Independent Science News today published “The Founding Fables of Industrialised Agriculture” by Colin Tudge, writer and co-founder of The Campaign for Real Farming and the College for Enlightened Agriculture.
Article synopsis: Industrial agriculture “is a far bigger threat to humanity than North Korea or “terrorism”, or the collapse of banks or dwindling oil”. Responsible for, among other things, climate change, water pollution, ill health, and the destruction of soils, small-scale farming, and rural communities, it has been sold to the public on a series of mythological propositions. Principal among these myths are monoculture agriculture’s “high yields and efficiency”, smallholder farming’s “inadequacy”, and the “food productivity crisis”. Journalists, politicians, and especially academics, propagate these myths — apparently unaware of their contradiction by evidence. Demolishing these myths and halting the march of industrial farming, therefore, “is the cause of our age….whatever else we may aspire to do, agriculture is the thing we absolutely have to get right.”
The article can be read in its entirety at Independent Science News: http://www.independentsciencenews.org/un-sustainable-farming/the-founding-fables-of-industrialised-agriculture/
Colin Tudge is author of So Shall We Reap and many other books about agriculture.
His latest book (highly recommended by the Bioscience Resource Project) Good Food for Everyone Forever: A people’s takeover of the food supply expands on the topics covered in “The Founding Fables of Industrialised Agriculture“. Eloquent and to the point, Tudge clarifies what is wrong with industrial agriculture and what is needed for a switch to enlightened farming — farming designed specifically to feed good food to everyone forever.
