doug lMay 19th, 2008 - 15:00:22

In a world where food production is more and more ctitical and typically in conflict with land management practices that aim to conserve resources, I would hope that those who are battling-out the course to take would consider the term 'brought into production' and what it means. It seems, based on historical interpretation and recent scientific findings, that the Amazon,far from being a pristine wilderness with scant bands of primitive hunter gatherers dispersed across its lush, diverse, forests growing on nutrient poor tropical soils, was before the intorduction of european disease and the subsequent epidemics, in fact a very well populated and productive land supporting millions of people using ancient practices that amended the soils and fostered highly productive multi/perma culture agriculture. While this sort of labor intensive village agriculture does little to lubricate the wheels of agricultural industry as it is practiced today by MBA Investors and Hedgefund managers, it is a viable approach to what could be the moderm model of agriculture, embracing local foods and creating cash by exporting what are sensible in one's back yard and highly valued exotics in places across the globe. Business plans seek cohesive simplicity and integrating the production of a significant portion of the amazonian basin would be complex, but ultimately it is complexity that brings us the systems on which we subsist and simplifiying it to maximize profits is a path towards reduced viability for the entire system.

Report this comment