#oxfordfarming

Having spent a few days in Oxford this week for the Real Farming Conference i have returned feeling extremely positive about the way in which we are farming but even more concerned about the future of agriculture as a whole.   In England's green and pleasant land was the famous song once written, we can only dream that pastures new will return as they were once back in ancient times.  Over the last few decades of over production and intensification of agriculture we need to ask ourselves some very important questions.

Why do we, as a nation or as a world, grow so many cereals? 

The main reason is that corn is such a productive and versatile crop.  It has incredibly high yields and it can be turned into a staggering array of products.  It can be used as animal feed to help fatten our pigs, chickens and cattle. And it can be turned into bio-fuel, high-fructose syrup or even bio-based plastics.

No wonder we grow so much of the stuff. 

We have also been encouraged to grow such crops and be financially rewarded for growing as much as we can even if the land on which we plant it is not entirely suitable.  Over the years millions of acres have been cultivated, good pasture land has been ripped up.  The land has been continuously worked and the soil has been completely drained of all it nutrients, so much so that the only way to keep on taking is to keep on applying the nitrates / glyphosate's and other toxic materials that assist in making more crops.  The sad thing is that most of the crops are not used for human consumption and we as a nation and a global community need to start questioning why we are using so many cereals as a system for bio-fuels, animal feed and other highly processed foods owned by massive corporations and perhaps most importantly how it consumes an enormous amount of natural resources to create it in the first place. 

The seminar was actually focusing on how our farming system in the UK could benefit greatly from allowing ruminants to be profitably raised soley off pasture.  Afterall we are reaching a tipping point where the industrial farming revolution threatens our countryside, health and the quality of our food.  Whilst some see the future of mega indoor industrial farming disguised and used as a term "sustainable intensification", others see keeping animals on farms rather than factories as the real solution to the worlds problems. 

The current system is inefficient at feeding people.   Most people would agree that the primary goal of agriculture should be feeding people. While other goals — especially producing income, creating jobs, conservation and rural development — are critically important too, the ultimate success of any agricultural system should be measured in part by how well it delivers food to a growing population. After all, feeding people is why agriculture exists in the first place.

The current system is aligned to feed power stations  and animals instead of feeding people. 

Unfortunately it also uses a large amount of natural resources.  Much of this fertilizer, along with large amounts of soil, washes into the  lakes, rivers and coastal oceans, polluting waters and damaging ecosystems along the way.

Looking at these land, water, fertilizer and soil costs together, you could argue that the current system uses more natural resources than any other agricultural system, while providing only modest benefits in food. It’s a dubious trade-off — depleting natural resources to deliver relatively little food and nutrition to the world.  But it doesn’t need to be that way. Innovative farmers are exploring other methods for growing corn, including better conventional, organic, biotech and conservation farming methods that can dramatically reduce chemical inputs, water use, soil losses and impacts on wildlife.

A more resilient agricultural system would start by diversifying our crops, shifting some of the cereal monoculture to a landscape rich with a variety of crops and pastures. It would more closely mimic natural ecosystems and include a mixture of perennial and different seasonal plants — not just rye grass annuals with shallow roots that are especially sensitive to dry spells and hungry for nitrates. Furthermore, it would include conservation tillage and organic farming practices that improve soil conditions by restoring soil structure, organic content and water holding capacity, making farming landscapes much more resilient to floods and droughts. The overall result would be a landscape better prepared to weather the next drought, flood, disease or pest.

There are a number of ways to improve the delivery of food from the global system. First and foremost, shifting cereals away from biofuels would generate more food for the world, lower demand for grain, lessen commodity price pressures, and reduce the burden on consumers around the world.  Furthermore, eating less intensively produced meat and diversifying the cereals into a wider mix of agricultural systems, including other crops and grass-fed animal operations, could produce substantially more food —  and a more diverse and nutritious diet —  than the current system.