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Green Revolution

3K views 17 replies 12 participants last post by  jvw 
#1 ·
Has anyone else read the article in the Co-operator about the new "Green Revolution"? I don't know how to post a link so if someone else has seen the article and can put a link to it, please do. You have to read it to believe it.
 
#8 ·
Always pisses me off when a bunch of people from academia think they can tell us better ways to manage our farms when in fact many have never set foot on a farm. And if anyone thinks the NFU is on our side you best look again. There's a movement to destroy agriculture in North America, their coming at us from every direction. Think of it like gun control... they only want to regulate the big farms... first.
 
#10 ·
Well the many fingers in crop production wont like this ideology that's for sure. Tonnes of nitrogen over every acre in the atmosphere, that if captured like with legumes, would eliminate the need for N. Greta when she gets older will point the finger at you next, and you, will either comply or be your demise through taxation. Farming practices will change like it or not. Companion cropping like peaola or peabarley or even all 3 combined will be the future. Cover cropping and mob grazing etc will be the norm. Monoculture we practice is falling to the wayside more and more every yr. Use of herbicides will drop dramatically because the consumer will demand it, and already is. Producing more food hasn't helped anyone but the big players that supply our products to grow these huge crops. A country that has starving people can't afford the food anyway so the myth that we need to produce more is irrelevant. This type of farming requires far more workload and actually sticking a spade in your soil yourself to see where you are headed. You will benefit from having some cattle, pigs, sheep and they will have access to every acre you own and not be in one pasture or pen the rest of their days. Funny as it may sound it kind of reminds me of my grandfathers farm. Everything but the tillage and the haying. Someday maybe there will be a farmyard every couple miles once more.
 
#13 ·
The problem as I see it is the general public is being encouraged to protest and stop any practice that is deemed harmful to the environment. It doesn't have to be a real threat nor true, the public just has to be told that it is by "professionals". Professionals know best. It is easy for the general population to get behind these movements as most of these movements target a different sector than they are in. Sometimes their own sector will be targeted and they will be powerless to stop it and they will see the stupidity of the people who don't know anything pushing these agendas but they have to go along with what the majority wants. Once their own ordeal is over, other sectors are targeted and they will fall back in the protest line and never realize that they are once again the stupid ones that don't know and are back to pushing their agendas on other sectors. The powers that be are continually shaping the world we live in by dividing us up so that the targeted sectors can not stop these movements.

When it comes to these issues the public will spout off their ideals for appearance sake but their purchases will tell another story. As long as the public can not physically see the issue they will buy the cheapest source, in general. This means that farming practices like you mentioned will be forced on us in Canada. Our way of mass production will simply be moved to other developing countries where it is out of sight so that store shelves can still be stocked with the cheap foods the consumers want. Canadian farmers will be the only target of these movements and we will become unable to compete except in the very small, expensive top end food market. We will only hear the stories of the few farms that thrive in this environment, which is usually very location dependent. The rest of the farms that struggle will be portrayed as being old school, not keeping up with the times, not being progressive, etc,etc. Don't expect sympathy because the media will spin us as being unwilling to adapt to what the consumer wants. All while the average consumer wants and buys cheap food. The only difference is it won't be produced by us.

The large scale mono- agriculture practices aren't going to disappear form the world. The big agricultural companies require it and they will just move production elsewhere.
 
#11 ·
#15 ·
Elston Solberg and Marvin Nyborg and associates summarized the results of a 12-year experiment performed at the Breton Plots southwest of Edmonton. On this Gray Luvisolic soil with low organic matter content and low native fertility, they found that annual additions of 22 – 67 lb N/acre as urea increased barley yield by up to 36 bushels per acre lowered the bulk density of the top 3" of soil, and increased the stored carbon content of the top 12" of soil by about 7 lb of carbon for every 1 lb of applied nitrogen. In this study the benefits of annual nitrogen fertilization were dramatic for both crop yield and soil quality.
 
#16 ·
Maybe I am going senile as I did just pass another birthday that guarantees I have passed the top and am going down hill. But when science is left to help mankind rather than Monsanto or Bayer and other corporate overlords I bet the nitrogen fixing genes from legumes can be put on corn,wheat,oats,any plant that needs it. May already be possible,but in the current age of luddites with the perception that GMOs will kill you why would someone. The public is in panic mode at the thought of Golden rice that would give third world countries Vit A for next to nothing. What corporation would do anything to slow the sale of N from current sorcses. But nothing so simple to fix having to buy P and K from mined sources,that have heard of.

Thank you for allowing me to peak in at real farming as I have not harvested a seed since 2016. Keep fighting the over educated that would starve us all with their superior thinking. Or I guess in this case farmer that have lost their way. Always great information on where the then next fight will come.
 
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