The tragedy of industrial agriculture

Our food system is broken. The inputs required to operate the industrial agricultural system aren't sustainable. Gas, diesel and propane to run farm equipment. Petroleum to make the chemical fertilizers required because the soil is depleted of nutrients. Nothing brings all this home for me more than seeing the elements of industrial agriculture clustered all in one place.

Because I'm a "farmer in training", I try to take every opportunity to attend seminars, presentations, lectures and courses -- anything that might help me increase my knowledge and hone my skills. Naively, I drove to Raleigh today to attend The Southern Farm Show. I should have known better. The fairgrounds were packed with visitors, all there to see every piece of farm equipment you can image. Tractors so large that ladders are required to reach what amounts to a second story cab. Chemical concoctions to boost production and kill pests. Every accessory you'd need if you were running a "factory farm" or concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO). It was an industrial ag extravaganza. And miles away from the smallscale, but sustainable route I'm trying to achieve.


Which brings me to a book I recently purchased. Fatal Harvest, edited by Andrew Kimbrell, studies the question of "how and why has agriculture, an endeavor that for millennia involved intimate knowledge of and profound respect for nature and place, become so industrialized that it's wreaking havoc all around the world?" The book provides side-by-side photo comparisons of industrial ag versus agrarian-based agricultural systems and poignantly demonstrates not only how unsustainable industrial ag is, but also how hazardous it is to Earth and her inhabitants.