Kirschenmann: The foundation of any farm's success

By FRED KIRSCHENMANN, Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow

The pursuit of quantity at all costs is dangerous in farming. Quantity should be aimed at only in strict conformity with natural law, especially must the law of return of all wastes to the land be faithfully observed. In other words, a firm line needs to be drawn between a legitimate use of natural abundance and exploitation.
— Sir Albert Howard, British organic agriculture pioneer

It seems we are becoming painfully aware of nature’s limits. Given our diminishing fossil fuels and fresh water resources, plus our degraded soils, it is becoming more difficult to maintain the illusion that nature (or technology) always will be able to supply all the resources we need to maintain our current rates of consumption indefinitely. Nature’s abundance and our technological prowess have, for several decades, led us to believe that we could overcome any barriers to maintaining our “non-negotiable” American way of life.

A similar view has penetrated our view of agriculture. For several decades it seemed that there was no yield goal that was unattainable. And despite the challenges of climate change and increased energy costs, let alone degraded soils, we continue to assure ourselves that the combination of nature’s abundance and new technologies will enable us to overcome all of these challenges and not only maintain but increase current production yields.

Sir Albert Howard was one of the prescient agriculturalists of the early 20th century and was deeply impressed by nature’s resilience. But he also was keenly aware of nature’s limits, especially when it came to farming. He recognized that nature’s abundance easily could deceive us because she appears so lavish, but he pointed out that in reality nature “works on very small margins.” He argued that while the whole of nature appears luxurious to us, her “natural surpluses are made up of minute individual items: The amount contributed by each plant or animal is quite tiny: It is the additive total which impresses us.”

Howard reminded us that regardless of our technological prowess, farming ultimately is dependent on the gifts of nature, and those gifts are tied to a complex, interdependent web of relationships composed of everything from soil microorganisms to plants and mammals. This living system is ultimately dependent on the “law of return.” The health of the soil, which is the foundation of the entire web of life, is sustained by the return of all “waste” generated by the web. Decomposed waste becomes food for soil microorganisms, making up the life in the soil that is essential to soil health and free ecosystem services that provide for robust agriculture.

Howard was adamant that “the pursuit of quantity at all costs is dangerous to farming.” Once we focus on quantity at all costs we turn away from the most important task: sustaining the ecological health of the land on which productivity ultimately depends.

Unfortunately, our industrial culture has required almost exclusively that farmers pursue quantity at all costs. As ecologist Paul Thompson put it so eloquently: “Farmers today are forced into a single ethical requirement: ‘Produce as much as possible, regardless of the cost.’”

This is not to diminish the importance of yield. Every farmer knows that yield is important, but when maximum production comes at the expense of the health of the land, yields cannot be maintained. Any farm’s success always depends on the health of its land. As Aldo Leopold reminded us, land health is best defined as the land’s capacity for “self-renewal.” Self-renewal can be maintained only by virtue of a healthy biotic community.

It is time to recognize these fundamental requirements for success of any farming operation and begin to incorporate these essential elements of farming in our farm policies and practices. Farmers must be rewarded for producing land health as well as yield.

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Kirschenmann: The foundation of any farm's success