The following submission statement was provided by /u/jollyroger69420:
---
And lets all have a moment of silence for the family farmers who destroy Kansas with every worthless breath, only to shovel their cash crop down the gullets of massive livestock operations. And for a competitive price, the only hidden cost is zoonotic diseases smothering the whole human race. Ya can't beat a deal like that!
So boohoo for the farmers and ranchers, boohoo for Kansas and above all - boohoo for America. Lol
---
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1dnzmgf/depletion_of_major_groundwater_source_threatens/la67r89/
I remember hearing about the risks of aquifer depletion in school almost 30 years ago. They haven't stopped, or even slowed down since then, and those risks will soon just become facts of life as every well goes dry and every crop returns lower yields every single year in perpetuity. The time to fix this problem was at some point BEFORE 30 years ago. The second best time was any point before now, but here we are, full steam ahead forever, until forever ends for everyone at the same time.
For me it was 20 years ago in college. I remember going to a presentation about how climate change would exacerbate rates of depletion and that US agriculture would be in serious trouble by the 2030s. Here we are..
Gosh me too, middle and highschool geology text books and such talked about how these form over hundreds of years and we are depleting them faster and faster.
I also remember like 7th grade or 9th grade biology textbooks talking about exponential growth of a population usually ends with the population experiencing rapid loss after reaching a tip. It then showed the population of humans from like the 1600-1700 era till the publishing of the book as an exponential leaving the readers to read between the lines with a few food for thought questions. That always stuck with me.
Yep, there is no excuse for what's coming to humanity, it could've been prevented in so many ways. We're too stupid and stubborn to live in a way that benefits the generations to come.
Literally a tale as old as time. Every civilization runs its course when the landscape has been too altered to be useful and whoever at the top has all the riches. It's merely a matter of time for us.
Nah. They took it from you. Take it back. >We're too stupid...
i am not we. I am I. Leave all of us out of it and redirect your vector, Victor. Agreed... but... i ain't dumb. Eni sure assail ain't callin' inno ballisticmissile strikes in some desert across the globe either. with that said, i have near-zero power, nor did i ever, to affect chang. i, without we, is powerless. we are currently divided. weak. malleable. fed. fed well.
maximum effort cuz i'm too stupid and stubborn to live in a way that benefits the generations to come.
mang. gimme tree fiddy.
>We're too stupid...
i am not we. I am I. Leave all of us out of it and redirect your vector, Victor. Agreed... but... i ain't dumb. Eni sure assail ain't callin' inno ballisticmissile strikes in some desert across the globe either. with that said, i have near-zero power, nor did i ever, to affect chang. i, without we, is powerless. we are currently divided. weak. malleable. fed. fed well.
maximum effort cuz i'm too stupid and stubborn to live in a way that benefits the generations to come.
mang. gimme tree fiddy.
fortunatley or unfortunately this year has been a banner year for moisture in the west. once again these guys will kick the can and deny anything meaningful is happening to the climate.
My long covid symptoms lessened so much with the autumn rains. And now there's more pasture for the sheep and cattle to overgraze. Really sucks having two options to choose where to live: the polluted city or the animal-shit-holocaust in the country.
This is nothing new in two ways. First, we've known about it and been warned about it for a long time (see the date on the image), and second, we have gone out of our way to ignore those warnings. So, we're treating it just like we treat every other climate issue... :(
https://preview.redd.it/ka592jq3zo8d1.png?width=610&format=png&auto=webp&s=41a34c6a99861572711bdd06ee7c811567578068
It's sad how selfish we are to deprive our children of their water and ease of farming with such unsustainable practices. You would've thought a farmer or two acknowledge their well levels go down over the years, or other indications of a depleting aquifier. Tragedy of the commons
Farmers get pinched by the capitalist market and bought up by the mega rich if they don't practice unsustainably. We measure efficiency on a per year per acre per crop basis that ignored all externalities involved with farming (water, soil health, pollinators, etc). The government and large food corps (Tyson, Cargill, etc) are to blame for designing this awful system, though overly conservative farmers stuck in their ways play a role too. On a longer time scale the way we operate is not efficient at all, we're just making our kids and grandkids deal with the consequences.
