Emergence of the Mechanical Mind
Evolutions of Agriculture
Technology
Direct Drilling
Herbicides
Animism
Animism’s significance was that it contained strong ethical and spiritual implications for nurturing and sustaining the Earth: an associated value system
sowing seed and fertiliser with specialist machinery without cultivating the soil
Domestication
domestication meant that plants, animals and other natural phenomena became manipulable property, as opposed to sacred beings or entities
Urbanisation
This new cultural practice of agriculture and its resultant abundance of food eventually led to population growth and intensified urban living, which culminated in the ‘Urban Revolution
Construction of Cities
Large scale social and political systems
Influences
Judeo-Christianity
The idea of man as nature’s guardian and caretaker
nature as being something that could be ploughed and cultivated, used as a commodity and manipulated as a resource, tamed and subdued for human benefit – particularly by males
This world view also saw females as passive and receptive: thinking incorporated into the new Mechanical world view
Rise of Capitalism
mechanistic nature - Decartes
materialist reductionism
empiricism
objectivism
Rationality - Locke
Father of Capitalism - Adam Smith
Wealth Creation
Arrogance towards nature
Culture of greed
Neoliberalism
Economic rationalism
Anthropocene.
the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.
Industrial Agriculture
Mechanical Agriculture
Organic Agriculture
Human and animal power
Farm machinery
Inorganic fertilisers
Natural material cycles
disempowers humans and their communities through a labour-saving focus
market driven
Environmental pollution
Waste Products
Potentially unsafe food
Early Modern Agricultural Revolution
This hinged around superior crops, pastures and animal genetics, and an increased focus on animal rotations and green manures to maintain (even enhance) soil fertility. But under the pressures of rising populations, the emphasis then started to fall on fertilisers.
rational agriculture
Humus Theory
Albrecht von Thaer (1752–1828)
argued that soil humus was the main plant nutrient and a major source of soil fertility.
Carl Sprengel (1787–1859) and his teacher Justus von Liebig (1803–1873);
pioneered research into how plants gained nutrients (then called mineral salts) from both the soil and the air.
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Law of the Minimum’, which said ‘a plant needs twelve substances to develop, and it will not grow healthily if any one of these is missing’
Balance Sheet theory - This stated that the harvesting of crops removed nutrients from the soil, so the onus for farmers was to put them back in
Patented Manure - John Lawes
With Joseph Henry Gilbert - built first manure factory
Karl Marx- Metabolic Rift - progressive abandonment of the recycling of nutrients between town and country in favour of artificial manures
1909 Fritz Haber first produced liquid ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen.
Partnered with Bosch to produce commercial production of Liqid nitrogen (Haber–Bosch process)
Practices of Industrial Agriculture
manipulation of plant and animal genome
factory farming of animals
chemical pest and weed control
intensive irrigation
application of synthetic fertilisers
monocultures
intensive tillage
Goals of Industrial Agriculture -productivism
Maximum profit
Maximum production
escalating weed and insect resistance to chemicals
destruction of natural pest predators
the belief that food output should be prioritised at the expense of other agricultural, natural and human values
Alternative Agriculture
Organic Agriculture - 1st Phase (Started in 1800's)
Johann Goethe (1749–1832) founder of biodynamics
Charles Darwin weighed in with a book on earthworms, which promoted their crucial role in generating soil health
Sir Albert Howard and Lady Eve Balfour
soil scientist William Albrecht,
microbiologist Selman Waksman
regenerative agriculture pioneer Jerome Rodale.
Sustainable Agriculture - 2nd Phase (1950's onwards)
Rachel Carson
Donella and Dennis Meadows
Lester Brown
Barry Commoner
Paul Ehrlich
Amory Lovins
E. F. Schumacher
modern agrarian tradition
Founder Aldo Leopold
Australian Eco-Pioneers
P. A. Yeomans - Keyline Plan
Elyne Mitchell
Colonel H. F. White and Professor Stanton Hicks
Regenerative Agriculture - 3rd Phase (1980's onwards)
Accelerated Industrial agriculture
Gene Technologies
Genetically modified food
Escalation in the use of chemicals
sophisticated and intensified confinement of animals in feedlots
increasing dominance of giant multinational businesses in all aspects of agriculture
Consequences
rise of multiple disease epidemics (including auto-immune diseases, cancers and obesity, plus issues such as allergies)
knock-on effects for developing nations, including the disenfranchisement, disempowerment and pauperisation of peasant farmers
active rebuilding or regeneration of existing systems towards full health. It also implies an open-ended process: of ongoing improvement and positive transformation.
At its heart was a reawakening of Albrecht von Thaer’s humus theory, but this time without the fatal flaws (Thaer didn't acknowledge Photosynthesis as it wasn't understood at the time) This period saw the appearance of many of the principles and practices of the new organic-farming movement
began in the late 1950s, as a counter-narrative to the post-war boom and emerging dominant industrial-agriculture practicessurge in new thinking about ecology, microbiology, soil health, food nutrients and holistic systems.