We're using nitrogen naturally from plants that fixate it, but additionally from a Haberboj process adding ammonia fertilizer to our fields. And we're also mining phosphorus and potassium. They're important because they tend to be what's called the macro nutrients. Nitrogen actually volatilizes. So it will go back when you combust things. It goes back to the gaseous state. That's why our atmosphere is dominated by nitrogen. But those other two are part of ash. The law of return is basically saying that what you remove from a farm field needs to go back if you want to maintain the mineral wealth of that field.
On this episode, Jason Bradford, who is an author, activist, farmer, and teacher, talks about the energy intensity of our modern industrial agriculture system.
How do we feed billions of people with depleting energy systems? How do we also protect existing biodiversity and ecosystem health? We also discuss what makes for healthy soil, why we’re losing it, and how small farms can help get it back - while creating higher yields of healthier foods for fewer inputs.
About Jason Bradford:
Jason Bradford has been affiliated with Post Carbon Institute since 2004, first as a Fellow and then as Board President. He grew up in the Bay Area of California and graduated from U.C. Davis with a B.S. in biology before earning his doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis, where he also taught ecology for a few years. After graduate school he worked for the Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development at the Missouri Botanical Garden, was a Visiting Scholar at U.C. Davis, and during that period co-founded the Andes Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Group (ABERG). He decided to shift from academia to learn more about and practice sustainable agriculture, and in the process, completed six months of training with Ecology Action (aka GrowBiointensive) in Willits, California, and then founded Brookside School Farm.
For Show Notes and Transcript visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/24-jason-bradford