Wes Jackson asks two important questions in Consulting the Genius of The Place about the long-term view of agriculture: “1: how do we obtain an adequate, if not bountiful harvest? 2: how do we ensure that future adequate or bountiful harvest have not been compromised during production?” (pg 146). The first question addresses abundance, while the second question addresses impact and input.
At present, 40% of non-ice covered land in the world is used for agriculture. Expanding on this is expanding into land that has never been cultivated, aka, dismantling ecosystems and the natural services they provide for use in short-term intensive agriculture that will render the soil useless for generations after yielding a few years of productivity. This also creates a sink problem.
Clearing the land increases carbon production by 12-26% (page 147), then there’s irrigating it which accounts for 30% of earth’s surface water. This surface water comes in clean freshwater and leaves loaded with fertilizers and pesticides before it heads into saltwater, taking with it eroded soil that took millions of years to create and just a few years to destruct (more on soils Soils page 129-130). We have produced more food than ever before as we continue to increase our population, but this system is reliant on non-renewable resources that are coming to an inevitable end.
This is one method of agriculture. It renders a high yield but is fragile and hugely destructive. Another method is modeling agriculture after ecosystems. In this alternative scenario you have the same varieties as found in an ecosystem – a proportionate mix of herbs, shrubs, trees, vines, palms, annuals, perennials, etc. that would be comparable to the native ecosystems. Plants are selected for their compatibility on the landscape with present soil conditions, sun and water supply. Of course this can’t obtain as high of a yield but it creates a bounty of a varied, healthy and abundant food that also nourishes the land, animals and people, versus the conventional method that harms the land and the very people that it feeds.
These plants mimic the natural functions found in the native systems but don’t have to be native plants. Because of the level of degradation and changing climates, historically native plants are not always the best fit, especially when you’re primary consideration is food supply. Once established, the plant communities enter into dynamic successional stages.
Beneficial insectary plants attract insects that devour non-beneficial insects. Varied plants mean varied root structures that stabilize the soil, hold water and hold rather than leach nutrients. A good mix of plants selected for their hardiness and food availability suitable to the local conditions will establish themselves as a community within a few years. (Soils page 129-130)
Of the two possible routes for food production we have historically chosen one that results in a less secure, unsustainable means of production. It cannot last and will collapse. However, there is another method that can not only nourish humanity, but nourish the Earth as well.
