ANTH 340
March 27, 2015
Soil Quality and Food Sustainability
A good cook can tell you that the better the quality of the ingredients the better the taste
of the food. A good farmer will tell you the better the quality of the soil, the better taste and
nutrition in the food. The better quality the soil, the more sustainable the food system will be.
Chemicals are like politicians; they make a lot of empty promises they cannot or have no
intention of keeping, they look good in advertisements, but their delivery is often unsatisfactory,
and many do more damage than good. Chemicals are expensive. They strip the soil of nutrients
and then the nutrients must be put back in the soil again. The soil is not healthy. It cannot
produce quality food consistently, and puts the farmer in debt. Soil matters. Soil health matters
more. Food sustainability does not mean that there will be plenty of food for everyone, as the
industrial farm chemical companies suggest, but by having sufficient high quality food that is
grown in high quality soil. Chemicals do not produce healthy soil. Organic farming does. To
have sustainable sources of agricultural products it is necessary to have healthy soil. Healthy soil
is the foundation of a sustainable food chain, from which healthy food is grown and seeds can be
produced for future harvests without the threat of soil degradation.
Soil Quality Citations
Berry, Wendell. "The Unsettling of America." 25 March 2012. Independent Science News.
.
Berry wrote a book about Asian farmers that believed the science that was being brought
to them from the West was hostile to their way of life. The farmers not only protected they set
up their own scientific research centers. They were not anti-science, they were anti-sponsor,
feeling that the Western scientists were serving the needs of someone other than the Asian
farmers. Berry learned that the science was being based on what was good for the agri-business,
universities and the powerful people in the U.S., but not farmers in Asia.
Latham, Jonathan. "How the Great Food War Will Be Won." 12 Jan 2015. Independent
Science News. .
Latham explains that there is plenty of food and that the perception that there will not be
enough food to feed the billions of people is a plan by agri-business to convince people that they
need chemicals to feed the people. Their argument is that the only way to grow enough food is
to have high yields that come from agro-chemicals like fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and
GMO crops designed for high yield. Latham says all of this is a lie. The truth is that chemicals
degrade the environment and prevent sustainable agriculture.
MIT. "Organic Industrial Agriculture Mission 2014: Feeding the World." 2014.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In this article that is part of the MIT Mission 2014: Feeding the World project, Organic
Industrial Agriculture is defined and explained. Organic agriculture helps the environment by
reducing monoculture that takes nutrients from soil but does not add them. It also reduces the
introduction of pesticides and other chemicals that are hazardous. Another issue that Organic
agriculture helps with is soil quality. The quality of the soil is essential to provide quality food.
"Organic Agriculture Gains Ground on Mitigating Climate Change and Improving Food
Security: Healthy Food from Healthy Soil." May-Aug 2012. United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. .
This article reinforces other articles about the quality of the soil being the key to feeding
a growing world population. Chemical pesticides and herbicides, as well as tillage and other
industrial agricultural practices tend to strip the soil, contaminate the soil, destroy root systems
that hold moisture in the soil and prevent erosion. Unhealthy soil washes away and without top
soil the land is not able to be used as agricultural land, as the Dust Bowl proved.
Tomlinson, Isobel. "Feeding the future: How organic farming can help feed the world." 30
May 2012. Soil Association.
.
This article explains how organic agriculture can feed even a growing population. The
source encourages a change in diet to more healthy foods that are designed for small growers that
can produce food for local consumption. Organic agriculture is able to produce food sustainably
without hurting the environment. Organic agriculture is sustainable because it builds soil, and
does not degrade, erode, or dry out the fields with tillage. This is especially important during
times of drought. The organic practices take less water because the cover crops and lack of
tillage keeps moisture from escaping from the soil.
ANTH 340
March 10, 2015
Soil Quality and Food Sustainability
It is said that people are what they eat. If they are eating food grown in unhealthy soil
then their food, even if it is fresh vegetables and grains, will not be as healthy. Soil matters. Soil
health matters more. Food sustainability does not mean that there will be plenty of food for
everyone, as the industrial farm chemical companies suggest, but by having sufficient high
quality food that is grown in high quality soil. Chemicals do not produce healthy soil. Organic
farming does. To have sustainable sources of agricultural products it is necessary to have
healthy food in healthy soil.
Chemical companies insist that only they can produce enough food to feed humanity, but
“Researchers from Iowa have shown that organic farming methods can yield almost as highly as
pesticide-intensive methods. Other researchers, from Berkeley, California, have reached a similar
conclusion” (Latham). Furthermore, where farming uses industrial methods of agriculture which
uses modern chemicals and practices, “…it leaves landscapes progressively emptier of life.
Eventually, the soil turns either into mud that washes into the rivers or into dust that blows away
in the wind. Industrial agriculture has no long term future; it is ecological suicide” (Latham).
