Erik Scott is a seed dealer and agronomist from South Dakota in the US. In this interview, he states that a famine in the US is quite likely for two reasons:

• Very narrow seed genetics
• Dependence on imported nitrogen fertilizer

Image: Legume varietes (www.cintdis.org)

Erik explains that farmers in his area used to grow a wide variety of crops, saved and developed their own seed varieties. Now the main crops are corn and soy, both of these are genetically modified. These crops are grown for several reasons: 

• They attract subsidies
• They can be insured against failure
• They require less labour than other crops
• They are GM. The takeover of the seed industry has removed competition and made it hard to find non-GM seed
• Farmers are now trapped into growing GM seeds which means they can’t save or develop their own

Limited Genetics in Seed – Like the Irish Potato Famine.

A farmer may buy hybrid seeds from 5 different companies but the seeds can all be from the same genetic family. This is setting the US up for a similar disaster to the Irish potato famine of the 1840’s. The Irish grew the “lumper” variety of potato. They were all clones of each other. So when a fungal disease hit, the lumper potato harvest failed. The Andes, where potatoes originated, have 5000 varieties of potatoes. When disease or adverse weather conditions occur there, some potatoes varieties always survive. Famine is avoided by having diversity.

Nitrogen Fertilizer

Crop rotation and animal manures were the traditional way to enrich the soil with nitrogen. Then the Haber Bosch process allowed inorganic nitrogen fertilizer to be produced. It is very energy intensive to manufacture but it allows the continuous growing of corn and soy on the same fields year after year. The US imports this nitrogen fertilizer and Erik Scott sees this dependence as equivalent to the US’s dependence on imported oil.

Does it Matter?

Use of nitrogen fertilizer depletes the soil of the organic matter that stores water and gives it life. Dirt – the movie shows that we depend on this tiny layer of soil to purify and heal the systems that support us. In the last 100 years, one third of our topsoil has been lost and 25% of greenhouse gas emissions are produced from our war on the soil. The fertilizers, pesticides and chemicals industrial farming uses kill soil life and release stored carbon from the soil, worsening climate change and reducing soil fertility.

Plants need healthy soil to grow. They use water, sunlight and carbon dioxide to make carbohydrates. They use their roots to trade the carbohydrates they’ve made for the nutrients they need from the soil. The soil is like a giant playground at lunch time – endless and intricate food swaps are going on all the time. If the soil is dead, plants can’t grow and we can’t eat.

Blight in the US

The importance of the whole agricultural system is playing out in an interesting way in the US this year. The same strain of fungus that caused the Irish potato famine is attacking tomato plants in North-eastern USA. It is being caused by: 

• Cool, wet weather
• Home gardeners. There is a big increase in gardening and tomato seedlings for the big stores like Walmart were grown in vast industrial breeding operations where the fungus spread. Once planted in the home garden it can spread to neighbouring gardens and farms

What Can be Done?

• Buy plants from local nurseries
• Grow from seed
• Understand we’re all part of the whole and what we grow affects others
• Realise the importance of a variety of tomatoes, both heirloom and new varieties
• Grow lots of different crops

One farmer “pulled out his late blight-infected tomato plants and replaced them with beans and an extra crop of Brussels sprouts for the fall. He won’t make the same profit as he would have from the tomato harvest, but he wasn’t complaining, either.

“Sometimes giving in to nature can be the biggest victory of all.”

Ninja Farmers to the Rescue?

So maybe crop failure can be avoided by diverse crops and intelligent, responsible farming. Luckily it appears that in the US there is a new breed of young “ninja” farmers. They are “fluid, flexible, an activist and an entrepreneur…. We’re working against the odds. The educational system, the economic system, the subsidies, the tax structure for landowners,” none of them are focused on helping tiny organic farmers.

Interestingly, some of these new farmers are from Ivy League schools. “Farming actually is a good fit for many graduates, Philpott says. “There’s very little to do for educated college graduates besides sit in a cubical and punch (a) computer all day,” he says.

“Small-scale farming is management-intensive. It’s an incredibly intellectual exercise, but you’re also getting your hands in the dirt — that’s why it’s so attractive. There’s a hunger for that.”

http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/famine-in-america/