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The Modern Food System and Climate Change
For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce, 11but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove
Book of Exodus
I have written on how the modern industrial food system is damaging to the individual. This does not stop there. It has wide effects on the health of the planet and human populations.
Yes, industrial food production has real effects on the climate and population health.
The first problem we have is monoculture. A single crop on the same patch of land depletes the nutrients in the soil. The use of artificial chemicals also destroys the bacteria that help fix nutrients. We have been practicing this type of agriculture for the last fifty years in the American Midwest. The three crops, which are heavily subsidized, are wheat, soy, and corn.
>Early in the morning after a hot cup of coffee, Jim climbs up onto his tractor, turns the key, and drives to the edge of his vast corn fields. The arms…