permaculture

[Mark <mpludwig@facstaff.wisc.edu>]

At 08:09 AM 8/28/02 -0500, you wrote:
> Steve,
>
> >> Give me about a dozen examples of what a farmer would encounter.   Let's
> talk about land management in terms of 0.5, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40, 60, 120,
> 360, 720, and 1500 acre size farms, OK?  <<
>
> What would a farmer encounter?  Well, let's first consider a principle of
> scale that, the larger a farm is the less likely it will be sustainable and
> the more likely it's pollution by-products will reach lethal concentrations
> and go largely unused.

I'll put Charlie Opitzes 1000a/1000cow grass dairy up against any small red 
barn traditional dairy in WI and Charlie will be twice as 
sustainable.  Small farms also frequently lack the labor or economic 
strength to implement best practices and are far more likely to slop 
through regulations than large visible farms

>  But specifically a farmer (in the U.S.A.) will
> encounter...
>
> Many weeds and woody plants coming up behind his plow which he would surely
> feel compelled to spray with round-up or 2-4-d.  Critters attacking his
> crops and endless efforts to eradicate such critters.

Again this is overstated.  Most farms use chemicals as little as possible 
as they are very expensive.  There are abuses of course, but the biggest 
users of chemicals are lawns, not farm fields.

> The loss of nearly
> all soil nutrients and minerals.

More like too much NPK, not enough of everything else.  Probably the 
biggest problem faced by ag today, and increasingly being regulated.

>  An increasing dependency on genetically
> modified crops,

Certainly popular, BT being the most dangerous.

>  the latest super hormones and deviously clever chemical
> cocktails.

Mostly Band-Aid "solutions" that could be minimized if soil fertility and 
ration balancing issues could be fixed.

> New and intriguing outbreaks of BSE (mad cow disease) and hoof
> and mouth disease.

Scary stuff, esp BSE.  The rendering industry probably needs to be shut 
down and carcasses composted on farm (bury them in wood chips).


>   Fertilizers destroying the soil microbes, collapsing his
> soils and causing algael blooms in local water ways.

The wrong fertilizers are problematic.  Again it's a simple shift to better 
products that will fix this without having to dump the whole infrastructure 
there to distribute fertilizer.

>   Manure lagoons that
> the neighbors despise and the state never quite gets around to noticing.

Anaerobic digesters.

> Freezing peaches towards the end of summer.

Talk to God, lower CO2.

> Overspraying pesticides and
> defoliants so that the once wildlife rich margins of his property won't even
> support a single tree.

Seldom happens.  If farmers take out fence rows they use bull dosers.

>  The loss of all of his topsoil and organic matter.

Some progress on this front.  Grazing would certainly stop this.

> Subsidies that encourage him to produce a commodity in an already flooded
> market.

A serious problem.  WTO may actually solve this one.  Need to redirect all 
of this to conservation programs.

> What are you getting at, Steve, that Farmers have too many obstacles in
> their way to allow exotic plants to flourish?  Or that permaculture ethics
> should be waved for anyone in a commercial venture?

Farmers have been burned by every snake oil salesman on the globe and are 
conservative by nature and necessity.  We need to offer steps toward 
sustainability that use their existing infrastructure and skills.  I have 
presented PC to farmers a few times now and they are generally interested, 
and will adopt those practices that make sense for them.

> At the very least we need to treat exotics like pollution and consider them
> to be an under-utilized resource.  At the best, we should be ecstatic that
> something manages to survive and cover the soil inspite all of our best
> efforts to denude the planet.

Thank god for Quack Grass! Amen!

Mark

> For the real scoop on environmental and social justice issues check out the
> archives of Democracy Now!
> http://www.webactive.com/webactive/pacifica/demnow/archive.html
>
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Mark P. Ludwig
Poultry Research Lab
University of Wisconsin -Madison
608-262-1730 WK
608-846-7125 HM