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  • From: Nan Hildreth <NanHildreth AT riseup.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>, "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] organic and scale
  • Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2011 03:36:50 -0500

Yes, rising fossil fuel costs should cause a paradigm shift in farming. 1% of all fossil fuels usage is for ammonia, mostly to create nitrogen chemical fertilizer. And about 2/3 of that is wasted as air and water pollution. Huge greenhouse gases. http://www.grist.org/article/2009-11-11-the-dark-side-of-nitrogen The price of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has gone up about 75% since 2006. http://www.mongabay.com/images/commodities/charts/chart-index_fertilizers.html It should continue to climb until about 2018 when global natural gas production is pass peak and start falling. http://www.hubbertpeak.com/gas/ Then the cost of chemical nitrogen should skyrocket.

US natural gas production is already in decline and US N fertilizer production dropped 40% between 1998 and 2008. In ten years, maybe 12 years, we may be asking Russia for an ammonia fix. http://www.grist.org/article/2010-02-11-tracking-u.s.-farmers-supply-nitrogen-fertilizer

Folks who change before these trends become a crisis should thrive. Those lagging may suffer.

At 07:46 AM 9/21/2011, William H Shoemaker wrote:
And equipment requires fuel, which points to our dependency on fossil fuels and mined ancient solar energy.

Bill
William H. Shoemaker
Sr. Research Specialist, Food Crops
University of Illinois - Crop Sciences
St Charles Horticulture Research Center
535 Randall Road, St Charles, IL, 60174
630-584-7254, FAX-584-4610
<mailto:wshoemak AT illinois.edu>wshoemak AT illinois.edu

----------
From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Road's End Farm
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 7:18 AM
To: Market Farming
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] organic and scale

On Sep 21, 2011, at 5:41 AM, Owsley lucy wrote:


Of course, you get far more food from smaller allotments that are planted in mixed crops than you do with mono cropping but mono cropping is so much easier for the corporations to deal with.



Monocropping is also more "efficient" when there is more equipment available than human labor. When there is more human labor available than money to buy equipment, or if efficiency is defined as the greatest total production of nutrients per acre, it's the other way around.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale

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Nan Hildreth
Oak Hollow Farm in Oakhurst, Tx
936-377-3956
832-343-3766

3939 Luca St.
Houston, Tx 77021
713-842-6643

NanHildreth AT riseup.net





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