Write4U
Valued Senior Member
Interesting to note that "fallowing' the land is more productive over long periods of time. The problem with GW and Pollution is our wanton greed for profit. Hence we force everything to grow faster , bigger, with more artificial lethal chemicals to resist infestations (think DDT) without regard for long term consequences.
Fallow Fields — An Argument for Letting Your Creativity Rest
May 18, 2016 By Kristan Hoffman
“tired field” by Pea Chesh
Fallow Fields — An Argument for Letting Your Creativity Rest
May 18, 2016 By Kristan Hoffman
![15148883472_d95735a0a2.jpg](https://i0.wp.com/farm4.staticflickr.com/3847/15148883472_d95735a0a2.jpg?resize=500%2C280&ssl=1)
Set-aside, unlike the bureaucratic language that surrounds it, isn’t actually a new concept. ‘Fallow’ periods were traditionally used by farmers to maintain the natural productivity of their land. The benefits of leaving land fallow for extended periods include rebalancing soil nutrients, re-establishing soil biota, breaking crop pest and disease cycles, and providing a haven for wildlife.
Like many rural skills, the technique evolved along with a sustainable model of settled agriculture that supported the UK’s population for well over 3,000 years. Up until 1939 it was estimated that 800,000 ha of British countryside was voluntarily placed under fixed or rotational fallows at any time. The idea seems bizarre now, that less than a generation ago British farmers would have had the freedom, let alone the financial security, to improve their land in this way.
https://theecologist.org/2008/jun/20/fallow-and-fertileThe fact is farmers are no longer trusted to use their own judgement in managing the British countryside. If they were, set-aside areas would still be managed as the most effective means of building soil fertility. Inevitably, however, fallow farming has been deemed ‘uneconomic’ by the same logic that has seen agricultural imports and exports increase by 74 and 55 per cent respectively since 1962..........more
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