rode the combine with my brother this afternoon. The yield of 313 bushel corn per acre is unprecedented in SE South Dakota. They had a good growing season, the first in years. I was accompanied by my 96 year old father who started farming the same land 75+ years ago with a borrowed team of horses. The best yield of corn during his years was 100 bushel per acre. He has been retired since 1979. So much has changed in one generation but mostly, its the seed, fertilizer and pesticides. The carbon imprint has no doubt tripled as well. So has the cost of production. I know nobody likes Round-up, but I also have walked thousands of acres of soybeans to cut out weeds with a hoe and corn knife and understand why such labor intensive crops can no longer be raised in great enough quantities to meet the worlds demand. As a girl I remember when Khrushchev threatened to bury us and then came to the Garst farms in Coon Rapids, Iowa to study our production methods. I also think of Wallace, Hoover, George Marshall, George McGovern, Bob Dole and so many others who worked with American farmers to save not only the farmers but also save tens of millions in Russia, Europe, China, Africa and elsewhere from starvation. But an editorial in the Des Moines Register today called Iowa the worlds toilet in part because China purchased Smithfield, a giant corporate pork producer, to raise hogs in confinement in Iowa to meet the demand of the growing Chinese market. GMOs? What about Methane? Animal waste? Antibiotics? Hormones? Preservatives? Color? If we eat, we are eating polluted foods grown on a polluted planet made worse by our demand for fresh produce, safe protein and plentiful grain. The whole issue of food is extraordinarily complex and we will need a revolution in thought and action if we are to feed the planet.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 05:09:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015