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Scary, third of arable land lost in only 40 years
4 December 2015, 11:16,
#16
RE: Scary, third of arable land lost in only 40 years
(4 December 2015, 09:10)iaaems Wrote: I firmly believe that there are too many humans around, added to which, generally,our lifestyle needs a rethink. It's a quality v quantity thing.
As for the lemming bit I would call that the 'tipping point'. In other words when 'you' pass this there is nowhere else to go.
Opposite where I live are some fields. The farmer sold them and a local bod was going to get planning permission to build. That all fell through. To get a return on investment the local bod decided to rent out little allotment plots. All very well - but nothing would grow there except 'weeds'. The allotment renters deserted en masse. The area is now a pony paddock - and very slowly you can see things beginning to get back to 'normal'. Grass is beginning to take hold and the natural processes of the animals are beginning to encourage a change in composition of the top layer of soil. One of the local 'experts' has indicated that samples taken over recent months are showing a reduction in the 'sand' and an increase in top soil material and other matter including the odd worm or two. It will take years to get it back to what most of us see in our own gardens. Industrial growing, farming, is all very well but I believe a rethink is needed before we reach the point of no return. Now may be a good time to engage grey matter.

You are 100% correct with this view Iaaems. A good friend of mine is a Farmer and so were his folks going back generations. I asked him why he couldn't farm organic and use maybe less chemicals. His answer shocked me but is none the less true. It would take him at least five years to get the health of the soil back to "normal", in that time there would be no money made. Without chemicals the weeds would be out of control, and there aren't enough farm hands to work the land, who wants to work in the fields these days?, the amount of labour you would need to run his acres he couldn't afford to pay for without an income. The most important one is that of "manure" there simply aren't enough animals to manure the arable land of England to keep it all in production, we live in the time of the car, not the Horse and Cow I'm afraid. If farmers decided to en masse turn back to earlier methods there would be government intervention because it would cause mass starvation on an unheard of scale. We have created a monster that can't be stopped now, we are damned if we do and damned if we don't.
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RE: Scary, third of arable land lost in only 40 years - by Tartar Horde - 4 December 2015, 11:16

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