Nahhh...
>We're too stupid...
i am not we. I am I. Leave all of us out of it and redirect your vector, Victor. Agreed... but... i ain't dumb. Eni sure assail ain't callin' inno ballisticmissile strikes in some desert across the globe either. with that said, i have near-zero power, nor did i ever, to affect chang. i, without we, is powerless. we are currently divided. weak. malleable. fed. fed well.
maximum effort cuz i'm too stupid and stubborn to live in a way that benefits the generations to come.
mang. gimme tree fiddy.
I really think smaller local agricultural practices need to be put in place. Every community should supply their own, its the global supply that has caused this. Farming larger and larger areas, water intensive crops, raising sheep and cattle to send across the globe to feed billions. Communities need to produce their own, it would be smaller plots more natural crops less land consumption and water use ,less overproduction and waste. Ofc the trade off will be the end of fast foods worldwide, meat consumption will have to go down, but with all that the ghg will go down, smaller herds and farm plots mean less disease and healthier food, an end to commercial beef and lamb farming where the animals are kept in huge feedlots and miserable having to be dosed with high levels of hormones antibiotics anti parasites that ultimately get into the food we eat
People act like it's uncommon but historically you can see traces of it with big merchants or military leaders taking new land after major upheavals and carving little niches of influence. It's prominent in European and Asian history texts. I'm sure it's happened in Africa too but I read more American, European, and Asian history texts.
when i say locally i mean from your area, those cities have lands around them. Humans have lived all over this planet for thousands of years before gas and oil. Im sure they can compensate
Well, we need to have a contest for a perjorative to call the refugees, the Kansas equivalent of "Okies". I'll toss out the unimaginative "Kankies" as a starter for the list.
And lets all have a moment of silence for the family farmers who destroy Kansas with every worthless breath, only to shovel their cash crop down the gullets of massive livestock operations. And for a competitive price, the only hidden cost is zoonotic diseases smothering the whole human race. Ya can't beat a deal like that!
So boohoo for the farmers and ranchers, boohoo for Kansas and above all - boohoo for America. Lol
They grow a lot of stuff that's typically (though not exclusively) destined for livestock -- silage corn, hay, sorghum, soybeans.
[https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick\_Stats/Ag\_Overview/stateOverview.php?state=KANSAS](https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/Ag_Overview/stateOverview.php?state=KANSAS)
One of the things many people in this subreddit (and others) have made it clear is that they're not going to give up meat, or even reduce their consumption, because billionaires. Because capitalism. Because oil companies. Because...
Because we're a selfish, and largely ignorant, species. We want the system to change, but we don't want to change. And because we *are* largely ignorant, most can't grasp that if the system were to change, we'd be forced to change right along with it.
I have done vegetarian diet for 3 years while working in a blue collar male environment. It was not great.
Nowadays, I either buy meat reduced for a fast sale (close to spoil) or from intensive silvopasture producers. My life circonstances have changed enough that I could go veg again with no harrassment. I'm a fine cook, the food is nice.
I limit my consumption too, and my little bit of well watered land is getting planted with multi-story orchard, no till garden etc. It's pleasant.
I'm looking at how to reduce my gasoline use (900L/year for 15k km/year in a hybrid car) and my wattage (24k kWh/year in a badly insulated house), using electricity to heat my house in winter. It looks like a reduction of distances for my transportation, it is manageable and will cost me less.
For the wattage, I heat my home at 17°C in winter and A/C at 25°C in summer. It looks like a lot of renovations to insulate the house. It will cost a lot of money, that I will not fully regain in the next 30 years.
I am in a priviledged position to be able to do these things, insulation renos are expensive, and I can sacrifice some money to reduce my energy consumption. A lot of people cannot afford such things. It is difficult to swallow, that we (under 50 y old) have to reign it in while our elders are travelling and eating steak.
At least for me, and I would guess a significant number of people on this sub, is the belief that systemic change is the only way to make a meaningful impact on our environment. One person's actions are meaningless on the scale of our global system. So, until our entire species decides to start acting in our best interest, I don't see a lot of benefit in making significant personal sacrifices.
