Tech | April 09, 2009 | 12 comments

Organic Kicks Monoculture Ass

source: http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2009/04/organic-kicks-monoculture-ass

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Guess what? Those endless fields of corn, soybeans, or alfalfa are not the thriftiest way to farm. Not in dollar terms. Not in environmental terms. So why are continuous and no-till farming still such staples in American agriculture? Because you & I subsidize them with our tax dollars. Farm welfare for the corporate farm.

A 13-year study out of the University of Wisconsin assessed pastures planted with multiple crop species, as well as organic fields, and compared them to conventional alfalfa and corn farms at two sites in southern Wisconsin from 1993 to 2006.

The simple conclusion: Diversified systems were more profitable than monocropping and organic systems were more profitable than the Midwestern standards of continuous corn, no-till corn, no-till soybeans, and intensively managed alfalfa.

Even adding risk premiums into the equation did not give monoculture the edge expected by the researchers. Bottom line: monoculture is riskier and less profitable than organic and rotational farming.

The authors' advice: Government support of monoculture is outdated and should be shifted to programs that promote crop rotations and organic farming practices.

When that happens—you know what?—we'll all be able to afford food that is better for us and better for the planet. Let's go, Thomas J. Vilsack, Secretary of the US Department of Agriculture, hailing from Iowa, land of the newly progressive. Lead the way.
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12 comments // Organic Kicks Monoculture Ass

  • wirehedd
  • thorstein
  • testafi
  • darkhorsejim
    • 0
      darkhorsejim  

    • Imagine that. Nature was right all along, having figured out the delicate balance of sustaining an enduring ecosystem - until man stepped in.

    • 2 years ago
  • Bald_Avenger
    • 0
      Bald_Avenger  

    • Nice one!

      If you're interested in the mono- vs. poly- culture debate, check out "The Land Institute."
      http://www.landinstitute.org/

      Those oceans of corn-soybean fields in Iowa are a blight on the face of America, and have rippling effects all the way down the Mississippi, contaminating soil and waterways and creating a hypoxic 'dead zone' along the gulf coast.

      The subsidies issue is HUGE. Our giant agribusiness models are absolutely flooding foreign markets, and killing small farmers in Central America, the Carribean and Africa.

      The Land Institute is also proposing a "50 Year Farm Bill", that would slowly wean American corporate farmers off of subsidies and facilitate a gradual transition to more polycultured, perenial crops (crops that can remain inthe ground for more than one year) which would conserve soil, and reduce the need for plowing or spraying chemicals.

      Thanks for the post.

    • 2 years ago
  • vistapoint
  • MycoJ
    • 0
      MycoJ  

    • I love how people throw the word organic around.

      Organic: noting or pertaining to compounds containing carbon.

    • 2 years ago
  • carmalite
  • MycoJ
    • 0
      MycoJ  

    • We spend $16 billion/year to grow vegetables that don't sell well.
      I did not realize we pay them to use outdated farming techniques.

    • 2 years ago
  • carmalite
    • 0
      carmalite  
    • MycoJ:

      Lots of them have a texture like plastic. Compare home grown tomatoes to the plastic like rock hard ones in the store. Unless one can buy organic tomatoes, ones gets terrible tomatoes.

    • 2 years ago
  • TheJackedIntervention
  • carmalite
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