Solarpunk Farming

1232 readers

5 users here now

Farm all the things!

Also see:

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

5 Changes I would make to Farm Policy (ndmonaghan.substack.com)

submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

5 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 5 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] The_v 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The breakup of monopolies is the only viable recommendation. He missed a big one however -land ownershop monopolies. The others he's looking at the symptoms not the cause.

Fertilizer/pesticides usage is causing runoff because we are farming more ground than we need to. We are also farming using the wrong technology and locations. The highest yielding areas are arid regions with irrigation/high tunnels. It's physics and plant physiology. Arid regions = more light and heat. A lower disease, weed, and insect pressure is a nice addition. The limiting factor is water storage of course.

Moving farming away from high rainfall zones would eliminate most agricultural runoff. This would take massive investment into irrigation systems to move water hundreds of miles away (Mississippi to West Texas, New Mexico etc...) It would also completely interrupt the existing infrastructure. However it would reduce our land footprint by 80% or better.

Reducing our total land footprint would also help preserve the wild types/land races giving them space to grow.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Can you elaborate on land ownership monopolies?

[–] The_v 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's an ongoing trend. Investment companies and large farmers are buying up huge tracts of land at stupid high prices. They then lease-back the ground to the local farmers. Most smaller farmers can not afford to buy the ground because of the inflated land sale value. So they are forced to sign lease agreements and pay rent.

Here's a nice introduction from a investment company.

https://bravantefarmcapital.com/education/who-owns-farmland/

They didn't even mention potentially the largest land owner , the Mormon Church (AgReserves). Who have been quietly purchasing millions of acres of farmland around the world.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'm not sure I would call that a monopoly though. Most farmland is owned by the operator, and a large portion of leased farmland is owned by retired farmers, descendants, or widows. Roughly 10% of land is owned by some sort of corporate or trust landlord. (This data is a tad old, but my general sense from subsequent years is that land transfers were mainly through inheritance, not sale, implying the situation is similar today). Price increases in land is due to different forces, and consolidation occurs mostly within communities (i.e. a big family farm purchases a small family farm, or when a farmer dies their kid retains the land and rents it, these are the processes behind consolidation and lack of land access, imo).

[–] The_v 0 points 2 days ago

Those numbers are from the census of agriculture.

The census of agriculture numbers are also not anywhere close to reliable anymore. As consolidation occurs, reporting on the ag census is rapidly declining. NASS does not enforce the fines, and larger operations refuse to report.

Without the reporting, NASS does not have enough data to make accurate estimates. When I was a statistician the error rates I saw were upward of 20-50% on every number. It's only gotten worse since then.

The summary of that investment portfolio is accurate.

The farmland landscape (no pun intended!) is changing drastically. Ownership patterns are beginning to change. A sector once dominated by owner-operated farms is now undergoing rapid consolidation as billionaires, institutional investors and foreign players look to scale their farmland portfolios.