--> Such lands were naturally prone to erosion and vulnerable to poor farming practices. On lowlands, the soil was replenished by upland erosion that produced fine deposits downslope. "As to Lands lying near Rivers, the great Improvement of them is their over-flowing, which brings the Soil of the Uplands upon them, so as that they need no other mending though constantly mowed."6
Working land too hard for too long would reduce soil fertility. Sloping land was particularly vulnerable. "Where Lands lie upon the sides of Hills . . . great care must be taken not to plow them out of heart. |
 According to growers practicing sustainable farming methods, the USDA plan ignores the root causes of food contamination -- the dangerous and unsustainable farming practices on industrial farms.
Consumers who oppose the new regulation also worry about its impact on the quality and nutrition of pasteurized almonds, since the Almond Board of California (a marketing arm of the USDA) has conducted the only study on the practice. Their research concluded that "there was no significant degradation in the quality" of the almonds. |
| REPPED: The Cornucopia Institute, a non-profit organization that promotes honest food and sustainable farming practices, has revealed details of the USDA's conspiracy with agribusiness interests to mislead consumers over the sterilization of almonds. A press release from the Cornucopia Institute, reprinted below, explains that new rules concerning the pasteurization of almonds are an "inside job," made without any real opportunity for public comment. |
 We must consider how much fossil fuel we burn, how much waste packaging we create, what farming practices we encourage based on what we buy at the grocery store, what we put on our lawns and what we wash down the drain with our laundry. When we take care to purchase and consume the fewest chemicals possible, we greatly reduce our toxic footprint on the planet while protecting our own health at the same time.
I believe these soap nuts are a product whose time has come. |
 Animal factories, also known as large confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), go against traditional farming practices by treating the animal simply as a machine or production unit. These farms are more like an assembly line system of animal harvesting than anything resembling a genuine farm or ranch. |
| At the close of the eighteenth century, newly arrived settler John Craven found Virginia's Albemarle County so degraded by poor farming practices that the inhabitants faced the simple choice of emigrating or improving the soil. Writing to the Farmer's Registeryears later, Craven recalled the sad state of the land. "At that time the whole face of the country presented a scene of desolation that baffles description—farm after farm had been worn out, and washed and gullied, so that scarcely an acre could be found in a place fit for cultivation. . . . |
 Amish farming practices today are impressively productive and efficient, even carried on without electricity or motor vehicles. Wendell Berry has compared their operations favorably with industrial farming in several books.2 Can Amish farming practices be separated from the stringencies of Amish religion and social organization? The Long Emergency could provoke a broad renewal of religious observance in America out of misery and desperation, but I do not imagine that any large numbers of ordinary Americans will rush to become Amish. |
| Ideological rivals, these prosperous Virginia plantation ownets shared concern over the long-term effects of American farming practices.
After the Revolution, Washington did not hide his scorn for the shortsighted practices of his neighbors. "The system of agriculture, (if the epithet of system can be applied to it) which is in use in this part of the United States, is as unproductive to the practitioners as it is ruinous to the landholders."11 Washington blamed the widesptead practice of growing tobacco fot wearing out the land. |
| Geological Survey, Leonidas Chalmers Glenn described farming practices little changed from colonial days.
When first cleared, the land is usually planted in corn for about two or three years, is then for two or three years put in small grain . . . and then back into corn for several years. Unless it is well cared for the land has by this time become poor, for it has lost its original humus. The soil has become less porous and less able to absorb the rainfall and erosion begins. |
 They are a component of industrial farming practices and part of a complex ecosystem and food web. This section looks at potential health problems that may arise from these relationships. Topics include the impact of toxic herbicides that are applied to herbicide tolerant crops, bioaccumulation of other toxins within GM crops, concentration of toxins in the milk or meat of animals, and the consequences if virus-resistant GM plants promote new plant viruses. |
| The erosion research station at Tyler, Texas found that the region's best farming practices increased soil loss by almost two hundred times the soil replacement rate. Poor management practices increased erosion by eight hundred times. The research station at Bethany, Missouri showed that soil loss from typical corn lands was three hundred times that of comparable land under alfalfa.
