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Organic and regenerative agriculture are revitalizing rural Montana economies

montanafreepress.org

171–180 of 297 posts

Re: Organic and regenerative agriculture are revitalizing rural Montana economies

#171
post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lentils (Lens culinaris Medik.) are produced on over 1.5 million acres throughout the world. They are primarily used for domestic consumption in casseroles, salads, soups and stews. Lentils provide an excellent source of protein (20 to 35 percent), but are limited in the sulphur-containing amino acids methionine and cystine. However, consumption of lentils with cereals provides a balanced diet high in fiber, protei…

From the article. > They also lease land to neighboring ranchers, whose grazing cattle aerate the soil with their hooves and add organic matter and nutrients via manure. Meat can and should be a part of regenerative ag. I recently visited a family friend's place/farm. A year ago, the soil was the typical cracked dry light tan clay ground that I have in my yard. It's quite typical in Oregon. This time, the soil was a…

There's really not that much meat in regenerative agriculture. Given the current per capita consumption of meat in kg, a regenerative ag operation could never accomplish that.

Reducing to 4-30kg of meat per capita per year seems impossible.

No one can even accomplish that with ruminants. That's why there's so much chicken everywhere, because accomplishing that with ruminants is near impossible, so chicken is advertised massively instead.

A nitpick, there's no single food that is great for human health or bad for human health. Diet can contain various things and be healthy and it can also lack meat and be healthy.

Re: Organic and regenerative agriculture are revitalizing rural Montana economies

#172
post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lentils (Lens culinaris Medik.) are produced on over 1.5 million acres throughout the world. They are primarily used for domestic consumption in casseroles, salads, soups and stews. Lentils provide an excellent source of protein (20 to 35 percent), but are limited in the sulphur-containing amino acids methionine and cystine. However, consumption of lentils with cereals provides a balanced diet high in fiber, protei…

From the article. > They also lease land to neighboring ranchers, whose grazing cattle aerate the soil with their hooves and add organic matter and nutrients via manure. Meat can and should be a part of regenerative ag. I recently visited a family friend's place/farm. A year ago, the soil was the typical cracked dry light tan clay ground that I have in my yard. It's quite typical in Oregon. This time, the soil was a…

Yes, meat is a good component of a healthy diet, but as with many things, Americans take the quantity about 10 miles past the advisable point.

Re: Organic and regenerative agriculture are revitalizing rural Montana economies

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bad old farming: put plants in sun Good new farming: put solar panels in sun, connect lightbulbs to solar panels, put plants under lights. (Although it's not totally as daft as I make it sound, because it's theoretically possible to do frequency conversion in a way that makes all the energy of sunlight available to plants instead of everything but green.)

That equation doesn’t balance out.

The physical limit to frequency conversion efficiency, whatever it is, is much higher than the efficiency of today's cost-effective solar panels plus cost-effective purple LEDs. So it may happen some day.

Re: Organic and regenerative agriculture are revitalizing rural Montana economies

#174

For those who are interested in the topic of soil reconstruction and balance in nature, some more sources: Documentary on the Loess plateau in China: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjLV_aVRUmQ Talk on the Caledonian Forest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAGHUkby2Is Talk on using the "herd effect" in Africa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7pI7IYaJLI A talk presenting a realistic view on soil reconstruction, what…

Thank you for the added resource links

Re: Organic and regenerative agriculture are revitalizing rural Montana economies

#175
post #162

If you are still buying groceries from supermarkets, it is in your best interest to change that habit and buy organic only. Food co-ops usually tend to store organic only so they are great places to buy your groceries. Organic ensures that the soil where your food came from had no prohibited substances (most synthetic fertilizers and pesticides) applied for three years. Chances are, if you are buying food from superm…

How did you make it through high school while failing in chemistry and biology? Organic is a scam for the natural is better crowd that occupies the human experience. A chemical is the same whether it is natural or synthetic. Plenty of natural substances are toxic. There is no difference in taste or nutrition between organic and non-organic, however GMO can be made more nutritious.

> How did you make it through high school while failing in chemistry and biology?

I didn't fail either. Our school focused on the theoretical and we never had practical applications of the knowledge.

