Scientists at The Land Institute are developing can be grown as perennials with deep roots — so you would not need to regularly till the soil or plant seeds. The way to do that is by growing mixtures of perennial grains, which will mimic the prairie and naturally provide the nutrients and pesticides. The need for fossil-fuel-powered tractors and fertilizers would be much reduced, with the sun’s energy making up the difference. That would be so much better for the soil and the climate, since most soil carbon would not be released. Annual monocultures are much more susceptible to disease and require much more fossil fuel energy - plows, fertilizer, pesticides - to maintain. Perennial polycultures, by contrast provide species diversity, which provides chemical diversity, which provides much more natural resistance and can substitute for the fossil fuels and chemicals that we’ve not evolved with. nytimes/2013/08/11/opinion/sunday/friedman-kansas-and-al-qaeda.html?ref=opinion
Posted on: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 03:55:43 +0000
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