Old McDonald
Member
- Location
- Harray, Orkney
According to this link the cessation of farming in America caused the Little Ice Age. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47063973
If you do not want to read it all, the theory is that rewilding of agricultural land caused a drop in atmospheric CO2 sufficient to lower the temperature. So, all we have to do to stop the current increase in the levels is to stop farming. The planet and humanity will be saved!!
Apparently a population of 60million indigenous people were farming 56m hectares of land. Think about that in the context of 500 and more years ago in a country that did not have draft animals. The Spaniards were responsible for killing off 90% of the people, either directly or via disease, so the land returned to its natural state during the 16th Century, taking up CO2 and reducing the world’s temperature.
What are we all doing wrong if we cannot handle a hectare of land for each member of our household without using any machinery, fertilisers or sprays? When I was young father and I used to hand dig about an acre of potatoes each year, but no way in the world could we have worked 5 acres of arable totally by hand; and considering there were 6 of us in the house we should have been working 15 acres to match these 15th century and earlier South Americans.
I understand slash and burn, using only a tiny portion of what is burnt to grow crops for a couple of years, but this article is suggesting that they were actually cultivating it all. I find that impossible to believe, but no doubt there are those who will seize upon the report as support for their rewilding notions in the UK. Others will believe that they could hand work a hectare for each person in the family and survive. No doubt others will see it as a reason to cease using ag chemicals of all descriptions.
What hope is there for conventional farming in the face of reports such as this from places such as University College London?
If you do not want to read it all, the theory is that rewilding of agricultural land caused a drop in atmospheric CO2 sufficient to lower the temperature. So, all we have to do to stop the current increase in the levels is to stop farming. The planet and humanity will be saved!!
Apparently a population of 60million indigenous people were farming 56m hectares of land. Think about that in the context of 500 and more years ago in a country that did not have draft animals. The Spaniards were responsible for killing off 90% of the people, either directly or via disease, so the land returned to its natural state during the 16th Century, taking up CO2 and reducing the world’s temperature.
What are we all doing wrong if we cannot handle a hectare of land for each member of our household without using any machinery, fertilisers or sprays? When I was young father and I used to hand dig about an acre of potatoes each year, but no way in the world could we have worked 5 acres of arable totally by hand; and considering there were 6 of us in the house we should have been working 15 acres to match these 15th century and earlier South Americans.
I understand slash and burn, using only a tiny portion of what is burnt to grow crops for a couple of years, but this article is suggesting that they were actually cultivating it all. I find that impossible to believe, but no doubt there are those who will seize upon the report as support for their rewilding notions in the UK. Others will believe that they could hand work a hectare for each person in the family and survive. No doubt others will see it as a reason to cease using ag chemicals of all descriptions.
What hope is there for conventional farming in the face of reports such as this from places such as University College London?