Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
potential; their intelligence and strength would no longer be limited by malnutrition
or toxic chemicals. Fewer acres of cropland could feed more people and animals,
sustainably, as the emphasis shifted from quantity to quality.
Unbeknownst to most, the basis of this new agriculture already exists and has for
some time. The knowledge of how to accomplish the goals mentioned above has
largely been known for over sixty years. The basic science of soil mineral balance
and its relation to health and nutrition was discovered long ago, but has been
buried and ignored. It has been hidden from the schools and practitioners of
agriculture, both so-called "conventional" and the various alternative schools. It is
not mentioned, or mentioned disparagingly in university ag colleges. Many
"alternative" growers have never heard of it. Those who have heard of it but don't
understand it and have never tried or experienced it nevertheless have opinions
on why it couldn't work. We are in the situation of having the answers readily
available but blindly refusing to see them.
Much of the work this mineral balanced agriculture relies on was done in the
1920s, '30s. and '40's. During the depression era of the 1930s there was a strong
emphasis on finding out what went wrong in agriculture that led to the dust bowl
years and a general decline in the health ofAmerican soils and people. Scientific
nutrition was a new field and many exciting breakthroughs were made. By the late
1930s and early 1940s great strides were being made in both soil and animal
health.
Along came WWII, and the food producers (farmers) were urgently needed; they
were recruited by the government and made part of the war machine, subsidized
by guaranteed crop prices, and were encouraged to innovate. The end of WWII
saw most of the economies of the industrialized world dominated by the factory
production model, much of it war-related.After WWII this industrial model was
re-directed into the production of goods, machinery and chemicals for peacetime.
By 1950 it appeared to be a brave new modern world, one where all problems
could be solved by dominating Nature, rather than learning from and cooperating
with her. Big chemical companies took over the land grant universities and started
really pushing their chemical-based agriculture. Most of the farmers eagerly
adopted the new model; no longer were they just farmers, they were modernized
commodity factories on the cutting edge of science. Or so they thought. While the
yield went up, the nutritive value fell, and the plants force-grown on soon-depleted
soil were insect and disease magnets, calling for more chemicals every year. The
harsh concentrated fertilizers burned up the humus in the soil and killed off soil life.
The soils were robbed of their mineral stores, as the only nutrients applied were
those necessary to achieve high yield. The animals (and people) raised on these
force-fed foods became malnourished and disease-prone. The law of diminishing
returns was showing up with a vengeance, but the "scientific" solution to the
problem was always another and more powerful chemical and a plant bred to
tolerate it.
