Today in Pictures

[furrowtickler]

Just because I’m in the mood…

Monocrops are also an environmental problem from start to finish. The high horse you’re riding is a Shetland.

Mono crops are the furthest thing from being an environmental problem compared to the rare earth mineral mining and battery disposal.
crops are collecting and storing solar energy and carbon to produce food for millions and jobs for hundreds of thousands in western Canada such as yours

[AlbertaFarmer5]

It would be nice to see more small scale farmers but that’s hard, and many are idiots that have to learn lessons the hard way before their idealism takes a back seat. But it would be good to see people actually learning it.

I resemble that statement....

I have to learn everything the hard way. And is it turns out in most cases, there's a reason why it's always been done that way. But sometimes the reason is just that it's always been done that way.

Millions of people trying millions of different ideas.
Most of which will be spectacular failures. But it only takes a few innovations to succeed to change everything.
As long as we don't all starve in the meantime.

[Blaithin]

I resemble that statement....

I have to learn everything the hard way. And is it turns out in most cases, there's a reason why it's always been done that way. But sometimes the reason is just that it's always been done that way.

Millions of people trying millions of different ideas.
Most of which will be spectacular failures. But it only takes a few innovations to succeed to change everything.
As long as we don't all starve in the meantime.

I feel like a lot of what you’re referring to as “always been done that way” means “always been done that way for the last 60-80 years” ????

Very very short period of time backing up the always done that way philosophy.

[Blaithin]

Mono crops are the furthest thing from being an environmental problem compared to the rare earth mineral mining and battery disposal.
crops are collecting and storing solar energy and carbon to produce food for millions and jobs for hundreds of thousands in western Canada such as yours

They aren’t that far off. They’re also an extremely huge scale compared to mining and disposal.

Takes a unique farmer to be able to see the bigger picture when it comes to crops. I’m not surprised you struggle with it, just like I’m not surprised that AB5 has an understanding of what I’m talking about and that recognizing the downfalls of a system doesn’t mean throw it to the wolves and call it evil.

Nothing is perfect and being in denial about the negatives of crop farming or brushing them off as simply not relevant in the face of what crops positively do is simply living with your head in the sand. Maybe your ego doesn’t let you admit it publicly but your mind still knows it, maybe you refuse to actually acknowledge negativities, only you know.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

A very incomplete list of what makes the current model unsustainable.
Resistant weeds.
Resistant diseases
The open loop of nutrient removal.
Soil erosion far exceeding soil creation, even under the most responsible no till.
Consumers that don't want gmo, desiccated, chemicals, hormones, etc.
Financial liabilities the chemical companies are paying for products such as roundup. Destroying all incentive to innovate any new chemistries.
Depleting aquifers all around the world.
Evolving consumer preferences back into healthy meats and vegetables and out of grains and processed foods.
Food production being far removed from the population centers.
Upper limit on the size of machinery just due to roads, power lines and compaction.
Soil degradation, even the best monocrop systems don't compare to the natural state.
Completely reliant on chemicals and inputs and energy and fertilizer that rely on a global supply chain. Covid and Iran have show the potentially disastrous fragility of that system.
On the other hand, so far these unsustainable systems are feeding countless billions more people than the earth could ever support with every other system we've tried before that.

[furrowtickler]

“Always been done that way “
well things are dramatically different now than the way we used to farm . Most outside the day to day operations of modern farms don’t grasp the magnitude of changes that have been made and continue to do so .
there is a definite fit for inter cropping and multi species farming, but not everywhere
Using biologicals and precision farming has and is changing far beyond what most can comprehend

[furrowtickler]

We are improving soil health dramatically the past few years from the previous few decades by adding soil stimulants to get soil biology very active again .
much the same principle as what happens with multi species and regen ag can do , just by thinking outside the box . Farming is not defined as either mono cropping or regen , there are other ways to improve soil health and be very environmentally beneficial

[furrowtickler]

May be a Shetland … but a very educated one

[Blaithin]

Solar technology has improved a lot in the last few decades and years as well.

But an improvement from bad doesn’t suddenly mean best.

Is soil the only environment crops impacts?

I’d also argue that being environmentally beneficial from a sterile, dead, dirt does not mean environmentally healthy and an elimination of problems. It’s just trying to offset some of the massive damage done. It is still an inherently problematic method. Arguing it’s not is like arguing feedlots aren’t an issue to the environment. Yes, things are in place and improvements are made to offset the negativities, but they will never, ever be “good for the environment”. Neither will monocrops.

[Landdownunder]

Interesting storm chase mate here in maintenance man for bureau of meteorology does all the automatic weather stations across the state and half of next state. Latest and greatest technology at one site has failed all solar, two days without sunshine which is ultra rare for this site well it went into limp mode and this morning day 3 went kaput he has to get out there to reset it. 700 km one flight then hire a 4wd back to the drawing board he said. but tis rare to have no sunshine for 2 daystar this site a huge rain event last couple days