And people blame billionaires because our current 'thought leaders' are still racing around the earth in private jets and touting carnivore diets. If that is what is being marketed as ideal behavior for elite humans, then why should I use paper straws and eat sorghum patties and drink cockroach meal smoothies?
Hi, 27Believe. Thanks for contributing. However, your [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1dnzmgf/-/laftofe/) was removed from /r/collapse for:
> Rule 1: In addition to enforcing [Reddit's content policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy), we will also remove comments and content that is abusive or predatory in nature. You may attack each other's ideas, not each other.
Please refer to our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/about/rules/) for more information.
You can [message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/collapse) if you feel this was in error, please include a link to the comment or post in question.
I don't know about anyone else, but *my* consumption of meat has nothing to do with billionaires, capitalism or oil companies and a lot to do with having evolved as an omnivore *plus* living in an area where there are no longer any native predators for the local wild herbivores. I am by default, the apex predator for them. Plus of course there are plenty of areas in the world unsuited for conventional agriculture but entirely suited for grazing and I see no reason why we should *decrease* food production by taking those areas out of circulation.
Now, it could be argued that as an omnivore I have the *choice* to not eat meat, but it could also be argued that as a being capable of rational thought you have the *choice* to not make flawed arguments. Yet here we are.
> maximum power principle[d]
I think I first heard that phrase listening to Hagens and Schmachtenberger, but wow, it dates back over a hundred years. But also, I remember such a thing being described ([in a PBS SpaceTime talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcfLZSL7YGw)) as a physical principle that predates, and likely is a driver for, the origin of life.
So, maybe this is a facet of the Great Filter...
If your point is that BigAg is worse than family farms, I completely agree. But let's not forget the prairies were destroyed a long time before industrial agriculture, clearing land for pasture and monocrops for hundreds of years. Its not a legacy to be proud of.
For all worthless Redditors that can't even feed themselves, let alone others destructively:
For all worthless Redditors who can't add anything useful or meaningful to the life of any other living humans, even 1 single person:
Let's all have a moment of silence.
Two ways to fix this:
1) Place reasonable upper and lower bounds on income, and make “passive income” from simply owning something completely illegal. Then, price meat products and crops grown with artificial irrigation according to the now and cumulative future value loss from aquifer depletion and permanent destruction. Price of those unsustainable products becomes unaffordable for ALL, and we stop this madness.
2) Continue BAU until the depletion of every resource imaginable spurs nervous governments into a third world war over resources. Wait for all the oil refineries to be bombed out in a last ditch effort to break the stalemate, cutting off millions from food. Billions starve, and a few “outcasts” survive. Start civilization over, this time guided by those “crazy weirdos” who learned to live off of, and with the limitations of, local resources.
I’m, uh… “optimistic” for the second scenario, which leads back to the first one, probably long after I’m dead and gone.
No, there's a 3rd option but collapse doesn't like hearing it usually. [Gabe Brown](https://youtu.be/O394wQ_vb3s) and other regenerative farmers have already figured this out.
regenerative farming on an estate is an oxymoron. Need to get that farmland owned/stewarded by multiple people or entities not just another "family farm".
>regenerative farming on an estate is an oxymoron
What?, the whole point of the video is that you don't need chemical fertilizers or chemical pesticides.
if a farm's labor source, fuel source, point of control (ownership) only comes from one place, it's not quite regenerative or even sustainable, IMO. I'm not commenting on the inputs regenerative or conventional farming requires or does not require, I'm commenting on the control or ownership of the entity.
It’s an important issue but this submission statement is awful. Boohoo to family farmers and their worthless breath? I’d feel like such an asshole if I wrote something like this.
previous AgSecretary Perdue speaks the language of capitalism when he made the statement "Go big, or just go" to farmers a few years ago [https://www.startribune.com/sonny-perdue-to-farmers-go-big-or-just-go/562216182/](https://www.startribune.com/sonny-perdue-to-farmers-go-big-or-just-go/562216182/)
Bet that guy doesn't feel like an asshole saying how farming in a capitalist system ends up: where the small minority owns/controls the most and the majority owns the least.