Research also showed that after erosion of the loose topsoil, more rainfall ran off over the surface instead of sinking into the ground. |
| While many other industrialized nations have enacted restrictions on cruel factory farming practices, the U.S. lags behind other countries on the issue of animal cruelty. The torture of animals is well tolerated in the United States today. (And why not? The U.S. also tolerates the torture of war prisoners. This "civilized" nation has proven itself to be anything but civilized...)
According to interviews with slaughterhouse workers included in Gail Eisnitz's book Slaughterhouse, the end of an animal's life is a torturous and abusive process. |
| The ultimate result of these profit-driven farming practices is toxin-laced
Refined:
Meaning, a substance has undergone chemical or mechanical manipulation prior to consumption. crops with little nutritional value, not to mention the economic hardship of small-production farmers who cannot compete with multi-million dollar corporations.
Niacin (Nicotinic acid):
Part of the Vitamin-B complex made from the oxidation of nicotine.
For example, twenty years ago a half-pound of spinach contained 50 milligrams of iron. A half a pound of spinach today contains just five milligrams! |
| Yet to get money they were obliged to extend farming practices which were collectively ruinous.8
Walter Lowdermilk, by then the associate chief of the Soil Conservation Service, suggested using the erosion rate on undisturbed lands as the geologic norm of erosion to provide the benchmark for gauging human-induced erosion. His concern seemed justified when the Soil Conservation Service compiled county-level soil erosion maps into a national map. The results were alarming. |
| Can Amish farming practices be separated from the stringencies of Amish religion and social organization? The Long Emergency could provoke a broad renewal of religious observance in America out of misery and desperation, but I do not imagine that any large numbers of ordinary Americans will rush to become Amish. If anything, I expect Americans to turn to the cruder branches of evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity, which will provide simplistic explanations for the dire circumstances in which we find ourselves (and justifications for extreme behavior). |
 Some people choose vegetarianism as a way to take a personal stand against destructive factory ranching and farming practices, but for most people, a meat-free lifestyle has no appeal; meat tastes good, plays an integral role in traditional cuisine, and makes up a significant portion of some basic diets. In reality, we could reduce all of the harmful cycles of livestock farming and still have enough meat for a summer-long BBQ. We just need to be smart about our own choices, and encourage smart practices from ranchers and fishers. |
| Decades of shortsighted farming practices have resulted in eroded soils and depleted aquifers. With environmental damage compounded by job loss and steady out-migration, America's heartland faces a bleak future agriculturally.
But it's not too late to turn things around, and ideas abound—like the Buffalo Commons, a suite of ideas for ecological and social restoration of the Great Plains that's been circulating since the late 1980s and continues to carry revolutionary promise. The idea? Restore native grasslands of the Great Plains and bring back herds of buffalo. |
| Wes Jackson's Land Institute does much-needed work on changing farming practices to work with nature. Those with a serious interest in the subject will find the institute's reports and studies invaluable.
Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio (Ten Speed Press, 2005)
Sometimes the best way to gain a wide-angle perspective on a global situation is to piece together a number of close-ups. |
| The Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems (CIKS) in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, works with hundreds of small farmers to form groups, called sangams, wherein farmers work together on programs to maintain organic farming practices, or sell biopesticides to supplement their incomes. These sangams also manage community seed banks. |
 And there are important questions here, such as how that vibration is altered based on the farming practices. If someone is a corporate farmer so he's only interested in profit and greed, how does that change the homeopathic water properties of the water in the plants, versus a small, organic farmer who loves his plants, and who brings joy and happiness to his garden each and every day? Because honestly, I think those two plants are entirely different, and I think they have a different effect on the human body. |
 Modern farming practices have resulted in soils that are lacking in selenium and other nutrients.
