The Land Institute: A 50-Year Farm Bill

Long-term food security is our issue. We begin with the knowledge that essentially all of nature's ecosystems feature perennial plants growing in species mixtures and that they build soil.

June 1, 2009 | Source: The Land Institute | by

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Introduction

Long-term food security is our issue. We begin with the knowledge that essentially all of nature’s ecosystems feature perennial plants growing in species mixtures and that they build soil. Agriculture reversed that process nearly everywhere by substituting annual monocultures. As a result, ecosystem services-including soil fertility-have been degraded. Most land available for new production is of marginal quality that declines quickly. The resulting biodiversity loss gets deserved attention, soil erosion less.

Acknowledgment of coalitions

To address diminishing agricultural potential with a new vision, The Land Institute sponsored ten meetings coast-to-coast with farmers and representatives of sustainable agriculture organizations. This loose coalition can help to build a broader constituency.

Organic and local food organizations, including some represented in our coalition, provide vision, education and models of greater sustainability. With those constituencies, we share common principles and the goals of returning the world’s grain-producing landscapes to perennial plants in the rotation for grain production.

Green Lands Blue Waters is an Upper Midwest coalition advocating the need to perennialize the landscape of the Mississippi Basin out of concern for soil erosion and the leaching of nitrogen, which is responsible for one of the largest dead zones of the world. GLBW partners include the University of Illinois, Iowa State University, including the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Louisiana State University, the University of Minnesota, North Dakota State University and the University of Wisconsin, and the Audubon Society, the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, The Land Institute, The Land Stewards hip Project, the Minnesota/Iowa Farmers Union, The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, Practical Farmers of Iowa, and the Rural Advantage and Agricultural Watershed Institute.

What is required?

Promote systemic change

A 50-Year Farm Bill is a proposal for gradual systemic change in agriculture. Perhaps what has been missing is an available vision with scientific feasibility. Implementation will depend on endorsement by the Secretary of Agriculture, the President, Congress, nonprofit organizations, corporations, and citizens .