[Terrapreta] You Are What You Grow

[MMBTUPR at aol.com]

               to    Terrapreta List               from   Lewis L Smith

On the issue of whether or not farming degrades the soil in the long run, I 
think we need more research, although I do recall enough of the "Dust Bowl" 
phenomenon of the 1930's to assure you all that sometimes it does, and does so 
badly, with some help from Mother Nature.

I spent many years working on and off with the sugar industry in the 
Caribbean. A relative was a cane planter in Louisiana in the 19th Century who was 
forced to sell out, leaving my grandmother to be raised as a "de facto orphan" by 
other relatives in the North. [ She was pretty upset and would never go back 
or talk about it with my mother. ]

So I do recall there are places where cane has been planted for several 
hundred years. In some the soil has been damaged. In others not. Moreover, the 
sugar industry   has much better and much older statistics than most other agro 
sectors. So it might be a good place to start.

Cordially. ### 


**************************************
 See what's new at 
http://www.aol.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/terrapreta_bioenergylists.org/attachments/20070909/47350781/attachment.html