How Big Ag is going to kill us before it feeds us.
Industrial Agriculture is big business in the United States. However, the methods used to produce the food consumed by over 321 million people is going to kill our land before it can even hope to feed our exploding population. Advances in farming technology have not made us immune to the disaster waiting to strike if we do not take better care of our soil and encourage more sustainable farming practices within the Big Ag Industrial Complex. It is estimated, by Stanford University, that we are losing about one-inch of top soil every year, mostly due to agricultural farming practices (Verso, 2015). If we are to have any hope of continuing to feed our growing population, we need to start by taking better care of our soil. “Soil is the foundation (of) farm ecosystems; we depend on it for most of our food supply (Agriculture and Ecosystems: Background Reading).” With Climate Change becoming a more urgent problem every year, it is critical that we confront Big Ag on their soil practices, or we risk losing everything.
While the purpose and goals of Big Ag are to provide as much food as possible in as small an area as possible, they do this by damaging the very soil that they are trying to use for crop growth. “The industrial ethic views agriculture as just another part of industrial society, in which commodities are produced at the lowest cost possible (Chase & Grubinger, 2014, p. 59).” Yet, the methods used to produce food commodities are costing us the health of our soil. Norman Borloug’s Green Revolution attempted to create a better way for us to maximize yields in smaller spaces by creating crops that could withstand drought, and grow anywhere, and be immune from disease and pests (The Man Who Tried to Feed the World). “The Green Revolution basically implies that food production is everything. It is the most important thing. And of course, it is extremely important. (…) But as we know now, agriculture is not just about supplying food (Agriculture and Ecosystem Services).” Big Ag must respect the land on which they grow to continue to provide food that feeds all of us.
The Dust Bowl did not happen in a vacuum. Farmers in the Great Plains used modern technology to over-till the soil, churning up over 850 million tons of top soil that simply blew away during the Great Depression due to poor soil management (History Brief: the Dust Bowl). “Soil health is incredibly important in order just to sustain our ability to feed, not only ourselves, but to feed the world (Living Soil Film).” It is absolutely critical that in the 21st century, we start looking closer at our farming practices and create incentives for Big Ag to adopt better soil health practices, or we are dooming ourselves to the possibility that the soil won’t be able to handle humanity’s intense food needs. If we fail, we are going to experience widespread famine as a direct result of not maintaining the soil.
One way we can improve soil health is by using organic matter to enhance the soil, rather than rely on heavy chemicals. “In many areas where The Green Revolution has been successful, the land is losing its value. It’s losing its quality and we have to regenerate the land (Agriculture and Ecosystem Services).” Restoring the land means that we need to restore the natural balance to the land, not by using heavy chemicals, but rather using organic matter and biomes. “If the soil life is health and the bacteria and the fungi can all work, they actually release all the nutrients that are naturally locked up in the soil and make them available as plant food for the next crop (Industrial and Sustainable Farming).”
Monocropping and overtilling are other ways in which soil health is lost. Crop rotation is an easy and simple way to further this goal. Instead of using acres of land to grow a single crop, Big Ag can diversify and start alternating between crops, allowing the soil to regenerate and renew after each growing season. As Darryl Soljan explained, “The Earth was really never designed to be a monoculture, to have just one species or a limited number of species in one place (Industrial and Sustainable Farming).”
It is absolutely imperative that we start convincing Big Ag to take their soil health more seriously or we are going to be faced with another famine equal to or greater than that of the Dust Bowl. If we plan to feed over 9 billion people by 2050, we need to start by taking a closer look at our soil health and nurturing it back to optimum health, both for ourselves, and for the world.
References
- Agriculture and Ecosystem Services (n.d.). [Motion Picture].
- Agriculture and Ecosystems: Background Reading. (n.d.). In Teaching the Food System. The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.
- Chase, L., & Grubinger, V. (2014). Food, Farms, and Community: Exploring Food Systems. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England.
- History Brief: the Dust Bowl (n.d.). [Motion Picture].
- Industrial and Sustainable Farming (n.d.). [Motion Picture].
- Living Soil Film (n.d.). [Motion Picture].
- The Man Who Tried to Feed the World (n.d.). [Motion Picture].
- Verso, E. (2015, December 09). Topsoil Erosion. Retrieved from Stanford University: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2015/ph240/verso2/#:~:text=%22The%20estimate%20is%20that%20we,30%20to%2040%20times%20faster.
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Grade: 96/100
Professor Comments: A nice way to wrap up the course! Very best of luck with whatever comes next for you, and wishing you a wonderful holiday season!
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