Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations - Kootenay Local Agricultural Society

276
farm subsidy programs: conventional vs.
organic farming and, 207, 209–10;
criticsims of, 210; developing countries
and, 244, 245; origins of, 157–58;
for unsustainable practices, 245
Faulkner, Edward, 202, 203–5
fertilization. See agrochemistry; chemical
fertilizers; guano; human waste, as
fertilizer; manure; nitrogen; organic
methods; phosphorus; soil improvement
Fillmore, Millard, 187
Fitzherbert, John: Book of Surveying, 92
floodplains: Chinese agriculture and,
43–44; early agriculture and, 36,
41–42; soil fertility and, 84. See also
silt accumulation
fodder crops, 94
Ford, Henry, 150
fossil fuels, reliance on, 199–200, 237. See
also chemical fertilizers
fossil soils, 15
France: agricultural practices in, 87, 100,
103–4, 243; soil loss in the Alps in,
101–2, 103
Franklin, Benjamin, 121–22
Frauenberg (German Neolithic site),
86
French gardening, 243
Garden of Eden, 27
genetically engineered crops, 4, 205, 237,
240
geology: Hutton and, 104–6; soil formation
and, 18, 19, 192. See also rock
weathering; soil ecosystems; topography
Georgia, erosion in, 131, 131–32, 133
Georgia Courier, 128
Germany: colonialism and, 100; early agriculture
in, 85–86; nitrate synthesis
and, 195–96
Gila National Forest, 80
Gilbert, Joseph Henry, 184
glacial era, 27–28, 145
Glenn, Leonidas Chalmers, 141
global food supply: agrochemistry and,
195; distribution of, 109, 200; grain
index
reserves and, 198, 240; high-yield
grains and, 197–98; postwar productivity
increases and, 197–98, 239; promotion
of small farms and, 246;
reliance on North American grain
and, 170
global geography, sustainable intensive
farming regions in, 23
global warming, 171, 212–13
goats, 35. See also overgrazing
Godwin, William: Political Justice, 107
government policies: agroecology and, 242,
244, 245–46; commercial fertilizer
industry and, 187–88, 195–96; conservation
planning and, 148, 152–53, 155,
172, 173, 176; Cuban agriculture and,
231; European famines and, 109–10;
French forests and, 103–4; Haitian
agriculture and, 229, 230; homesteading
and, 147, 152; loss of biodiversity
and, 244; mechanization and,
168; politics of information and,
191–92; U.S. tobacco farming and,
119–20. See also farm subsidy programs
grain cultivation: climate and, 171; Great
Plains and, 148; in Neolithic Europe,
85; in Roman Empire, 60; soil nitrogen
and, 185. See also wheat cultivation
grain reserves, 198, 240
granite, 18
Grassland Reserve Program, 163
Great Britain: colonial expansion and, 100,
123; common fields in, 89–91, 92, 94,
96, 98–99; depopulation in, 91–92;
early agriculture in, 87–88; land
improvement in, 92, 94–99; soil formation
in, 9–11, 13; Woburn Experimental
Farm in, 158–59
Great Plains: concern about erosion of,
148–50; cultivation of, 147–48;
drought and, 147, 148–49, 151–52, 157;
droughts and, 147, 148, 157; erosion
assessments in, 151; loess soil of, 145,
147, 148; prairie ecosystem of, 146,
147, 148
Greek agriculture, ancient, 50–55