Farming Can Be Both High-Yield and Sustainable
by Hal Hamilton
— June 17, 2002 —
Dennis Avery is the leading challenger of sustainable agriculture, and he sets up “high-yield” agriculture as its opposite. Why can’t high-yield agriculture also be sustainable?
Unfortunately, Avery seems less interested in exploring the future of farming than in selling industrial agriculture. He claims that industrial methods are the best way to preserve nature and feed [...]
Hoping For a Big Change in Agriculture
by Hal Hamilton
— May 7, 2002 —
Why do people consistently believe what isn’t true? I’m reading a stream of news about the farm bill just passed by Congress: one more attempt to export and subsidize the farm economy to prosperity after decades of evidence that these dollars flow right on through farmers’ pockets.
I’m also reading data from a survey of [...]
How Long Can We Fool Ourselves?
by Hal Hamilton
— May 1, 2002 —
Why do people consistently believe what isn’t true? I’m reading a stream of news about the farm bill just passed by Congress: one more attempt to export and subsidize the farm economy to prosperity after decades of evidence that these dollars flow right on through farmers’ pockets.
I’m also reading data from a survey of [...]
Smarter Agriculture For the Sake of Land and People
by Hal Hamilton
— March 1, 2002 —
If you stand just outside the system of commodity agriculture and look in, the wasted opportunities are easy to see. Here at Sustainability Institute we use simulation models, but a drive down country roads is really all that’s needed. You see farmers investing in short-term productivity but rarely in long-term soil fertility. In the [...]
The Perversity of Farm Bills
by Hal Hamilton and Elizabeth Sawin
— February 1, 2002 —
Right now Congress is trying to hatch a new Farm Bill. But like every congress charged with writing farm policy for the past fifty years, the legislature is ignoring an important reality — farm policy keeps on delivering less of what we want and more of what we don’t want. Congress [...]
