Tuesday, May 26, 2009

peas

Today I found some peas from last year that sprouted up in the middle of a hairy vetch-rye cover crop. I ate the shoots and they were so good. The whole thing was mowed to prepare for bell peppers.

Abstract from Cultivating the future based on science, "The comparative energy efficiency of organic farming":

Organic farming is generally a more energy efficient system of food production. Comparative analyses of fifteen crop and livestock sectors indicate that UK organic farming uses around 26% less energy per tonne of output on average. The main energy saving is from the non-use of industrially produced inorganic nitrogen fertiliser. Organic farming is more energy efficient for wheat, most field vegetables, milk, red meat and pigs, but it is less efficient for poultry production.
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It doesn't surprise me that organic is not always efficient for meat. In a way, factory farming is a great system. It is the only realistic way of keeping up with Americans' insatiable appetite for meat--pack 'em in like they're any other product.

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