People benefiting from that farming don’t give a fuck. They build more and more infrastructure to keep farming or distributing chemicals for mining style farming or drilling more wells for center pivots.
The attempts at conservation at the end are heartening, but sadly it's likely too little too late. Climate change and the resulting permanent drought and hotter temperatures means that aquifer isn't going to fill back up. Even if we were somehow carbon negative as a planet starting today, there's a lot of warming still baked in.
It was an aside but they mentioned the exact same thing happening in California. Scary AF.
We had a Dust Bowl about 100 years ago. No reason it can't happen again, and for largely the same reasons:
[Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s by Donald Worster](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/72224.Dust_Bowl)
The farmers worldwide are the backbone of the human population expansion. Especially US farmers which feed so much of the world it is critical that they succeed which is impossible during a drought.
At least the perfect promise south-central La La Land Angels are trying to be good stewards of the land. And one day, one day I’m gonna make it there. With the gold and the vineyards and the redwoods and the Angels. And the best weed and the strongest drugs and the most hard-core of hippies.
The following submission statement was provided by /u/jollyroger69420: --- And lets all have a moment of silence for the family farmers who destroy Kansas with every worthless breath, only to shovel their cash crop down the gullets of massive livestock operations. And for a competitive price, the only hidden cost is zoonotic diseases smothering the whole human race. Ya can't beat a deal like that! So boohoo for the farmers and ranchers, boohoo for Kansas and above all - boohoo for America. Lol --- Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1dnzmgf/depletion_of_major_groundwater_source_threatens/la67r89/
I remember hearing about the risks of aquifer depletion in school almost 30 years ago. They haven't stopped, or even slowed down since then, and those risks will soon just become facts of life as every well goes dry and every crop returns lower yields every single year in perpetuity. The time to fix this problem was at some point BEFORE 30 years ago. The second best time was any point before now, but here we are, full steam ahead forever, until forever ends for everyone at the same time.
For me it was 20 years ago in college. I remember going to a presentation about how climate change would exacerbate rates of depletion and that US agriculture would be in serious trouble by the 2030s. Here we are..
Gosh me too, middle and highschool geology text books and such talked about how these form over hundreds of years and we are depleting them faster and faster. I also remember like 7th grade or 9th grade biology textbooks talking about exponential growth of a population usually ends with the population experiencing rapid loss after reaching a tip. It then showed the population of humans from like the 1600-1700 era till the publishing of the book as an exponential leaving the readers to read between the lines with a few food for thought questions. That always stuck with me.
Food for thought kiddies! Mommy and Daddy are dead! And so are you! Wee!
Yep, there is no excuse for what's coming to humanity, it could've been prevented in so many ways. We're too stupid and stubborn to live in a way that benefits the generations to come.
Greedy, we allowed greedy sociopaths to take over the world using their Billions to fund our own destruction.
Literally a tale as old as time. Every civilization runs its course when the landscape has been too altered to be useful and whoever at the top has all the riches. It's merely a matter of time for us.
Nah. They took it from you. Take it back. >We're too stupid... i am not we. I am I. Leave all of us out of it and redirect your vector, Victor. Agreed... but... i ain't dumb. Eni sure assail ain't callin' inno ballisticmissile strikes in some desert across the globe either. with that said, i have near-zero power, nor did i ever, to affect chang. i, without we, is powerless. we are currently divided. weak. malleable. fed. fed well. maximum effort cuz i'm too stupid and stubborn to live in a way that benefits the generations to come. mang. gimme tree fiddy.
>We're too stupid... i am not we. I am I. Leave all of us out of it and redirect your vector, Victor. Agreed... but... i ain't dumb. Eni sure assail ain't callin' inno ballisticmissile strikes in some desert across the globe either. with that said, i have near-zero power, nor did i ever, to affect chang. i, without we, is powerless. we are currently divided. weak. malleable. fed. fed well. maximum effort cuz i'm too stupid and stubborn to live in a way that benefits the generations to come. mang. gimme tree fiddy.
fortunatley or unfortunately this year has been a banner year for moisture in the west. once again these guys will kick the can and deny anything meaningful is happening to the climate.
