vision2020
Re: Kevorkian Economics- long -- Stuck using chemicals
This may be a naive question, but regarding the following
statement from a previous post:
> In the six year period from 1950-1955, before
>chemical inputs were applied to the Palouse farmground, the
>average yield per/acre of wheat in Latah County was 52 bushels.
>>From 1990-1996, with more than $100 per/acre of additional
>chemical input (fertilizers, pesticides, application, and
>management cost) the average yield per/acre for wheat was 63
>bushels. Basically, the increased prductivity costs $9.00 per
>additional bushel ($100/11 bushell increase) to recieve $3.35 a
>bushel on the open market (low price because of supply issues).
Why are we stuck. Why not just make an economic decision and not
apply the chemicals. Would you not get the pre chemical era yields
of 52 bushels/acre ? Has something changed in the soil? Are
the crop failure risks bigger ?
David Nelson
At 11:26 AM 12/15/99 -0800, you wrote:
>Date forwarded:
Tue, 14 Dec 1999
15:50:04 -0800 (PST)
>Date sent:
Tue, 14 Dec 1999
15:47:17 -0800
>To:
Ron Force
<rforce@moscow.com>
>From:
Peggy Adams
<adams@pcei.org>
>Subject:
Re: Kevorkian
Economics- long
>Copies to:
vision2020@moscow.com
>Forwarded by:
vision2020@moscow.com
>
>> Food production differs from
>> other industry in that, from beginning to end, it deals with
natural,
>> living systems that are responsive to environmental pressures.
>
>I disagree, I believe other forms of production (manufacturing,
forest
>products, textiles, etc.) ALL deal with natural systems, perhaps
>just to a lesser degree. I think we DO have a responsibility to
>support farming on a scale that fits (subsidies, incentives, tax
>breaks). The amount of fossil fuels through fertilizer and
production
>per/acre that we now put on our soil makes no sense economically
>or environmentally. In the six year period from 1950-1955,
before
>chemical inputs were applied to the Palouse farmground, the
>average yield per/acre of wheat in Latah County was 52 bushels.
>>From 1990-1996, with more than $100 per/acre of additional
>chemical input (fertilizers, pesticides, application, and
>management cost) the average yield per/acre for wheat was 63
>bushels. Basically, the increased prductivity costs $9.00 per
>additional bushel ($100/11 bushell increase) to recieve $3.35 a
>bushel on the open market (low price because of supply
issues).
>
>This is irrational behavior but we are stuck. Stuck applying
>fertilizers, stuck pushing the margins of tillable farmground, and
>stuck losing topsoil. Since 1940, the beginning of a study on
soil
>erosion in Whitman County (Kaiser, V.G. Report of annual Erosion
>Damage, Whitman County, 1939-1976) an average of 358 tons of
>soil has eroded from EVERY acre of cropland in Whitman County.
>This is equivalent to 9.2 million tons of soil moving from each acre
>of basin crpoland annually!!
>
>These numbers are haunting, yet when we drive to Kendrick to
>head down to the river and look out over our beloved Palouse, we
>see business as usual.
>
>
>Keith C. Russell, Ph.D.
>Assistant Professor Resource Recreation and Tourism and
>Leader, Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Research Cooperative
>in the UI-Wilderness Research Center
>CFWR Room 18a
>Moscow, ID 83844-1144
>Phone: 208.885.2269
>Fax: 208.885-2268
David Nelson
Nelson & Roseme, Inc.
Phone 208 883-7699
FAX 208 882-8143
Email dnelson@dnai.com
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