A. Lincoln saw agriculture as an opportunity for "cultivated thought," saying, "Every blade of grass is a study; and to produce two, where there was but one, is both a profit and a pleasure." Making a profit is not the problem it is not recognizing the harm to our resource or our neighbors the production process used may cause. This approach to use our best lands, suited for the intended use and already in production to produce more is not bad, provided the process is managed to do no harm. It would best to do this with use of organic methods as crop rotations, reduce dependence on fertilizer and other inputs. If intensification however can allow marginal lands to be put to uses better suited then there would be less dependence on outside inputs, less runoff and erosion. The time, labor and capital spent on low returns from the marginal land could then be better used by intensification of the suited land. Another quote I can not attribute to Lincoln is our misinterpretation of progress. "Change is too often misinterpreted as progress. Progress must start in the hearts of men". If we are to have true change it must be in the heart of the farmer, that he is producing food for humanity and at the same time is a steward of the land.
A. Lincoln saw agriculture as an opportunity for "cultivated thought," saying, "Every blade of grass is a study; and to produce two, where there was but one, is both a profit and a pleasure." Making a profit is not the problem it is not recognizing the harm to our resource or our neighbors the production process used may cause. This approach to use our best lands, suited for the intended use and already in production to produce more is not bad, provided the process is managed to do no harm. It would best to do this with use of organic methods as crop rotations, reduce dependence on fertilizer and other inputs. If intensification however can allow marginal lands to be put to uses better suited then there would be less dependence on outside inputs, less runoff and erosion. The time, labor and capital spent on low returns from the marginal land could then be better used by intensification of the suited land. Another quote I can not attribute to Lincoln is our misinterpretation of progress. "Change is too often misinterpreted as progress. Progress must start in the hearts of men". If we are to have true change it must be in the heart of the farmer, that he is producing food for humanity and at the same time is a steward of the land.