Do we need industrial fertilizers to weather the food crisis?

This is a huge issue, and thanks so much for drawing attention to it, Eva!

I firmly believe that scaling back industrial agriculture in favor of small-scale, locally produced alternatives needs to happen now. Industrial agriculture depends on cheap fuel and government subsidies, and drives small farmers out of business.

On a per-acre basis, small farming is more efficient than the most pesticide-laden, oil-soaked ADM cropland in Kansas.

We need more small farmers in every corner of the world. Someday soon, the days of flying lettuce across continents will be over, and without a local infrastructure of food producers, we're screwed.

Proponents of industrial agriculture argue that the world is too over-populated, and the global poor depend on big agriculture for grain production. Yes, there are a lot of hungry people in the world, but again, small-scale agriculture is simply more efficient. Driving African farmers out of business by flooding them with cheap grain imports may make economic "sense" from Wall Street's perspective, but it's a travesty from the point of view of the hungry abandoning their farms and forced into urban slums.

Read Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan and Bill McKibben for more.

That's exactly right, Kelsey – but it's all interconnected. industrial agriculture drives small farmers out of business, which leads to unsustainable dependencies – the best way to prevent hunger is to make it easier for that mother and her community to produce a reliable supply of their own food.

What's that piece of advice from Jesus? Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, teach him to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime.

It's less a matter of teaching the proverbial fisherman to fish, or farmers to farm – it's about slowing down a system that takes the fish and the crops right out from under them.

This is a huge issue, and thanks so much for drawing attention to it, Eva!

I firmly believe that scaling back industrial agriculture in favor of small-scale, locally produced alternatives needs to happen now. Industrial agriculture depends on cheap fuel and government subsidies, and drives small farmers out of business.

On a per-acre basis, small farming is more efficient than the most pesticide-laden, oil-soaked ADM cropland in Kansas.

We need more small farmers in every corner of the world. Someday soon, the days of flying lettuce across continents will be over, and without a local infrastructure of food producers, we’re screwed.

Proponents of industrial agriculture argue that the world is too over-populated, and the global poor depend on big agriculture for grain production. Yes, there are a lot of hungry people in the world, but again, small-scale agriculture is simply more efficient. Driving African farmers out of business by flooding them with cheap grain imports may make economic “sense” from Wall Street’s perspective, but it’s a travesty from the point of view of the hungry abandoning their farms and forced into urban slums.

Read Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan and Bill McKibben for more.

That’s exactly right, Kelsey – but it’s all interconnected. industrial agriculture drives small farmers out of business, which leads to unsustainable dependencies – the best way to prevent hunger is to make it easier for that mother and her community to produce a reliable supply of their own food.

What’s that piece of advice from Jesus? Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day, teach him to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.

It’s less a matter of teaching the proverbial fisherman to fish, or farmers to farm – it’s about slowing down a system that takes the fish and the crops right out from under them.