Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations - Kootenay Local Agricultural Society

pests, provide all its own nitrogen, and produce a greater per-acre crop
yield than monocultures. Although the specifics of Jackson’s approach
were designed for the prairies, his methods could be adapted to other
regions by using species mixtures appropriate to the local environment.
Understandably, pesticide, fertilizer, and biotechnology companies are not
very excited about Jackson’s low-tech approach. But Jackson is not a lone
voice in the wilderness; over the past few decades many farmers have
adopted methods like those advocated by Faulkner and Howard.
Whatever we call it, today’s organic farming combines conservationminded
methods with technology but does not use synthetic pesticides
and fertilizers. Instead, organic farming relies on enhancing and building
soil fertility by growing diversified crops, adding animal manure and green
compost, and using natural pest control and crop rotation. Still, for a farm
to survive in a market economy it must be profitable.
Long-term studies show that organic farming increases both energy efficiency
and economic returns. Increasingly, the question appears not to be
whether we can afford to go organic. Over the long run, we simply can’t
afford not to, despite what agribusiness interests will argue. We can greatly
improve conventional farming practices from both environmental and economic
perspectives by adopting elements of organic technologies. Oddly,
our government subsidizes conventional farming practices, whereas the
market places a premium on organic produce. A number of recent studies
report that organic farming methods not only retain soil fertility in the long
term, but can prove cost effective in the short term.
In 1974, under the leadership of ecologist Barry Commoner, the Center
for the Biology of Natural Systems at Washington University in St. Louis
began comparing the performance of organic and conventional farms in
the Midwest. Pairing fourteen organic farms with conventional farms of
similar size, operated with a similar crop-livestock system on similar soils,
the two-year study found that organic farms produced about the same
income per acre as did conventional farms. Although the study’s preliminary
results surprised skeptical agricultural experts, many subsequent studies
confirmed that substantially lower production costs more than offset
slightly smaller harvests from organic farms. Industrial agrochemistry is a
societal convention and not an economic imperative.
Subsequent studies also showed that crop yields are not substantially
lower under organic agricultural systems. Just as important is the demonstration
that modern agriculture need not deplete the soil. Rothamsted,
the estate where John Lawes proved the fertilizing effects of chemical fer-
dirty business 207