family, livestock and a little left for sale. Certainly 
> not enough to pay off a mortgage. The have stopped making small tractor 
> towed combines so that leave only larger machines that cost hundreds of 
> thousands of dollars. See where this is going??
> In order to pay off those loans and mortgages you have to have more land 
> and bigger machinery.
> It takes the same size machinery to farm 200 acres as it does 10,000.
> This is the reason small farms have failed.
> Doesn't make it right, just the way it is. Here, we use hand tools for 
> harvest and it supplies our needs. However, we are not dependent on this 
> to pay off the farm as we have outside income.
> No easy answers.
> Paul the Skeptic
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jan 13, 2011, at 11:53 AM, "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net> wrote:
>
> > (finally, somebody gets it ...)
> >
> > World Hunger Best Cured by Small-Scale Agriculture: Report
> > Thursday, January 13, 2011 by The Guardian/UK  by Nidhi Prakash
> > http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/13/world-hunger-small-scale-agriculture
> >
> > A move from industrial farming towards local food projects is our 
> > healthiest, most sustainable choice, says Worldwatch Institute
> >
> > The key to alleviating world hunger, poverty and combating climate change 
> > may lie in fresh, small-scale approaches to agriculture, according to a 
> > report from the Worldwatch Institute.
> >
> > The US-based institute's annual State of the World report, published 
> > yesterday, calls for a move away from industrial agriculture and 
> > discusses small-scale initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa that work towards 
> > poverty and hunger relief in an environmentally sustainable way.
> >
> > The authors suggest that instead of producing more food to meet the 
> > world's growing population needs, a more effective way to address food 
> > security issues and climate change would be to encourage self-sufficiency 
> > and waste reduction, in wealthier and poorer nations alike.
> >
> > "If we shift just some of our attention away from production to 
> > consumption issues and reducing food waste, we might actually get quite a 
> > big bang for our buck, because that ground has been neglected," said 
> > Brian Halweil, co-director of the project.
> >
> > "The majority of incentives that governments give to farmers are still 
> > tied to the production mindset. The farmers are rewarded for sheer 
> > production quantity, with very little guidance for the quality they 
> > produce and the impact of their farming practices on the environment and 
> > on human health and nutrition ... It is necessary to change these 
> > incentives," he said.
> >
> > The projects explored in the report include community-based initiatives 
> > in urban farming, school gardening and feeding programmes, and indigenous 
> > livestock preservation.
> >
> > In Kenya's largest slum, in Nairobi, local women are growing vertical 
> > gardens in sacks, providing them with a source of income but also an 
> > element of food security for their families.
> >
> > "They sell their produce and also consume part of what they grow," said 
> > Danielle Nierenberg, Halweil's co-director.
> >
> > "As we talk about all these innovations, it's important to remember that 
> > farmers aren't just farmers: they're businesswomen and -men, they're 
> > stewards of their land and they're educators passing on their knowledge 
> > to others in their communities," she said.
> >
> > In another programme in Uganda, Developing Innovations in School 
> > Cultivation (Disc), children are being taught about nutrition, food 
> > preparation and growing local vegetables. Pilot programmes are also being 
> > run in Mali and Sudan to feed children in schools and educate them on 
> > food production and consumption.
> >
> > Anna Lappé, the author of a chapter in the report entitled Coping with 
> > Climate Change and Building Resilience, said: "We have really emphasised 
> > a set of policies over the past half a century that have prioritised an 
> > agricultural system that is incredibly fuel-intensive and 
> > emissions-based."
> >
> > Emma Hockridge, head of policy at the UK Soil Association, said the 
> > report supports the case for the expansion of organic farming.
> >
> > "Organic farming systems benefit biodiversity, are resilient in the face 
> > of climate change, and have been shown to improve yields and the ability 
> > of poor communities in the global south to feed themselves," she said.
> >
> > Although Halweil says national governments should lead the way in 
> > implementing change, the report suggests that international attitudes 
> > towards agricultural development need to shift if the lessons from these 
> > case studies are to bring about results on a larger scale.
> >
> > "I think the African Union is a natural starting point, an organising 
> > body for all these initiatives, to share between members the experience 
> > in these initiatives, but also in setting themselves goals," said 
> > Halweil.
> >
> > He suggests that international aid policies on food need an overhaul to 
> > better serve the long-term interests of those on the ground.
> >
> > "Food aid is a short-term fix, a Band-Aid rather than an opportunity to 
> > infuse money into the local economy and an incentive to process and 
> > distribute food locally," he said.
> >
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