veg farming etc

"One of the most nutty, stereotype fallacies emanating from the vegetarians is their claim that crop husbandry is less energy and chemically intensive than livestock farming. Whilst this is true in consideration of the intensive, grain fed livestock units, the traditional mixed farming unit raises livestock for meat and milk off extensively managed, low input grassland systems; and each acre of well-managed grassland can produce four harvests a season of high protein forage utilising its all-inclusive clover plants as a green manure for fixing free atmospheric nitrogen into the soil. Whereas, an arable cropping system will only yield one or two crops per season, and will largely remain reliant on the inputs of artificial fertiliser for its nitrogen source; one ton of which requires ten tons of crude oil in the manufacturing process."

© 1999 Mark Purdey. All Rights Reserved.
First published in Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation Health Journal,
Vol 22, No 4. (619) 574-7763

http://www.westonaprice.org/farming/wasteland.html