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That is the Monsanto sales pitch - hook, line, and sinker. Accelerated agriculture using synthetic fertilizer and factory methods and deep wells - is not only unsustainable, it kills the soil, pollutes the water, and causes about 25% of the greenhouse gasses.
We have to take a cue from nature: there can be NO WASTE. Everything must be sustainable; basically forever. If there is any waste, we're doing it wrong. We need to take a long hard look at what Wes Jackson proposed in his 50 year agricultural plan to move to 80% perennials. Nature builds up the soil and produces more over time.
Right now, we are eating oil and gas, soil is washing into the ocean way faster than it can be be formed by the worms and bugs, and the aquifers are nearly gone. We are running out of phosphorus, fer cryin' out loud.
Which should we use our precious water for: drinking and cooking, flushing our toilets, growing our food, fracking for gas and oil, or raising factory meat?
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