ART 12B Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Chemical Free, Soil Conservation, Tillage
Art 12B 6.5.2018
Soil
⚫ Countless of societies throughout history have shown a pattern of damaging and degrading their
soil then having to move onto to the next area. It would be wise to learn from this history as there
is currently nowhere else to go.
⚫ Pesticides and fertilizers are buying us time in order to develop a truly sustainable soil conservation
system.
➢ Farmers are relying more on chemicals to suppress weeds.
➢ We can reduce mineral nitrogen fertilizer and herbicides if we add oats with alfalfa and red
clovers which takes nitrogen from the air and puts it into the soil. It also maintans profitability.
➢ What impedes more research about this is because we do not put a price tag on destroying the
environment—these are externalities. If these were calculated into the total farming cost,
sustainable food would be infinitly more sustainable.
➢ Planting crops in a diverse rotation is also a solution to sustain the soil.
New Mexico Dead Zone: an area the size of Connecticut where fish cannot survive. The public has to pay
the price to clean drinking water that is tainted by high nitrate levels from farming chemical run off
going into the water supplies.
Oakallal Aquifer: will only have irrigation water available for the next 20 years at the rate we are
drawing it down.
Corn and Soy: everything is built around planting these crops which are not part of healthy and diverse
rotatios. Aerias do’t eat the hole far.
Sustaining Farming Techniques
⚫ Wild Ramps: wild onion in woods throughout the South and Midwest.
⚫ Chef’s ollaoratio eetig asked these farers after raps seaso to gro ertai egetales
that they wanted that were new just like these ramps. It was a wide variety.
➢ Rick Balis: processed dry Iroquois corn from the Iroquois Nation who stopped producing it.
These farmers went out to find this corn and produce it themselves for this chef.
➢ Being conscious of not adding new inputs to the industry like growing your own seeds and not
buying new equipment helps. They also focus on quality and providing to chefs.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Countless of societies throughout history have shown a pattern of damaging and degrading their soil then having to move onto to the next area. It would be wise to learn from this history as there is currently nowhere else to go. Pesticides and fertilizers are buying us time in order to develop a truly sustainable soil conservation system. Farmers are relying more on chemicals to suppress weeds. We can reduce mineral nitrogen fertilizer and herbicides if we add oats with alfalfa and red clovers which takes nitrogen from the air and puts it into the soil. What impedes more research about this is because we do not put a price tag on destroying the environment these are externalities. If these were calculated into the total farming cost, sustainable food would be infinitly more sustainable. Planting crops in a diverse rotation is also a solution to sustain the soil.