My long covid symptoms lessened so much with the autumn rains. And now there's more pasture for the sheep and cattle to overgraze. Really sucks having two options to choose where to live: the polluted city or the animal-shit-holocaust in the country.
animal-shit-holocaust EXACTLY
Now would be a good time, better than any future time.
What can an individual do to ensure water security if society does nothing?
Nothing, essentially. The solution to these problems is regulation based on scientific observation and measurement.
Capital must profit. The profit train (or gas guzzling tanker truck) must always keep moving.
So long as the train or truck has fuel, at least.
So it's dust bowl 2: waterless boogaloo
This is nothing new in two ways. First, we've known about it and been warned about it for a long time (see the date on the image), and second, we have gone out of our way to ignore those warnings. So, we're treating it just like we treat every other climate issue... :( https://preview.redd.it/ka592jq3zo8d1.png?width=610&format=png&auto=webp&s=41a34c6a99861572711bdd06ee7c811567578068
It's sad how selfish we are to deprive our children of their water and ease of farming with such unsustainable practices. You would've thought a farmer or two acknowledge their well levels go down over the years, or other indications of a depleting aquifier. Tragedy of the commons
Farmers get pinched by the capitalist market and bought up by the mega rich if they don't practice unsustainably. We measure efficiency on a per year per acre per crop basis that ignored all externalities involved with farming (water, soil health, pollinators, etc). The government and large food corps (Tyson, Cargill, etc) are to blame for designing this awful system, though overly conservative farmers stuck in their ways play a role too. On a longer time scale the way we operate is not efficient at all, we're just making our kids and grandkids deal with the consequences.
Yup, the financialiation of farmland puts farmers in a trap.
Nahhh... >We're too stupid... i am not we. I am I. Leave all of us out of it and redirect your vector, Victor. Agreed... but... i ain't dumb. Eni sure assail ain't callin' inno ballisticmissile strikes in some desert across the globe either. with that said, i have near-zero power, nor did i ever, to affect chang. i, without we, is powerless. we are currently divided. weak. malleable. fed. fed well. maximum effort cuz i'm too stupid and stubborn to live in a way that benefits the generations to come. mang. gimme tree fiddy.
Looks like the beginning of Interstellar, the only missing things are automated harvesters controlled by AI drone units
I finally watched that movie recently. I was hooked when the Indian air force drone overflew the midwestern cornfields. A believable future!
For now
That movie really haunts me.
Dustbowl two.
I really think smaller local agricultural practices need to be put in place. Every community should supply their own, its the global supply that has caused this. Farming larger and larger areas, water intensive crops, raising sheep and cattle to send across the globe to feed billions. Communities need to produce their own, it would be smaller plots more natural crops less land consumption and water use ,less overproduction and waste. Ofc the trade off will be the end of fast foods worldwide, meat consumption will have to go down, but with all that the ghg will go down, smaller herds and farm plots mean less disease and healthier food, an end to commercial beef and lamb farming where the animals are kept in huge feedlots and miserable having to be dosed with high levels of hormones antibiotics anti parasites that ultimately get into the food we eat
I bet people would learn how farms operate, and support them way more, once a few local seasons go sparce.
Probs !
People act like it's uncommon but historically you can see traces of it with big merchants or military leaders taking new land after major upheavals and carving little niches of influence. It's prominent in European and Asian history texts. I'm sure it's happened in Africa too but I read more American, European, and Asian history texts.
How do you envision this working in urban areas like Mexico City, Mumbai , nyc ? There isn’t enough land even with rooftops.
when i say locally i mean from your area, those cities have lands around them. Humans have lived all over this planet for thousands of years before gas and oil. Im sure they can compensate
Oh well you said community. I don’t define such a large area as a community.
Well, we need to have a contest for a perjorative to call the refugees, the Kansas equivalent of "Okies". I'll toss out the unimaginative "Kankies" as a starter for the list.
How about Kansastanies?
