[Terrapreta] Black soil

[Robert Klein]

Hi All

google 'buffalo commons' and weep.  On top of that the huge aquifer is 90 percent drained and it will soon be over.

These plains running wild do a natural burn over and need no help from us.  We just need to respect and manage the buffalo, which is actually happening.

Russia needs to have the buffalo reintroduced.  We wiped them out thousands of years ago there.

I have also posted on this last summer on my blog.

arclein

http://globalwarming-arclein.blogspot.com


----- Original Message ----
From: Richard Haard <richrd at nas.com>
To: Terrapreta <terrapreta at bioenergylists.org>
Cc: Todd Jones <todd.jones2 at comcast.net>; David MacLeod <miles58 at yahoo.com>; Mike Doss <drdoss62 at hotmail.com>; Nana Paldi <nanajp at mosquitonet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 3, 2008 10:08:00 AM
Subject: [Terrapreta] Black soil

Not all black soil soil is Terra Preta

On a recent trip to NW Iowa for my wife's class reunion we visited this virgin prairie to look at wildflowers. A mole had pushed up the native soil showing this beautiful organic rich loam. Imagine settling in this place 150 years ago in tall grass prairie and tacking the job of draining this wet land for the plow. Today these lands still show soils with this dark color, the rains come in moderation when needed and soil  nutrition stays in place. At road cuts this black soil profile shown no bottom. 

There are not many places in the world with this kind of soil/ climate combination. Russia, where else?

This image, this image and this image show farming in the grain belt of Iowa a mere 50 to 70 years ago. How this has changed has been a consolidation of farms, depopulation of the small towns and their decentralized business infrastructure is gone. I have a feeling the cycle of resource depletion will take us back to this style of life eventually. 

I had opportunity to talk with some farmer / ex classmates of Karen's and they told me the boon in corn prices have farmers abandoning the corn/soybean rotation and using more fertilizer for equal production.  

Interviewing further I was told at least 4 agrobuiz farmers in the NW corner of Iowa were operating large corn / soybean farms in Brazil. Moving this technology of agriculture for economic benefit may be sustainable with continued heavy fertilization in the corn belt but is it  a disaster about to unfold in the tropics where climate leaches the soil and organic matter is transient. 

Is terra preta nova a solution for agrobuiz intensive of agriculture in either place?

Rich


      
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