You do know that crop rotation exists? It is absolute bullshit to say that using a combine harvester requires monoculture. You can simply rotate what crops you plant on a single field each year. This is also necessary if you care about would health and want to reduce efforts in fighting other weeds. If you also include Legominoses (idk if that’s the correct word) into your crop rotation you reduce the need for fertilisers, due to them being able to fixate ammonium in the soil.
Plaidboy@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Crop rotation is a great thing but still falls within monoculture. Planting a field with only one type of thing is the definition of monoculture.
I seriously believe that cover cropping, intercropping, and examples like MonkderViete posted are the way forward - they result in higher crop yield per square foot and are more resilient in the face of climate change and pest pressure.
You should learn about the benefits of no till market gardens - they are real and they work.
MDCCCLV@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Covercrop is still monoculture, monoculture isn’t inherently bad. Ultimately it comes down to cost. Labor is limited and a lot of the stuff you’re talking about are fine for small volume vegetables but you’re not gonna get feed the world wheat yields from that.
ikidd@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
You’re tilting against the wind. It seems people that know nothing about farming are the ones that have the strongest opinions about farming and food.
Plaidboy@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Cover cropping does not constitute monoculture when done ideally. In my personal experience with cover crops I have used multiple types of cover crop concurrently in one space.
Here is a great source on cover cropping: https://growingformarket.com/articles/cover-cropping-notill-systems
Except from my source: “Rarely in nature do we see a field covered in just a couple of plant species; the natural soil care principle of maximizing diversity inspires us to do better. At Frith, we aim for at least three species in each mix, but some mixes may contain six or more.”
And I don’t think we’ll be able to keep feeding the world with our current style of agriculture, which is generally depleting soil health and setting us up for future failure. We need more people to be active or semi active in agriculture on smaller scale farms and to eat more local food.
MDCCCLV@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Again, this isn’t going to work for bulk grains like wheat and corn. I’ve seen plenty of permaculture type farms and they’re fine for small stuff and vegetables and more of that is good. But it’s not suitable for growing 50 million tons of wheat. Labor is already short and it will get worse.