A Hundred Thousand Beating Hearts (organic, fertilizer, natural, costs)
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I didn't view the video in its entirety, just made about 10 jumps thru it to see what's going on: seems to be a vignette typical of many available on RFD-TV or many PBS stations in rural areas showcasing families living the rural lifestyle......Of the 2 million "official" farmers in the US, only about 1/4th of them actually produce our food. The others are like me- hobby farmers who devote just enough land to farm-like activities to qualify for the tax breaks.
"Sustainable farming" (ie- non-industrial ag methods) are not really sustainable for economic reasons: farming requires a large capital outlay for land, equipment, labor, seed, chemicals, etc and the profit margin is very low and not assured. Check out this typical graph of "profitability" for raising corn-- more yrs with losses per bushel than profit-- https://www.iowafarmbureau.com/Artic...-Profitability Other commodities are similar. ..Small operations doing things the old way must quickly go out of business, or be "sustained" by outside sources of income...Is that what they mean by "sustainable ag?"
Sustainable really just means you can keep the activity going perpetually because you replace what you take out each year-- the over-all effect is no net change in resources. It has nothing to do with how you maintain those resources.
Farmers want to keep on farming, so they know they have to replace the nutrients that the harvest carries away. Farmers have done more than any other group to maintain a healthy environment. Programs like the CRP pay farmers not to use certain sensitive area for production-- mostly wet lands and riparian zones- both vital to so much wild life. Natural habitat has been increased by 100s of 1000s of acres thru this program.
Industrial methods of farming are gradually becoming more conservation minded: we now realize broadcast irrigation methods are wasteful of water, and application of fertilizers, other nutrients and chemicals are becoming more efficient with more localized applications too.
MotherNature comes up with some elegant solutions. Consider the logistics of the migrating bison herd: as they move(d) gradually south as the weather cooled, they always had fresh, long grass to eat. As they moved, they left their parasite laden manure behind them, minimizing it's ability to re-infect them...By the time they were ready to turn around and head back north, the grass had re-grown as the manure returned nutrients to the turf.
The bison's hoof is cloven, helping to dig in to lift and aerate the soil. They also prefer the delicate morsels of the pioneering trees like aspen & poplar, thus preventing the ecological succession that would otherwise turn their prairie biome into forest.
Ranchers today use the benefits of "migration" by rotating their cattle's' pasture so less outside fertilizer & pesticide is needed.
It's been said that hunter-gatherers work with MotherNature, while industrialists try to defeat her. Little by little that's changing.
A favorite example is the way they wiped out the wolves in Yellowstone, because they were killing cattle or sheep, or something. As a result, the deer population exploded and over grazed the land.
Now, they have reintroduced the wolves and are starting to recover a good balance again.
It doesn't take long for an ecosystem to recover as long as there is a residual supply of the species in decline and adequate habitat....How long do your hands stay clean of bacteria after you wash your hands?
The web of life is fascinating. The Gaia Hypothesis is one way of looking at it...By way of analogy, do your liver cells have any idea that there are heart or blood cells in your body too? No, but because everything does it's job, the whole organism survives. Our planet can be considered a single organism.
It was once facetiously noted that the strength of The British Empire depended on the large number of old maids in the country: they kept cats that ate mice that ate bumblebees that pollinated the clover that cattle ate, and the British military was strong because the soldiers ate beef.
It doesn't take long for an ecosystem to recover as long as there is a residual supply of the species in decline and adequate habitat....How long do your hands stay clean of bacteria after you wash your hands?
The web of life is fascinating. The Gaia Hypothesis is one way of looking at it...By way of analogy, do your liver cells have any idea that there are heart or blood cells in your body too? No, but because everything does it's job, the whole organism survives. Our planet can be considered a single organism.
It was once facetiously noted that the strength of The British Empire depended on the large number of old maids in the country: they kept cats that ate mice that ate bumblebees that pollinated the clover that cattle ate, and the British military was strong because the soldiers ate beef.
That is funny, about the old maids.
I heard once, somebody wondered if our universe was just a speck of dust on a hair inside the ear of a giant being. We think we are so important, but so does a single ant in an ant hill.
Chasing Down Madison Brown is one of those shows on RFD-TV that showcases environmentally friendly ag practices & families. I find particularly good the short segment "Porkchops and Applesauce" by her uncle Chris Knight (played Peter on The Brady Bunch) wherein he interviews experts and workers in ag, and dispels various myths about environmental effects of ag. https://www.bing.com/search?q=chasin...wn&FORM=HDRSC1
Excellent video!! Dispels so many of the myths pertaining our supposed "need" for industrialized farming. I love the grass fed ground beef I can get now as well as the cage free eggs with their bright yellow-orange yolks!
Excellent video!! Dispels so many of the myths pertaining our supposed "need" for industrialized farming. I love the grass fed ground beef I can get now as well as the cage free eggs with their bright yellow-orange yolks!
In an earlier post, I alluded to the economics of farming: the "non-industrial" ag techniques don't cut it economically....Unless the producer can find a market of people willing to pay outrageous prices for food that costs less to produce. When I lived in Chicagoland with access to 6 million people, I could find several willing to pay $6/lb for grass-finished burger and $6/dz for eggs from free-range, heritage breed, "organic" eggs....but not enough to make a living at it. I just barely broke even. You need volume to make a living wage in agriculture.
And if you'd like to argue the health benefits of organic food, I'll tell you there aren't any-- and I can document that with research from the nutritional, biochemical and medical literature...
I won't argue with you about the taste. Feedlot beef tastes greasy to me, and farm fresh eggs have more flavor that even my lousy taste buds can discern...BTW- the deeper color of the yolks has to do with the breed, not the feed. My heritage breeds flock also includes a couple Leghorn (white) hens, and their yolks are pale even tho they eat the same bugs, worms, seeds and occasional mouse that the others are eating.
Don't spread this info around--if too many people come to learn it, all those organic farmers and Whole Paycheck Food Marts will go out of business.
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