> Good point, Fred! Tricia
>
> --------------- Forwarded Message ---------------
>
> From: "Frederick R. Magdoff", INTERNET:fmagdoff@moose.uvm.edu
> To: Patricia Dines, 73652,1202
> Date: Tue, Oct 22, 1996, 4:22 AM
> Subject: Re: Downsides of Long-distance Food Transport
>
> Patricia,
> You forwarded a message on the downside of food transport over
> long distances. One important aspect omitted from the discussion is that
> it becomes more and more difficult to have true cycling of nutrients.
> This means that there is an overabundance of nutrients in parts of the
> country (world) and depletion in others. The nutrient depleting farms
> need to import commercial fertilizers (concentrated nutrients) and this
> results in a host of problems as well (energy use to manufacture and
> transport the fertilizers, environmental damage at phosphate mines, etc.).
> On the other hand, the nutrient accumulating animal farms (factories)
> and cities suffer from an overabundance of nutrients and this results
> in water pollution. If food was consumed near where produced - by both
> animals and humans - this issue could be dealt remedied easily.
> Please feel free to forward this if you wish.
>
> FRED
> *******************************************************************************
> Fred Magdoff
> Northeast Region SARE Program
> Hills Building
> University of Vermont
> Burlington, VT 05405
> tel:802-656-0472
> fax:802-656-4656
> ******************************************************************************
>
Fred: although I very much agree with your point, I question whether it
is merely "factory" farms that are part of the problem. For example,
virtually all Vermont dairy farms, including small dairies, including
your dairy, have some significant nutrient build-up issues since the
nutrient content of the grain imported is greater than the milk/meat
exported. I'm not sure that grass-based dairying is the total answer,
since even in low-grain feeding countries like Ireland or New Zealand
significant amounts of fertilizers are imported to allow economical
rates of grass growth.The same holds true for vegetable farming - the
economically viable farms Ihave seen generally rely on some purchased
fertilizer, whether organic or not. In addition, it seems that under our
current system, it is next to impossible to have significant amounts of food
grown near population centers, because of land values.
All I'm saying is that economics plays a part in this discussion.
"Food" for thought - it seems to me that the potentially best answer to
this problem of nutrient flow must be farms which incorporate both
livestock and cropping, so that on-farm nutrient recycling occurs as much
as possible. In my readings on sustainable agriculture, I find animals
mentioned far too little. Far from being seen as environmental problems,
(well-managed) livestock, especially ruminants, provide the best route
to economic and environmental sustainability. This results from their
ability to use marginal and soil-building land (sod) to produce profits,
their impetus to use forages as a part of a crop rotation or permanent
rotational pasture (probably the most environmentally sound way to farm),
their ability to produce manure for fertilizer and soil building, their
ability to produce economically valuable high-protein products, etc.
Studies here in Vermont have shown that crops (corn) can be grown with
comparable yields on land that has been fertilized with high rates of
manure or land that has received conventional fertilizers. We will never
become a sustainable society, at present population levels, by consuming
products from farms that are not diversified in respect to livestock and
cropping, organic or not. Yes I know nutrients can come from seaweed,
fish by-products, wood ashes, and many other sources, but are we not
depleting the resources from which these nutrients came (oceans, forests)
just the same as in conventional agriculture? Livestock are truly
regenerative; they create food from crops grown on-farm, and can
transfer nutrients back to that same land to grow other types of food.
I'm not a purist, and know that other sources of fertility (including
convention fertilizers) may be necesary in such a system, but it still
strikes me as a good base to build from.
Nat Bacon
nbacon@zoo.uvm.edu