Farming Against Nature

The changes in agricultural land in the United States due to the current production model are disturbing and sad.

I will use my ranch as an example. From historical archives we know that 140 years ago this part of North Dakota was covered with a diverse mix of cool- and warm-season grasses and broadleaved plants. European immigrants moved onto these prairies, bringing with them the plow. Diverse prairies soon were turned under with tillage which crushes, smashes, and pulverizes soil aggregates.

The tillage continued over many decades, and along with it came the widespread practice of monoculture grain production. Not just monocultures but fewer and fewer crop species as well. Where once grew more than one hundred species, now only a few grow. Overall, just fifteen crops supply approximately 90 percent of the plant-based foods we eat today! The early settlers ate a much more diverse diet than we do.