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A comment on Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of Barley. Parent comment

Re:Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of... by shanev on Thursday September 14, 2017 @08:16AM (#15247160)
Yes this is exactly what I was getting at. Thanks for putting it more eloquently than I did. I’m just used to getting downvoted anytime I talk about monoculture farming, soil, and climate change so I don’t put effort into it anymore.

I think the pro-GMO crowd thinks talking about sustainable farming is anti-science when it actually involves more science at a macro level to understand the effects of synthetic monoculture farming on soil, and it’s effects on climate change.

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Re:Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of... by Dylanfm on Thursday September 14, 2017 @05:05PM (#15252506)
There's science and technology all the way along the sustainability spectrum... but it isn't evenly distributed.

I'm new to growing and enjoying the steep but rewarding learning curve. Soil is an amazing thing and I think humans are only just getting a better idea of what's going on down there. This recent conference talk helps shed some light: "Building Soil Health for Healthy Plants by soil scientist Dr. Elaine Ingham" https://youtu.be/xzthQyMaQaQ

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Re:Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of... by cwkoss on Thursday September 14, 2017 @08:03PM (#15253504)
>Soil is an amazing thing and I think humans are only just getting a better idea of what's going on down there.

So true. A protein which makes up ~10% of soil by weight was only discovered in the 90s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glomalin

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Re:Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of... by shanev on Thursday September 14, 2017 @08:33PM (#15253653)
And only last year we discovered soil has a micro-biome too [1], and it has a profound impact on plant growth.

The most fascinating aspect of soil to me is that it's a natural carbon store, which for obvious reasons will become increasingly important in the coming years.

[1]: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/soil-has-microb...

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