Beyond Monoculture V.2 Worldwide, agricultural production is dominated by monocultures: huge areas of single-species production. From a satellite’s perspective, whole countries can sometimes appear to be single swaths of wheat, corn, or rice. Herds of cattle can be so numerous that from neighboring hills they appear to be ant colonies. This monoculture approach has changed the face of our planet and the structure of the global economy, often in unexpectedly negative ways. The Green Revolution completely changed agricultural practices between the 1940s and late 1970s. The major trends in this period were: the introduction of High Yielding Varieties (HYV) of crops, significant increases in chemical use (pesticides, fungicides, synthetic nutrients), increased mechanization, and the introduction of large irrigation projects. Increases in crop yield per hectare as a result of these changes were truly impressive, and the Green Revolution is often credited with having helped avoid widespread global famine. However, the intensive practices introduced in this period have also resulted in the negative economic and environmental impacts of modern agricultural production. The move towards large-scale monocultures was both a driver and a consequence of the Green Revolution’s trends. Mechanical planting and harvesting is much easier to implement on a large single-crop field. But these large single-crop swaths also increase the need for environmentally and economically costly pesticides and fertilizers. In a monoculture system, plants grow in increasingly depleted soil, while pests are provided with vast, uninterrupted fields of their favorite food. In the face of ever greater agricultural demand, we must find a new path - one that goes beyond highly mechanized and chemically-reliant monoculture production. However, we can’t afFord to sacrifice profitability or efficiency. As we move forward, we must first examine the problems of the existing system to avoid repeating its mistakes. Polydome: High Performance Polyculture Systems 11 Pagina 10

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