Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
systems, however, are not suitable for feeding your family and community, and
they will not form the basis of the NewAgriculture.
The place to grow a crop is in the earth, in nutrient rich, biologically active soil, not
in metered nutrient solutions; under natural sunlight, not electric lights. Sunlight is
very energy-dense and plants are good at using it. Sunlight is also free. Within the
limits of one's climate, one can create micro-environments that maximize solar
gain, and one can choose crops that do well under one's local conditions. In
Alaska and Finland, one might choose to grow cabbages, not melons.
The NewAgriculture will not come about through dogmatic insistence on simplistic
solutions such as adding organic matter to the soil, nor through force-feeding of
synthetic fertilizers and applying toxic rescue chemicals to address the inevitable
problems. The answers will not be found in energy intensive technology or
artificial micro-environments. The solutions certainly won't be found by refusing to
look outside whatever ideological box one has adopted or been convinced to
adopt.
The New Agriculture
What we have today is a fragmented agriculture, yet we needn't be suffering this
collective delusion and separation; it serves no useful purpose for mankind or
Nature but only divides us. So here's a proposal: What if we were to take
agriculture to another level, a higher level, by pulling together the best from all of
modern knowledge, and combining it with the traditional wisdom accumulated
over the span of human history? If we were to include the sciences of soil
chemistry and nutrition (new tools in the 10,000 year history of agriculture), with a
modern understanding of soil and plant biology (also new tools), and our modern
knowledge of energy, both electromagnetic and subtle? The only questions we
need ask are: What works and will continue to work, and what hasn't worked in
the past or doesn't work now? No special emphasis would be laid on any one
dogma or school of agriculture; the focus would be on soil health, nutrition,
sustainability, and efficiency. The emphasis would be on constant improvement in
health: of the land, the plants, the animals, and the people.
We would be looking for a system that works well with any crop in any climate,
producing high yield, high quality, and high nutritional values while sharply
reducing insect and disease problems. The plants would thrive and be superbly
healthy because they would have all of the nutrients they desire available
free-choice. The immune systems of the plants and soil would be strong and
healthy; insects and disease are not attracted to strong, healthy plants. The
animals and people consuming the plants would get the most highly nutritious
food it was possible to grow. People wouldn't overeat because their body wouldn't
be craving an essential mineral, carbohydrate, amino acid, or lipid. Diseases such
as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and the auto-immune diseases would become
things of the past. Children would grow up able to develop to their full genetic
