Re: Modern farming debate

E. Ann Clark, Associate Professor (ACLARK@crop.uoguelph.ca)
Fri, 11 Aug 1995 12:26:00 EDT

Laura: your figures are consistent with what I've read - 70-90% of
the grain grown in North America is fed to livestock - either at home
or after export. Leaving aside the issue of whether or not milk and
meat production should be reduced, per se, I can certainly agree that
the method of production need not be injurious to the environment.
Indeed, I would suggest that sustained grain/vegetable production in
the absence of a significant ruminant livestock component may, in
fact, be quite difficult.

Withholding cultivation under a perennial sod crop is one of the few
ways of increasing soil OM and enhancing soil "health". This could,
conceivably, be done by set aside programs, but might well involve
systems in which directly human-usable products (grain, fruit,
vegetables) are produced in perhaps 5 years out of 10, just as
potatoes are now produced in only 1 year out of 3 in PEI. The "non-
crop" years are to reconstruct the soil following the potatoes, and
typically involve land covers without a net economic return. Thus,
the price of the potatoes in one year has to be enough to cover all
costs of production in three years. The same would apply to
grain/veg systems without benefit of livestock cash flow in the "non-
crop" years.

Alternatively, mixed farming systems can be (and have been) devised
to capture synergistic interactions between plant and animal
agriculture. Soil and water management, weed control, and nutrient
cycling feature prominently in the logical structure of these
systems. Ann

ACLARK@crop.uoguelph.ca
Dr. E. Ann Clark
Associate Professor
Crop Science
University of Guelph
Guelph, ON N1G 2W1
Phone: 519-824-4120 Ext. 2508
FAX: 519 763-8933