Good reads: Omnivore’s Delusion and Farmers Can Feed the World

These are two must reads for a Friday. In fact, it may be a good idea to print and file them. Or save them in that documents folder on your computer.

First up is The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against the Agri-intellectuals, written by Blake Hurst, a farmer in Missouri.

Hurst, of course, takes on Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and a critic of modern food production.

In addition to peeling back a few of the half-truths Pollan tosses about so haphazardly, Hurst tackles issues surrounding "industrial" farming with common sense and experience.

Here is Hurst's conclusion, but please take time to read the entire piece:

The distance between the farmer and what he grows has certainly increased, but, believe me, if we weren't closely connected, we wouldn't still be farming. It's important to our critics that they emphasize this alienation, because they have to ignore the "industrial" farmer's experience and knowledge to say the things they do about farming.

But farmers have reasons for their actions, and society should listen to them as we embark upon this reappraisal of our agricultural system. I use chemicals and diesel fuel to accomplish the tasks my grandfather used to do with sweat, and I use a computer instead of a lined notebook and a pencil, but I'm still farming the same land he did 80 years ago, and the fund of knowledge that our family has accumulated about our small part of Missouri is valuable. And everything I know and I have learned tells me this: we have to farm "industrially" to feed the world, and by using those "industrial" tools sensibly, we can accomplish that task and leave my grandchildren a prosperous and productive farm, while protecting the land, water, and air around us.

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The second piece that is very well worth reading is written by Dr. Norman Borlaug: Farmers Can Feed the World - Better seeds and fertilizers, not romantic myths, will let them do it.

Borlaug, who turned 95 this year (see this post), outlines the importance of technology and the need for continued investment in agriculture globally - just as he has done for decades.

Here is his conclusion:

Of history, one thing is certain: Civilization as we know it could not have evolved, nor can it survive, without an adequate food supply. Likewise, the civilization that our children, grandchildren and future generations come to know will not evolve without accelerating the pace of investment and innovation in agriculture production.