Unsmart. Unsustainable. Unhealthy.

Postmodern monoculture is no outcropping of human smart. It is a no-solution to human needs. It serves, if ever, industry needs.

But to judge traditional agriculture in general as a big mistake, as it is now more and more voiced in the media, is also inaccurate. Humans did not always use their smart so poorly as to not find better ways to make food for living, and produce such food in a sustainable manner and without the cost of destroying life.

Guillaume Bodin (dahu.bio) writes that one of the biggest problems with traditional agriculture is that it kills off life in the topsoil and subsoil. In order to be worth anything, soil needs microflora (bacteria, fungi and actinobacteria) and microfauna (protozoa, nematodes and arthropods). Use of powerful chemical products that destroy or inhibit harmful fungi or fungal spores (fungicides), that kill or inhibit harmful insects and other pests (insecticides) and that control unwanted vegetation (herbicides) has ultimately contributed to the reduction in microbial life in the soil, to the point that, in order to yield sufficient crops, it is necessary to use very large amounts of fertilizers. This all, in turn, results in near-barren land unable to generate its own organic matter.

Jagran Josh (jagranjosh.com) writes that the impact of traditional agriculture on the environment is clearly negative. It leads to the depletion of nutrients, deforestation and soil erosion. Further in detail, this means the following:

Depletion of Nutrients

The primitive style of farming like slash and burn decreases the organic matter from the soil and within the short period of time the nutrient content of the soil taken up by the crops. This makes the farmers move to another place for farming.

Deforestation

It is the process of the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land for the conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated deforestation occurs in tropical rainforests. The slash & burn, and shifting cultivation required massive cutting down of the forest which leads to the situation of deforestation.

Soil Erosion

It is a process of the removal of topsoil by the natural physical forces of water and wind or through forces associated with farming activities such as tillage. The roots of the plant and trees firmly hold the soil, but the deforestation exposed the soil to get eroded by the weathering forces like rain, wind and storms which causes the loss of top fertile soil.

The arrival of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is not a solution, though the giant corporations producing them would have us think otherwise. Insects against which GMOs are supposed to be resistant evolve to become themselves resistant to the anti-insect properties in the GM plants. So, in addition to genetically modified seeds, the farmer must then use products even more toxic than those used previously. The cost, economically and environmentally, of GMOs risks being very high in the near future.

Furthermore, what is called responsible farming can often be a quick-and-easy strategy that dodges a total commitment to agricultural practices that respect the environment. It’s something of an illusion, a deception, a way to profit from marketable keywords and catch phrases. But the fact is that ‘green’ farming methods are more than just marketing — they are something that is necessary, both because of how we have been harming the earth with toxic substances, and for our future. Previously, fertilizers and other chemical treatments were used for no better reason than the fact that they existed. Today, people are starting to think about their overall impact before starting to spray. And that’s a good thing!

To conclude, traditional agriculture answers to the economic demands of a capitalist world by making it possible to produce massive amounts of food and feed with minimal physical effort. Tractors, seeds, and synthetic fertilizers and treatments are used immoderately without much thought given to their impact on the soil or on plant biodiversity. Instead, a monoculture is favored. Yet it is not the agriculturalists with whom we should be upset, but industrial lobbies, the petroleum industry and other such mega-corporations that utilize the earth each day to keep their systems rolling.

This was not always so. Native populations typically respected nature’s need for soil preservation by rotating fields, and besides, monoculture is agriculture put upside-down by modern technology and linear thinking — while nature ‘thinks’ cyclicly. There is no mononature anywhere to be found! In the contrary, affiliation and symbiosis across plant species is the rule in nature’s web of life. Kenyon College Professor Nick Kardulius writes about native American farming:

What they depended on were a variety of native plants that provided relatively small seeds … And they planted these things in what we assume were relatively small gardens and harvested those things on a regular basis. They were situating themselves where they could do farming but also would be able to go up into the hills to take some wild game and probably also a variety of different plants would be available.

And on Blue Moon Acres (bluemoonacres.com), we find the following statement about native farming:

Natives were growing organically. Before Permaculture, Sustainability, and Localization became the cherished catchwords of hipsters and hippies, Natives were busy inventing them. Indeed, Native Americans were Going Green before Europeans created the need to Go Green.

And not to forget, there is polyculture, too, and it has traditionally been the most prevalent form of agriculture. An example taken from Mesoamerica is the intercropping of maize, beans and squash plants by native farmers.

Polyculture is advantageous because of its ability to control pests, weeds, and disease without major chemical inputs. As such, polyculture is considered a sustainable form of agriculture. However, issues with crop yield and biological competition have caused many modern major industrial food producers to continue to rely on monoculture instead.

This was possible since about the 1950 through the development of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, which went along a strong decline in popularity of polyculture, and while it has not entirely disappeared, only 15% to 20% of the world’s agriculture is relying on traditional polyculture systems.

Thus, when I am using the word ‘agriculture’ or ‘traditional agriculture’ in this article and upcoming other publications, I mean agriculture in the form of modern monoculture, not perennial or permaculture, nor polyculture, nor any of the agricultural techniques practiced by native peoples over thousands of years.