Agriculture, soil health, food production and the foods we eat

We’ve come a long way since our ancestors began farming some 20,000 years ago, but some things have not changed as slash and burn agriculture is still practised in remote places. The biggest change over the past 100 years has been the move from farming to agribusiness which is really industrial farming with the main elements in productivity being the cash return to the farmer and shareholders.

Agribusiness

Today’s main agricultural practise that continues to decimate forests, landscapes, soil quality and pollute waterways and oceans. It is heavily dependent on fossil fuels, large volumes of fertilisers that leach into waterways and poison the land. They are also becoming more reliant on genetically modified crops to resist the worsening environmental conditions of their own creation.

The most insidious outcomes of agribusiness are the facts that the corporation owns the core resources that some of the food produced is toxic to human health.

The right image displays US produce codes to help you avoid no organics.

Organic farming

A sustainable farming system that grows the land as it produces the foods that sustain us and our health. Organic farming relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control. It uses fertilizers and pesticides but excludes the use of manufactured fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, antibiotics, food additives and genetically modified organisms.

Permaculture

Like organics, permaculture cares for the land and produces natural healthy foods. It draws from several disciplines including organic farming, agroforestry, integrated farming, sustainable development, and applied ecology. Permaculture has been applied most commonly to the design of housing and landscaping, integrating techniques such as agroforestry, natural building, and rainwater harvesting within the context of permaculture design principles and theory which makes it a good system of restoring health to land made toxic and unusable by agribusiness.

Biodynamic farming

Biodynamics has much in common with other organic approaches – it emphasizes the use of manures and composts and excludes the use of artificial chemicals on soil and plants. Methods unique to the biodynamic approach include its treatment of animals, crops, and soil as a single ecosystem; an emphasis from its beginnings on local production and distribution systems; its use of traditional and development of new local breeds and varieties; and the use of an astronomical sowing and planting calendar

Aquaculture

Fish farming is a sound method of producing fish, however it is often damaging to the environment.

Papers and research materials are welcome.

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