Re:Why I am building permapeople.org
by carapace on Tuesday October 06, 2020 @12:49PM
(#24699838)
Just to pile on in re: efficiency and industrial production...
As others have pointed out, industrial agriculture is only efficient at producing industrial food and then only if many externalities are left unaccounted.
The industrial system cannot produce even one heirloom tomato. so what's the efficiency there, eh?
But I want to point out the crucial divide between soil-building and soil-depleting agricultures: if you integrate over a large enough time scale the former always beat the latter because soil-building system can keep going while soil-depleting systems are ultimately doomed.
So it doesn't matter that industrial agriculture has been more efficient for two hundred years or so if it eventually results in environmental devastation. All the billions of people who are alive today thanks to Haber & Bosch might also be doomed thanks to Haber & Bosch.
As others have pointed out, industrial agriculture is only efficient at producing industrial food and then only if many externalities are left unaccounted.
The industrial system cannot produce even one heirloom tomato. so what's the efficiency there, eh?
But I want to point out the crucial divide between soil-building and soil-depleting agricultures: if you integrate over a large enough time scale the former always beat the latter because soil-building system can keep going while soil-depleting systems are ultimately doomed.
So it doesn't matter that industrial agriculture has been more efficient for two hundred years or so if it eventually results in environmental devastation. All the billions of people who are alive today thanks to Haber & Bosch might also be doomed thanks to Haber & Bosch.