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Hello: There will not be enough days this August. There will not be enough sunshine soon enough to re-set the long-delayed tomato ripening clock in eastern Pennsylvania that so many market farmers have been hoping for. There probably won’t be enough heat units to make the USDA’s predicted corn yield before frost snaps the life out of thousands of fields in Iowa and surrounding states.
And there won’t be enough days of oil prices high enough to motivate the changes necessary to move the U.S. even a meaningful step on the long journey toward something like a renewable energy policy. Neither presumed presidential candidate is willing to tell the truth about what it will take to deal with our Oil Addiction. Rather, says Robert J. Samuelson in the August 18 edition of Newsweek magazine, “We want a return to cheap, secure oil; we want painless pathways to lower greenhouse-gas emissions. These are,” he writes, “fantasies; they should not be indulged.”
We are being subjected to these same fantasies in the agricultural sector, as GM crops are held out as a viable hope for improving global food security in a food-insecure world. A farming plan that is dependent on petrochemical-based inputs, mined fertilizers, proprietary seeds and exported commodities is in trouble. These corporately mediated streams are becoming scarcer and more expensive, producing genetically altered crops and increasing herbicide-resistant weeds.
Organic farming moves us from scarce synthetic, global-warming inputs to increased use of solar power through photosynthesis and natural cycles. It takes us from burning carbon to storing it in our soils where it increases soil life, holds more soil moisture and reduces the forces of climate instability.
A significant step away from fossil-fuel intensive agriculture starts with using cover crops in place of pesticides and fertilizer, and constitutes a range of crops that offer a range of positive attributes. Many of these were noted by participants in our recent field day, and are contained in our text and photo coverage this update. Read more>>
If you need more contact with consumers than you can get at your farmers’ market, consider becoming a farm that welcomes learning (and paying) guests. Check out Dan Sullivan’s review of “The New Agritourism” to see how consumers are exploring deeper farm connections that can strengthen relationships in positive ways. Read more>>
Enjoy what’s growing where you are in the August that is left. Explore one new route to celebrate good ways to make hard changes for a greener landscape.
Greg Bowman and the
Rodale Institute editorial team
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