As some of you know, i am posting chapters of my book,”How the food Industry is Killing us”, one chapter at a time. In between postings, I have been posting articles that fill in much of what was not included in the book. Recently I posted information concerning the minerals in our blood and how it matched the minerals in the ocean. I was criticized for not knowing what I was talking about; because of my lack of education. Since high school, in college, again in college in my 60’s and then at the University in my 70’s, other students have come to me because i could explain what the teacher couldn’t or what I knew about related subjects. In my writing, I try to explain what many have difficulty in understanding in words that they can understand. I like to think that I am partly successful in that.
I was criticized for referring to gas substances as minerals by some I think who were scientists. In my use of the word, I quoted others who had used the word in the same manner. I thought my use of the words was okay. I welcome criticism. I am not always right and in addition, conversations are extended that provide provide more information. I was not entirely wrong. Maybe not in the strictest scientific notation of the field of study my critics were involved with.
according to Phys dot org:
“ nitrogen is remineralized in the soil and absorbed by plant roots.“
In addition, the University of Mo says:
“Carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen are obtained by plants from carbon dioxide and water found in the air and soil. They are called mineral elements”
The point I am making is that maybe I don’t have tunnel vision which can limit how one sees the world. My experiences of being born when my father was still farming with horses and I can still see his first iron wheeled tractor may give me a different outlook. Then I went to the one room school my father attended. But my teacher went on to win awards, so I had a better start than many. I could go on about my food experience both in raising, in organics, in cooperation with the Amish, preparing and even selling to grocery stores, but my next experience is rare and applies directly to this article.
My first job out of high school was to apply anhydrous ammonia fertilizer to the local farmer’s corn fields. The fertilizer was a gas, but we had it pressurized in tanks in a liquid form. As we went down the corn rows, we knifed the product into the soil about 6 inches deep. The knife was a narrow sharpened piece of metal about an inch wide with a tube on the back side that allowed the liquid to flow. As the fertilizer was released from pressure, it expanded into a gas. Since the furrow created to knife the fertilizer into the ground didn’t have a device to close the dirt over the gap, some fertilizer immediately escaped into the air.
At the time I was applying fertilizer, most farmers applied 60 lb per acre. This soon went to a hundred pounds and then 200 lbs. in some areas. Two things are important here. One is that the amount of fertilizer applied to raise a bushel of corn has increased faster than the increase in results. The other factor is that of the fertilizer applied, roughly 50% is all that is used by the plant. The rest goes downstream in runoff or escapes into the air.
According to Phys dot org:
“Six of our nine planetary boundaries have now been crossed—and industrial agriculture are the main culprit..planetary boundaries are thresholds of disturbance beyond which our Earth's system are put on an uncontrollable and irreversible path that undermines the very conditions for life…it is the industrialization of agriculture that is largely, and more complexly, responsible for breaking the limit… the more nitrogenous fertilizers are used to increase crop yields, the less the added nitrogen is effective and the greater the losses through leaching and volatilisation…”
At the present rate largely produced by industrial farming, we are producing twice what our atmosphere can handle. There are three changes that need to be made by industrial agriculture. I will make the comment here that industrial farming is how your local farmer is producing his crops and livestock.
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A change to organic farming. This would mean that farmers would need to use crop rotation between cereal crops and legumes. Many organic farmers will have a half dozen different crops growing at one time which helps to build soil fertility because the use of legumes produces nitrogen naturally from the air.
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My father raised corn, oats, wheat, alfalfa, clover and soybeans. But we also had chickens, both for meat and eggs. He raised hogs and cattle. By feeding these animals on the land where the crop was raised, many things were returned to the soil including nitrogen, minerals and even water. Farmers need to return to diversified farming including animals. This is an important part of regenerative agriculture.
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Our citizens need to reduce our diet of meat and dairy products. In affluent societies, probably in half. This is not making anyone vegetarian or vegan, but does reduce the need for crops to be raised for feeding animals.
There are studies that show that we can achieve these goals. For more information go to Environmental Research.
One of the problems is that of our current system of land ownership and the actual farmers. Much of our land is owned by either corporations, large individual owners and/or retired families that hold on to and then transfer the land to offspring who don't actually farm. The owners often rent the land out with their income coming from a percentage of the crop. This means that the higher the production, the more they make. Efforts by the renter to reduce his expenses may mean that the owner will have a lower production which means less income.
Through organic and regenerative agriculture, the cost of production will drop because of less expense for nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides. Although the result may not be immediate, many times the production is actually equal to and even higher in drought years. But changing to these new systems require education on both the farmers and land owners.
“Simply put, recent data from farming systems and pasture trials around the globe show that we could sequester more than 100% of current annual CO 2 emissions with a switch to widely available and inexpensive organic management practices, which we term “regenerative organic agriculture.” These practices work to maximize carbon fixation while minimizing the loss of that carbon once returned to the soil, reversing the greenhouse effect.” Rodale
Our own government has educational programs as well as monetary incentives to help farmers change. From my limited experience and observation, education is the main hindrance for change. Making the change will not only help control the nitrogen in our atmosphere, but store surplus carbon in our soil. You can read more about those factors on my column “Regenerative Agriculture” On Daily Kos (https://www.dailykos.com/groups/regenerative%20agriculture).
We encourage you to read the book "How the Food Industry is Killing Us" available free at libraries (just ask), or Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Independent bookstores, online and worldwide. Available both in print and online CLICK HERE Our web site Healthy Sources www.HealthySources.online has many hard to find stores with organic foods, water purifiers, clothing, bedding, etc.