This was a hot topic of conversation in one of my master's classes on food policies. And while producing things locally is a great idea, it actually can be very inefficient. Iowa is a great place to grow corn, South Florida is a great place to grow sugarcane, and Costa Rica is a great place to grow bananas. Also, small farms typically mean more farmers and thinking more about what you are going to eat and frankly the CPA from Miami is best as a CPA, not a farmer. Furthermore, manure/compost/legumes is not the be all end all of soil fertility. In its native state, the soil that I grow on is incredibly rich in nitrogen and calcium but deficient in micronutrients, phosphorus, and potasium. Since the ultimate goal of fertilization is to meet plant needs with the fertilizer applied you would be overapplying nitrogen if you dared to put it on my soil, with the addition of copper, boron, manganese, phosphorus and potash the soil magically becomes some of the most fertile soil in the entire world.
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Originally Posted by permaculturekidd
I think with enough ingenuity we'll be able to get by subsistence gardening and local farms though I think the biggest thing we will have to do to make it work is a regionalization the average diet.
That means someone in Iowa not eating Salmon and Bananas ; but eating a diet rich in free-range bison, dairy, short season crops and grains (hopefully fermented and whole). Someone in Hawaii should really more on tree crops and the sea with meat (other then say goat) and dairy (also from goat) not being a major segment of your food intake.
When we become more realistic with our diets. Take influences from other societies, like using three sisters, permaculture, do-nothing farming; since row cropping is wasteful and only fuels the petroleum consuming machine.
Better localized varieties and less water intensive culitvars where they are suited.
Biochar and mulching are our best bets to a more fruitful system. Terra preta ofcourse never gets exhausted and has lusher plants; mulching the way Mansanobu Fukouka teaches in one-straw revolution and in natural farming can be used in grain production.
We just cannot keep the same methods of farming and slap on some compost as if it will do some great change. We have to do better, or else we go through famines or worse food wars.*
(*Or atleast thats what the survivalist in me thinks)
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