In a message dated 6/9/08 10:54:01 AM, cory8570@yahoo.com writes:


I would be interested in hearing people's reaction to this article. His premise is that we cannot replace our "Green Revolution" food growing methods with purely organic methods because those don't produce enough nitrogen.  He omits the concept of polycropping as a potential solution.  I'm especially interested in any case studies or documented examples that would refute his premise.

http://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~cstevens/ES201/local/Smil%20-%20Global%20Population%20and%20the%20Nitrogen%20Cycle.pdf






I can't remember any of the several places I have read this, but it is a commonplace claim that nitrogen fixing plants contributed far more soil nitrogen than synthetically fixed nitrogen, worldwide, as a total for all ecosystems.  Of course the effect is dispersed.  Surely we can't replace 'chemical' nitrogen (a bad term since all forms of nitrogen are chemicals) so long as we keep using human manure and urine to the systems where their nutrients 'originated.'  Since sustainable agriculture is an oxymoron aside from nitrogen considerations, it is a cinch that we won't be able to rid ourselves of the chemical props. 
    
Looked at from another perspective, if our species requires so much protein that the planet doesn't naturally produce enough, then there are too damn many of us and the only remedy that promises a sustainable solution is not more chemical factories, but vastly more reproductive restraint.

Dan Hemenway



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