January 6, 2009

yes!

Just go read the Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson op-ed in the NY Times. It's Wendell Berry! Also they talk about pasturing, which is really awesome, and about perennialization of grain crops - definitely awesome.

Soil that is used and abused in this way is as nonrenewable as (and far more valuable than) oil. Unlike oil, it has no technological substitute — and no powerful friends in the halls of government.

Agriculture has too often involved an insupportable abuse and waste of soil, ever since the first farmers took away the soil-saving cover and roots of perennial plants. Civilizations have destroyed themselves by destroying their farmland. This irremediable loss, never enough noticed, has been made worse by the huge monocultures and continuous soil-exposure of the agriculture we now practice.

Correct!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I found you over at TNS's blog, and I can't even remember who you are over there now, but you live in Philadelphia! And you love Wendell Berry! You're my kinda gal. Looking forward to browsing your blog.

Marta

Laurel said...

Philly being what it is, I wouldn't be surprised if we'd actually met at some point.