Regenerative Agriculture

Ya never know. They could save us all.

Science Friday had an eye-opening piece last week about using a regimen of non-industrial farming techniques to reduce atmospheric carbon, and, hold onto your compost rake, increase yields. A couple excerpts...

David Johnson of New Mexico State University...claims that just 11% of the world's cropland could potentially offset all of our current carbon dioxide emissions.

Ira Flatow: "And your production, your output has not suffered from doing it the old-fashioned way?"

Gabe Brown: "No, quite the contrary, our expenses are a fraction of the conventional production model, because we no longer need to use all of the synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides, but also our yield, if you're talking the amount of grain that we're producing per acre, is above the average in my surrounding communities. So we're getting more production at a much lower cost, and in turn we are regenerating the soil which is the important thing."

Wow. Those are some pretty bold statements, eh? Over the next few weeks, I will look for some reliable stats on the amount of carbon this no-till, cover-crop, monoculture-phobic approach can capture, and double-check as best I can Johnson's estimate here. If anyone wants to beat me to the punch and do some number-crunching in the comments below, knock yerself out, and thanks in advance.

For a long time, I've felt that a fossil fuel-intensive, subsidy-dependent agricultural system was counterproductive and ultimately unsustainable. As Gabe Brown, the rancher interviewed in the Science Friday piece, puts it...

"We need to think of it this way, soils under the conventional production model are kind of like a drug addict. They have to be weened slowly, as Kristin said, to build these populations [of helpful microbes]."

But I was not aware of any robust alternatives that could break through the inertia of an arse-backward, oil-based economy which encourages, or just about demands, excessive fossil fuel usage in almost everything we do as a society, especially crop production. This method is quite new to me, and I have to admit I'm having some "too good to be true" knee-jerk reactions here, so I welcome any enlightening input. However, if this regenerative farming is all it's cracked up to be, I will equally welcome the dope slap I've just received, to put it lightly.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that if it's as viable as advertised, and we combine regenerative agriculture, space-based solar power, legalization of hemp cultivation, and nuclear power, we have just about solved the entire problem. OK, that's a wrap. Now, get to work editing it all together, everyone. :)