View Single Post
Old 02-14-2008, 09:37 PM   #4 (permalink)
AndrewJ
Awesomeness personified
 
AndrewJ's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Columbia, MO
Posts: 642

Harold - '94 Honda Civic CX
90 day: 54.51 mpg (US)

Margot - '08 Surly Big Dummy
Thanks: 0
Thanked 28 Times in 18 Posts
Send a message via AIM to AndrewJ
Quote:
Originally Posted by GenKreton View Post
If there is anything I am not, it is a farmer. Besides potentially only using 2/3 of your fields at once, is there really something wrong with going the natural route and using crop rotation?
Yes, yes there is a problem with using old-school crop rotation. The problem is that modern hybrid (esp. GMO) corn varieties have extremely high yields (bushels/acre) and they suck a correspondingly huge amount of nitrogen out of the ground every time they're planted.
To replace that amount of nitrogen you'd have to plant a nitrogen-fixing crop (soybeans) in their place for several years in order to replenish the soil.

We simply cannot afford to take that much corn out of production without raising some MAJOR problems with food supplies, animal-feed supplies, ethanol supplies, etc.

Our reliance on oil for transportation fuel in this country is mirrored by our reliance on corn for food.

There's a particular carbon structure found in corn that is passed on to whatever eats that corn, and whatever eats that animal, and on and on down the food chain. That particular "corn" carbon structure stays intact. So, by examining a persons blood sample or tissue sample, one can see exactly how much of the carbon in their body came from corn. (we are what we eat)
Samples from citizens of the USA net an average of something like 98% "corn" carbon. That's a SCARY over reliance on one food crop, #2 field corn.

If all that was a bit fuzzy or confusing, go get a book called "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan, that guy explains it much better than I.
__________________
"I got 350 heads on a 305 engine. I get 10 miles to the gallon. I ain't got no good intentions." - The Drive By Truckers.

  Reply With Quote