Industrial agriculture is, therefore, unsustainable.
There is plenty of food grown all over the world but there is inadequate distribution of
food. To feed the extra two-billion people expected before 2050, it will require eating less meat
and more fresh foods. Too much of the food produced today is going to feed animals for meat.
If people ate less meat there would automatically be more food for people. When animals graze
fields they are “helping to mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon in the soil. Grass-
reared meat can also be the best option if grazed on land that would not be suitable for any other
type of agriculture” (Tomlinson). These changes will help the environment by not putting
chemicals in it that will hurt the soil, cause erosion and kill the nutrients.
The United Nations is in favor of organic agriculture because it is a “holistic production
management system that avoids use of synthetic (in-organic or chemical) fertilizers, pesticides
and genetically modified organisms, minimizes pollution of air, soil and water, and optimizes the
health and productivity of interdependent communities of plants, animals and people” (Healthy
Food from Healthy Soil).
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) considers organic farming to be a solution
to poor soil quality. Its says that the organic methods increase soil health, using
crop rotation, soil surface mulching, and animal manures and recycled crop
wastes as compost. Through the use of these natural nutrient recycling methods,
organic farming makes soil more sustainable. Because there is no heavy
dependence on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, soil salinity is decreased and as
a result the soil is more fertile (MIT).
The movement away from industrial agriculture is growing. In 2002 many Asian peasant
farmers protested being left out of decision makers by governments and agricultural scientists by
starting their own research programs. The peasants felt that they were not just being ignored,
they felt the science that was being pushed on them was “actively hostile to their way of life” and
the scientists were “serving someone else’s needs” such as the companies promoting industrial
agriculture (Berry).
I find this topic fascinating and important. I want to pursue this research topic further.
Works Cited
Berry, Wendell. "The Unsettling of America." 25 March 2012. Independent Science News.
.
Latham, Jonathan. "How the Great Food War Will Be Won." 12 Jan 2015. Independent Science
News. .
MIT. "Mission 2014: Feeding the World." 2014. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
.
"Organic Agriculture Gains Ground on Mitigating Climate Change and Improving Food
Security: Healthy Food from Healthy Soil." May-Aug 2012. United Nations Economic
and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. .
Tomlinson, Isobel. "Feeding the future: How organic farming can help feed the world." 30 May
2012. Soil Association.
.
ANTH 340
March 10, 2015
Soil Quality and Food Sustainability
It is said that people are what they eat. If they are eating food grown in unhealthy soil
then their food, even if it is fresh vegetables and grains, will not be as healthy. Soil matters. Soil
health matters more. Food sustainability does not mean that there will be plenty of food for
everyone, as the industrial farm chemical companies suggest, but by having sufficient high
quality food that is grown in high quality soil. Chemicals do not produce healthy soil. Organic
farming does. To have sustainable sources of agricultural products it is necessary to have
healthy food in healthy soil.
Chemical companies insist that only they can produce enough food to feed humanity, but
“Researchers from Iowa have shown that organic farming methods can yield almost as highly as
pesticide-intensive methods. Other researchers, from Berkeley, California, have reached a similar
conclusion” (Latham). Furthermore, where farming uses industrial methods of agriculture which
uses modern chemicals and practices, “…it leaves landscapes progressively emptier of life.
Eventually, the soil turns either into mud that washes into the rivers or into dust that blows away
in the wind. Industrial agriculture has no long term future; it is ecological suicide” (Latham).
Industrial agriculture is, therefore, unsustainable.
There is plenty of food grown all over the world but there is inadequate distribution of
food. To feed the extra two-billion people expected before 2050, it will require eating less meat
and more fresh foods. Too much of the food produced today is going to feed animals for meat.
If people ate less meat there would automatically be more food for people. When animals graze
fields they are “helping to mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon in the soil. Grass-
reared meat can also be the best option if grazed on land that would not be suitable for any other
type of agriculture” (Tomlinson). These changes will help the environment by not putting
chemicals in it that will hurt the soil, cause erosion and kill the nutrients.
The United Nations is in favor of organic agriculture because it is a “holistic production
management system that avoids use of synthetic (in-organic or chemical) fertilizers, pesticides
and genetically modified organisms, minimizes pollution of air, soil and water, and optimizes the
health and productivity of interdependent communities of plants, animals and people” (Healthy
Food from Healthy Soil).
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) considers organic farming to be a solution
to poor soil quality. Its says that the organic methods increase soil health, using
crop rotation, soil surface mulching, and animal manures and recycled crop
wastes as compost. Through the use of these natural nutrient recycling methods,
organic farming makes soil more sustainable. Because there is no heavy
dependence on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, soil salinity is decreased and as
a result the soil is more fertile (MIT).
