by Colleen Tigges
www.eatfirst.org
It turns out that the biggest factor in soil health is a protein called glomalin, which gives soil its tilth; the more glomalin, the healthier the soil. Unfortunately, glomalin is broken down by frequent plowing. Plowing also leads to more soil erosion. Unfortunately for organic farmers, they rely on plowing to control weeds.
Modern farmers, on the other hand, use herbicides to control weeds without plowing, methods referred to as low-till or no-till farming. In fact, modern farming has reduced plowing on 37 percent of America’s farmland, reducing soil erosion and promoting soil health. In terms of soil, modern farming is the most sustainable.
In fact, in every argument of “sustainability’, modern farming wins. In land sustainability modern wins – while environmentalists have been claiming that we’re wearing out our soils, we are currently able to grow three times as much food today as 30 years ago on the same amount of cropland. This would be impossible if we were indeed “wearing out our soils”.
In the area of human health, activist claims are also unsubstantiated. They say that pesticides are poisoning people, yet during the period of heaviest chemical usage, life expectancy rose by 20 years! If pesticides are killing us, why aren’t we dying? If pesticides cause cancer, why are cancer rates in every area (except those resulting from lifestyle choices, such as lung cancer from smoking) decreasing? Why have cancer rates in children fallen steadily throughout the years of heavy pesticide use?
Even by the vague definition used by ideological environmentalists to define sustainable – managing the use of resources today to leave future generations as well off as the current generation – modern farming wins because modern farming is what feeds the world. Yields from organic farming are, at best, 60% of what is achieved from utilizing modern inputs, meaning that organic farming is only sustainable for two-thirds of the population of the earth. How can organic farming be considered “sustainable” when it can’t even sustain today’s population, let alone the additional mouths we expect over the next few decades?
Modern farming, with inputs like synthetic fertilizer and pesticides, allow us to grow more food on less land, saving room for wildlife while feeding the world. Modern farming deserves the title, “Sustainable”.
Reprint permission given by AgAir Update, P.O. Box 850, Perry, GA 31069 - an international agricultural aviation publication.
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