Or "Kansastinians"?
Kansers
And lets all have a moment of silence for the family farmers who destroy Kansas with every worthless breath, only to shovel their cash crop down the gullets of massive livestock operations. And for a competitive price, the only hidden cost is zoonotic diseases smothering the whole human race. Ya can't beat a deal like that! So boohoo for the farmers and ranchers, boohoo for Kansas and above all - boohoo for America. Lol
Might have picked a *corn* state for that diatribe, considering that Kansas is the #1 US *wheat* producer.
They grow a lot of stuff that's typically (though not exclusively) destined for livestock -- silage corn, hay, sorghum, soybeans. [https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick\_Stats/Ag\_Overview/stateOverview.php?state=KANSAS](https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/Ag_Overview/stateOverview.php?state=KANSAS) One of the things many people in this subreddit (and others) have made it clear is that they're not going to give up meat, or even reduce their consumption, because billionaires. Because capitalism. Because oil companies. Because... Because we're a selfish, and largely ignorant, species. We want the system to change, but we don't want to change. And because we *are* largely ignorant, most can't grasp that if the system were to change, we'd be forced to change right along with it.
I have done vegetarian diet for 3 years while working in a blue collar male environment. It was not great. Nowadays, I either buy meat reduced for a fast sale (close to spoil) or from intensive silvopasture producers. My life circonstances have changed enough that I could go veg again with no harrassment. I'm a fine cook, the food is nice. I limit my consumption too, and my little bit of well watered land is getting planted with multi-story orchard, no till garden etc. It's pleasant. I'm looking at how to reduce my gasoline use (900L/year for 15k km/year in a hybrid car) and my wattage (24k kWh/year in a badly insulated house), using electricity to heat my house in winter. It looks like a reduction of distances for my transportation, it is manageable and will cost me less. For the wattage, I heat my home at 17°C in winter and A/C at 25°C in summer. It looks like a lot of renovations to insulate the house. It will cost a lot of money, that I will not fully regain in the next 30 years. I am in a priviledged position to be able to do these things, insulation renos are expensive, and I can sacrifice some money to reduce my energy consumption. A lot of people cannot afford such things. It is difficult to swallow, that we (under 50 y old) have to reign it in while our elders are travelling and eating steak.
At least for me, and I would guess a significant number of people on this sub, is the belief that systemic change is the only way to make a meaningful impact on our environment. One person's actions are meaningless on the scale of our global system. So, until our entire species decides to start acting in our best interest, I don't see a lot of benefit in making significant personal sacrifices.
And people blame billionaires because our current 'thought leaders' are still racing around the earth in private jets and touting carnivore diets. If that is what is being marketed as ideal behavior for elite humans, then why should I use paper straws and eat sorghum patties and drink cockroach meal smoothies?
[удалено]
Hi, 27Believe. Thanks for contributing. However, your [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1dnzmgf/-/laftofe/) was removed from /r/collapse for: > Rule 1: In addition to enforcing [Reddit's content policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy), we will also remove comments and content that is abusive or predatory in nature. You may attack each other's ideas, not each other. Please refer to our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/about/rules/) for more information. You can [message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/collapse) if you feel this was in error, please include a link to the comment or post in question.
I don't know about anyone else, but *my* consumption of meat has nothing to do with billionaires, capitalism or oil companies and a lot to do with having evolved as an omnivore *plus* living in an area where there are no longer any native predators for the local wild herbivores. I am by default, the apex predator for them. Plus of course there are plenty of areas in the world unsuited for conventional agriculture but entirely suited for grazing and I see no reason why we should *decrease* food production by taking those areas out of circulation. Now, it could be argued that as an omnivore I have the *choice* to not eat meat, but it could also be argued that as a being capable of rational thought you have the *choice* to not make flawed arguments. Yet here we are.
Right, right. It’s not you. It’s everyone else!
I'm pretty sure 'everyone else' reading this has the dentition and digestive tract of an omnivore as well.