The movement away from industrial agriculture is growing. In 2002 many Asian peasant
farmers protested being left out of decision makers by governments and agricultural scientists by
starting their own research programs. The peasants felt that they were not just being ignored,
they felt the science that was being pushed on them was “actively hostile to their way of life” and
the scientists were “serving someone else’s needs” such as the companies promoting industrial
agriculture (Berry).
I find this topic fascinating and important. I want to pursue this research topic further.
Works Cited
Berry, Wendell. "The Unsettling of America." 25 March 2012. Independent Science News.
.
Latham, Jonathan. "How the Great Food War Will Be Won." 12 Jan 2015. Independent Science
News. .
MIT. "Mission 2014: Feeding the World." 2014. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
.
"Organic Agriculture Gains Ground on Mitigating Climate Change and Improving Food
Security: Healthy Food from Healthy Soil." May-Aug 2012. United Nations Economic
and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. .
Tomlinson, Isobel. "Feeding the future: How organic farming can help feed the world." 30 May
2012. Soil Association.
.
Soil Quality Citations
Berry, Wendell. "The Unsettling of America." 25 March 2012. Independent Science News.
.
Berry wrote a book about Asian farmers that believed the science that was being brought
to them from the West was hostile to their way of life. The farmers not only protected they set
up their own scientific research centers. They were not anti-science, they were anti-sponsor,
feeling that the Western scientists were serving the needs of someone other than the Asian
farmers. Berry learned that the science was being based on what was good for the agri-business,
universities and the powerful people in the U.S., but not farmers in Asia.
Latham, Jonathan. "How the Great Food War Will Be Won." 12 Jan 2015. Independent
Science News. .
Latham explains that there is plenty of food and that the perception that there will not be
enough food to feed the billions of people is a plan by agri-business to convince people that they
need chemicals to feed the people. Their argument is that the only way to grow enough food is
to have high yields that come from agro-chemicals like fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and
GMO crops designed for high yield. Latham says all of this is a lie. The truth is that chemicals
degrade the environment and prevent sustainable agriculture.
MIT. "Organic Industrial Agriculture Mission 2014: Feeding the World." 2014.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In this article that is part of the MIT Mission 2014: Feeding the World project, Organic
Industrial Agriculture is defined and explained. Organic agriculture helps the environment by
reducing monoculture that takes nutrients from soil but does not add them. It also reduces the
introduction of pesticides and other chemicals that are hazardous. Another issue that Organic
agriculture helps with is soil quality. The quality of the soil is essential to provide quality food.
"Organic Agriculture Gains Ground on Mitigating Climate Change and Improving Food
Security: Healthy Food from Healthy Soil." May-Aug 2012. United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. .
This article reinforces other articles about the quality of the soil being the key to feeding
a growing world population. Chemical pesticides and herbicides, as well as tillage and other
industrial agricultural practices tend to strip the soil, contaminate the soil, destroy root systems
that hold moisture in the soil and prevent erosion. Unhealthy soil washes away and without top
soil the land is not able to be used as agricultural land, as the Dust Bowl proved.
Tomlinson, Isobel. "Feeding the future: How organic farming can help feed the world." 30
May 2012. Soil Association.
.
This article explains how organic agriculture can feed even a growing population. The
source encourages a change in diet to more healthy foods that are designed for small growers that
can produce food for local consumption. Organic agriculture is able to produce food sustainably
without hurting the environment. Organic agriculture is sustainable because it builds soil, and
does not degrade, erode, or dry out the fields with tillage. This is especially important during
times of drought. The organic practices take less water because the cover crops and lack of
tillage keeps moisture from escaping from the soil.
ANTH 340
March 27, 2015
Soil Quality and Food Sustainability
A good cook can tell you that the better the quality of the ingredients the better the taste
of the food. A good farmer will tell you the better the quality of the soil, the better taste and
nutrition in the food. The better quality the soil, the more sustainable the food system will be.
Chemicals are like politicians; they make a lot of empty promises they cannot or have no
intention of keeping, they look good in advertisements, but their delivery is often unsatisfactory,
and many do more damage than good. Chemicals are expensive. They strip the soil of nutrients
and then the nutrients must be put back in the soil again. The soil is not healthy. It cannot
produce quality food consistently, and puts the farmer in debt. Soil matters. Soil health matters
more. Food sustainability does not mean that there will be plenty of food for everyone, as the
industrial farm chemical companies suggest, but by having sufficient high quality food that is
grown in high quality soil. Chemicals do not produce healthy soil. Organic farming does. To
have sustainable sources of agricultural products it is necessary to have healthy soil. Healthy soil
is the foundation of a sustainable food chain, from which healthy food is grown and seeds can be
produced for future harvests without the threat of soil degradation.
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