Harvesting and shipping practices are dictated not by nutritional considerations but by marketing demands. Add to this extensive processing, improper storage, and other factors, and it is little wonder that many of the foods that reach our tables cannot meet our nutritional needs. Getting even the RDIs of vitamins from today's diet has become quite hard to do. This means that for optimum health, it is necessary to take nutrients in supplement form. |
 Foods produced by organic farming practices exhibit improved vitamin and mineral nutrition, as well as superior taste, shelf life, phytochemical and antioxidant content, and stronger and more organized SOEFs.
Investigations are showing that wild-crafted foods (foods harvested from wild plants) have the highest nutritional content, with organic foods next, and conventionally grown foods last. The USDA periodically publishes data on the nutritional content of food. Historically, since the 1940s, each publication of this data shows a decline in the average nutritional content of food. |
| Organic farming practices work to preserve and protect the environment by maintaining a restorative and sustainable biosystem, which improves soil quality, preserves water purity, encourages biodiversity, and, by nourishing the soil, produces plants rich in flavor as well as nutrients.
Water
There is currently a great concern about our water supply. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find pure water. |
 December 13,1999: A European Parliament Report warned that the use of rBGH, involving factory farming practices, "removes the foundations of non-industrial farming ... [and threatens] preservation of the agricultural landscape."
December 20, 1999: Monsanto and Pharmacia & Upjohn merged in a $27 billion deal to create the 11th largest global pharmaceutical company with combined sales of $17 billion. |
| The Parliamentary report also warned of the serious consequences of factory farming practices, involved in the large scale administration of rBST to cows. "rBST use removes the foundations of non-industrial farming."
WHERE: Plaza Hilton, Vienna, Austria
CONTACT: Michael Buchner (Animal Welfare), Robert Hanke (Communication Director), VIER PFOTEN (Four Paws), SechshauserstraBe 48, 1150 Vienna, Austria
Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. |
 Instead, they promote alternative food systems based on organic and sustainable farming practices designed to preserve the ecology. Such inspiring efforts include farmers' markets, community-supported agriculture (buying shares in a local farm), community gardens, and independent stores and co-ops, to name just a few. One of my favorite programs is called "farm-to-school," through which local farmers supply school lunch programs with fresh, healthful produce. There are hundreds of such alternative movements throughout the country, and their numbers are growing. |
 You may find it strange to talk about the mental health of chickens, but foods produced from healthy, happy animals are far better than foods derived from animals driven insane as a result of inhumane farming practices.
Avoid eating eggs from crazy chickens
On that subject, let's talk about crazy chickens. |
 Learning about the ideas and techniques described by this great British scientist and seeing how he approached the Indian cultures and farming practices, drawing lessons from them, made a strong impact on me. His book, published in 1940, would be worthy reading for present-day farmers all over the world: at the center of all agricultural practice, Howard insists on preserving the fertility of the soil, which must be maintained with noninvasive methods and on no account polluted with chemicals. |
 So if soil, even if it goes organic, has ever used in its farming practices a pesticide, there's going to be some contamination.
We've polluted ourselves on this planet and in our bodies to an extent that we can't escape these contaminates, even if we are living on a deserted island in the Pacific, or if we are living in the Artic. These toxins come and find us.
How to minimize your exposure to toxins
Mike: How much of this toxicity load is under the direct control of the consumer through food choice and medicine choice and personal care product choice, and so on? |
 We listen to the mixture of anger and hope in the voices of Manoj and his friends, realizing that, for them, reclaiming traditional seeds and farming practices is not a nice cultural exercise; it's a matter of life and death.
As we leave Pullinda for the next village, a hut catches Anna's eye. How could it not? Big Hindi letters cover virtually its entire side.
"Negi, what does that say?" Anna asks, shooting a picture.
"We reject Monsanto and gene patenting. We reject terminator technology."
Anna and I laugh in amazement. |
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