Things to think outside the box about........
Dave G.
At last week's forum in Menomonie, the keynoter was Fred Kirschenmann, a
longtime national leader in the sustainable ag movement and distinguished
fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State
University, Ames, Iowa. He also runs a cow-calf beef operation in
southcentral North Dakota, where he grows nine grain crops and two legumes,
striving for a highly diversified "system" that's input-reducing and
better
for the land.
Kirschenmann says what Wisconsin agriculture needs for the future is
"sustainability." That's a tough term to define, he concedes. His
definition
is "an agriculture that indefinitely maintains productivity" into the
future. He went on to drive home the point that the current system - heading
to monocultures and ever-larger farms, and based on expensive inputs like
fuel and purchased fertilizers - may not be sustainable.
What does it take to maintain productivity? Kirschenmann thinks farmer,
cultural critic and poet/essayist Wendell Berry nailed it down pretty well.
Paraphrasing, Kirschenmann (and Berry) contend that for agriculture to be
sustainable, the land must be "used well." The people who use that
land must
"know it well," "be highly motivated to use it well,"
"know how to use it
well," have "time" to use it well and be able to
"afford" to use it well."
That said, farmers today face major looming challenges like global depletion
of fossil fuels and water, environmental degradation and climate change and
what Kirschenmann contends is a "bankrupt" farm economy. Rising
infectious
diseases, like avian flu, might also be added to the list, he remarks.
Agriculture's current irrigation path doesn't appear to be sustainable,
according to Kirschenmann. He says four-fifths of China's grain production
depends on irrigation. Some aquifers there are being depleted at the rate of
10 feet a year. So is three-fifth's of India's, and one-fifth of this
country's. Major aquifers like the Ogallala that serves Texas, Kansas and
Oklahoma is quickly dwindling.
To make matters worse, a report last year out of the United Nations,
developed by scientists in 95 countries, reveals that 60 percent of the
ecosystems around the globe are being degraded or have uses unsustainable
and may even be on the verge of ecological collapse. The report cites
climate change, loss of biodiversity, land degradation, and loss of species
and genetic diversity.
Then there's the price of oil; no respite in sight. And the world's
agriculture will be trying to meet a demand for food crops expected to grow
70 to 85 percent in the next 50 years in a climate that will have double the
number of severe weather events that it now spawns.
As for Kirschenmann's comment on today's "bankrupt farm economy," he
elaborates that gross farm income today is pretty much the same as it was
back in 1949 (adjusted-for-inflation dollars), but farmers well know what's
happened with expenses. Net farm income has been on a downward slide.
"This
is not a sustainable future," he maintains.
He points to the increasing gap between retail food value and farm-based
value. In 1990, the marketing sector's share was 67 percent, the farm share
9 percent and inputs share 24 percent. Back in 1910, the marketing sector
has 44 percent, farmers' 44 percent and inputs 12 percent.