> A chemical is the same whether it is natural or synthetic

For me the difference is naturally occurring and moderated via biological process of organisms vs extracted and manufactured chemicals. For example, you wouldn't find large amounts of Chlorpyrifos (used in herbicides) naturally anywhere in the world. It was mass produced for use in agriculture.

> GMO can be made more nutritious

If you are measuring specifically for say, vitamin A, you can engineer a crop to have higher concentrations of vitamin A than any other crop out there. So yes you are correct.

Re: Organic and regenerative agriculture are revitalizing rural Montana economies

#176

At Indigo we're working on incentivizing farmers to adopt regenerative practices and get paid for sequestering carbon. There's a number of open positions, most with the option to be remote! https://www.indigoag.com/carbon https://www.indigoag.com/join-us

Sounds like an interesting approach. I'm glad there are people working of these issues. When I read this article I was thinking something like this is needed to incentivize the farmers.

Re: Organic and regenerative agriculture are revitalizing rural Montana economies

#177
post #75
post #33

There's a guy in Montana called Paul Wheaton who spent the last 6 years building soil rich in organic matter using no chemicals (pesticides & biocides) in his 200 acre plot of land. There were giant hugelkultur beds 15 ft high it was a crazy sight. He believes that in a decade the soil will be so rich in organic matter with healthy microbial activity (with no chemical history) could produce food that cures cancer. I…

Food that cures cancer. And what is the scientific basis of that?

There's no scientific conclusion that says cancer cannot be cured through natural means. I'm not against someone trying and I hope he succeeds.

Re: Organic and regenerative agriculture are revitalizing rural Montana economies

#178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly? My biggest concern about it is that half its advocates say crazy things. For instance, down-thread we got the line: "[Paul Wheaton] believes that in a decade the soil will be so rich in organic matter with healthy microbial activity (with no chemical history) could produce food that cures cancer. I believe that in an environment where human body is not weakened by the constant bombardment of chemical compou…

A person could totally be an expert on soil and sustainable agriculture and know nothing useful about medicine. In fact, that is what I would expect. Listen to the experts on their subject of expertise, and take the rest with a huge grain of salt.

The problem is deciding whether someone is actually an expect in a subject area where I'm not.

People can say things that are patently absurd about one field while being an expert in another, but I also can't just be completely credulous in treating any assertion about any subject I do not understand as true. I don't really have much else to do but build out from a network of trust rooted in people who seem competent and clear-minded by whatever criteria I can judge.

Re: Organic and regenerative agriculture are revitalizing rural Montana economies

#179

Organic and regenerative ag are built on the assumption that crops must be grown in open air soil. The reality is that crops can be grown in open air soil and, if they are, regenerative ag in particular is significantly better for soil longevity. That said it is not necessarily better to produce all crops in low density, high volatility, season dependent environments. Some material % of crops can move to more intelli…

Sweet, there is only approximately 300 million acres of cropland in the United States alone. Sun == free, rain == free How does indoor ag plan on scaling up for anything other than super high margin vegetables and spices when their competitor (outdoor ag) has no cost associated with sun or rain? Not even to mention soil. edit: I like indoor/vertical ag a lot (when applied correctly) When people try to propose produci…

If you've ever tried hydroponic, you quickly realize that soil is amazing technology. Indoor ag is yet another utopian fantasy.

Re: Organic and regenerative agriculture are revitalizing rural Montana economies

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dirt in my backyard has been so neglected it has turned rocky. first and foremost, I'm covering the bare dirt from direct sunlight by covering it with a layer of cardboard (empty amazon shipment boxes). Next is some aerated compost tea to speed up the microbial activity and loosen the dirt and start the process of turning it into soil. Add some compost along the way I'm documenting the journey on this forum if yo…

I checked out your post on permies. Using a garden fork or broad fork to loosen the compacted soil will speed up your progress. If you see dandelions or other long tap root plants they are trying to do the job of loosening soil. But, they can only go so fast. Forking the ground then covering with compost and watering in will jump you a few years farther in succession.

Really cool tip thank you! Found a garden fork on craigslist and will be picking it up later this afternoon.
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