[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by sendler

The Green Revolution of fossil fuel powered fertilizer, irrigation and land prep and machinery and processing and transport has more than doubled crop yields in previously underdeveloped areas since 1960. Returning to organic-permaculture style land use from the decline of fossil fuel and Phosphate availability either from depletion or "leave it in the ground" climate action, will result in lesser productivity. It is said that the Green revolution spared 1 Billion (1/3 of the world overpopulation) people from famine in 1970. We now have nearly 8 billion to feed.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Revolution

Funny, I was reading the Green Revolution link and wondering what it had to do with fossil fuel. Rice crops gaining a factor 6 in productivity through new breeds.

Then I saw the only reference to fossil fuel in the whole page:

Most high intensity agricultural production is highly reliant on non-renewable resources. Agricultural machinery and transport, as well as the production of pesticides and nitrates all depend on fossil fuels.[71] Moreover, the essential mineral nutrient phosphorus is often a limiting factor in crop cultivation, while phosphorus mines are rapidly being depleted worldwide.[72] The failure to depart from these non-sustainable agricultural production methods could potentially lead to a large scale collapse of the current system of intensive food production within this century.

That raises some questions.
- Why are not ALL high intensity agricultural production highly reliant on non-renewable resources? There is a way not to rely on them, then?
- Agricultural machinery and transport, as well as the production of pesticides and nitrates could be electrified - if not now then in the near future.
- Phosphorus is a problem but not a fossil fuel.
- The failure to depart from these non-sustainable agricultural production methods could potentially lead to a large scale collapse of the current system of intensive food production within this century... so we must by all means depart from these non-sustainable production methods.