Let’s not overlook that we associate entire states with specific monocultures. The entire country is ‘maximum power principled’
> maximum power principle[d] I think I first heard that phrase listening to Hagens and Schmachtenberger, but wow, it dates back over a hundred years. But also, I remember such a thing being described ([in a PBS SpaceTime talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcfLZSL7YGw)) as a physical principle that predates, and likely is a driver for, the origin of life. So, maybe this is a facet of the Great Filter...
Oh, the ones who haven't sold out to ADM or ConAgra?
If your point is that BigAg is worse than family farms, I completely agree. But let's not forget the prairies were destroyed a long time before industrial agriculture, clearing land for pasture and monocrops for hundreds of years. Its not a legacy to be proud of.
For all worthless Redditors that can't even feed themselves, let alone others destructively: For all worthless Redditors who can't add anything useful or meaningful to the life of any other living humans, even 1 single person: Let's all have a moment of silence.
Two ways to fix this: 1) Place reasonable upper and lower bounds on income, and make “passive income” from simply owning something completely illegal. Then, price meat products and crops grown with artificial irrigation according to the now and cumulative future value loss from aquifer depletion and permanent destruction. Price of those unsustainable products becomes unaffordable for ALL, and we stop this madness. 2) Continue BAU until the depletion of every resource imaginable spurs nervous governments into a third world war over resources. Wait for all the oil refineries to be bombed out in a last ditch effort to break the stalemate, cutting off millions from food. Billions starve, and a few “outcasts” survive. Start civilization over, this time guided by those “crazy weirdos” who learned to live off of, and with the limitations of, local resources. I’m, uh… “optimistic” for the second scenario, which leads back to the first one, probably long after I’m dead and gone.
No, there's a 3rd option but collapse doesn't like hearing it usually. [Gabe Brown](https://youtu.be/O394wQ_vb3s) and other regenerative farmers have already figured this out.
regenerative farming on an estate is an oxymoron. Need to get that farmland owned/stewarded by multiple people or entities not just another "family farm".
>regenerative farming on an estate is an oxymoron What?, the whole point of the video is that you don't need chemical fertilizers or chemical pesticides.
if a farm's labor source, fuel source, point of control (ownership) only comes from one place, it's not quite regenerative or even sustainable, IMO. I'm not commenting on the inputs regenerative or conventional farming requires or does not require, I'm commenting on the control or ownership of the entity.
It’s an important issue but this submission statement is awful. Boohoo to family farmers and their worthless breath? I’d feel like such an asshole if I wrote something like this.
Family farmers are now tenants to Big Ag. That era of farming is gone.
And the "lol" at the end - WTF
previous AgSecretary Perdue speaks the language of capitalism when he made the statement "Go big, or just go" to farmers a few years ago [https://www.startribune.com/sonny-perdue-to-farmers-go-big-or-just-go/562216182/](https://www.startribune.com/sonny-perdue-to-farmers-go-big-or-just-go/562216182/) Bet that guy doesn't feel like an asshole saying how farming in a capitalist system ends up: where the small minority owns/controls the most and the majority owns the least.
People benefiting from that farming don’t give a fuck. They build more and more infrastructure to keep farming or distributing chemicals for mining style farming or drilling more wells for center pivots.
The attempts at conservation at the end are heartening, but sadly it's likely too little too late. Climate change and the resulting permanent drought and hotter temperatures means that aquifer isn't going to fill back up. Even if we were somehow carbon negative as a planet starting today, there's a lot of warming still baked in. It was an aside but they mentioned the exact same thing happening in California. Scary AF.
A confluence of humanity’s effects.
Farming this way should be illegal, let them destroy the land and future to squeeze out some more profit per acre why don’t we
We had a Dust Bowl about 100 years ago. No reason it can't happen again, and for largely the same reasons: [Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s by Donald Worster](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/72224.Dust_Bowl)
The farmers worldwide are the backbone of the human population expansion. Especially US farmers which feed so much of the world it is critical that they succeed which is impossible during a drought.
At least the perfect promise south-central La La Land Angels are trying to be good stewards of the land. And one day, one day I’m gonna make it there. With the gold and the vineyards and the redwoods and the Angels. And the best weed and the strongest drugs and the most hard-core of hippies.