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Introducing TerraDeforming, brought to you by #AnotherMarketFailure and #unsustainable #IndustrialAgriculture
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Viewed and recommend: “Food and Country.” https://www.foodandcountryfilm.com/
Ask for it at your local library, e.g., it’s at Monterey Public Library https://www.montereylibrary.org/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=460084&query_desc=kw%2Cwrdl%3A%20food%20and%20country.
#FoodAndCountry #USA #FoodSystem #IndustrialAgriculture #SmallFarmers #FamilyFarms #Ranchers #FoodProduction #agriculture #farming #chefs #WhiteOakPastures #KnuthFarms #OrganicFarming
#Greenwave #BrenSmith #RiseAndRootFarms #StratfordAngus
Food and CountryFood and CountryFood and Country: trailblazing food writer Ruth Reichl reaches across political and social divides to report on the country's broken food system and the innovators risking everything to transform it.
What the heck is “#CornSweat” and is it making the Midwest more dangerous?
It’s pretty much just as gross as it sounds.
"In one 2020 study, researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics analyzed a past summer heat wave in the Midwest and found that cropland — most of which comprised corn in this part of the country — can increase moisture in the air above it by up to 40 percent."
by Benji Jones
Aug 29, 2024
"Ah, yes, late August in the Midwest: a time for popsicles by the lake, a trip to the county fair, and, of course, extreme humidity made more miserable by … corn sweat.
"Corn sweat. It’s a thing! And people are talking about it.
The term refers to the moisture released by fields of corn during hot and sunny weather. Like all other plants, corn transpires — meaning, it sucks up water from the ground and expels it into the air as a way to stay cool and distribute nutrients. Moisture also enters the air when water in the soil evaporates. Together with transpiration, this process is called #evapotranspiration.
"So, where you find loads of plants packed tightly into one place, whether the Amazon rainforest or #Iowa, humidity can skyrocket during hot and especially sunny periods, making the air feel oppressive.
"That’s what happened this week: A late-summer #heatwave brought record and near-record temperatures to parts of the Midwest where there also happen to be vast fields of corn. With plenty of sunlight and temperatures in the high 90s, it was enough to make corn sweat, producing extremely uncomfortable weather.
"It’s not that corn sweats more than other plants — an acre releases less moisture on average than, say, a large oak tree — but the Midwest has a lot of corn in late August. In Iowa, for example, more than two-thirds of the area is farmland, and corn is the top crop (followed by #soybeans, which, by the way, also sweat)."
[...]
"Again, it’s not just crops across the #Midwest that release moisture, increase humidity, and make summers feel disgusting (I know firsthand; I grew up in Iowa). The millions of acres of #prairie that industrial farmland replaced — mostly to feed livestock and make ethanol — would have also produced loads of moisture, Basso said.
"But there are some key differences between native #ecosystems and #IndustrialFarmland, he added. '#NativePrairies are diverse ecosystems with a variety of plant species, each with different root depths and water needs, helping to create a balanced moisture cycle,' he told me. 'In contrast, corn and #soy #monocultures are uniform and can draw water from the soil more quickly.'"
Vox · What the heck is “corn sweat” and is it making the Midwest more dangerous?
We have here 28'000'000'000 kg of poop.
We have no place to store or get rid of it. Dutch poop anyone? Oh, and we should get rid of it by October 1, so if you're interested please hurry otherwise we're in trouble due to repeatedly breaking european law. Dankjewel! 
Ps. This is no joke.
https://redivider.emerson.edu/new-appalachia/ New Appalachia. A beautifully-written story of the people and land of San Joaquin Valley, California. #essay #PersonalEssay #ClimateCatastrophe #poverty #IndustrialAgriculture #agriculture #water #drought
redivider.emerson.eduNew Appalachia – Redivider
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Let's not forget the basics.
And that #IndustrialAgriculture is damaging that topsoil and messing with the rain!
Union of Concerned Scientists: The Hidden Costs of #IndustrialAgriculture
Published Jul 11, 2008 Updated Aug 24, 2008
Industrial farming is bad for the health of workers, eaters, and downstream neighbors. Here are some of its costly health impacts:
• #Pesticide toxicity. #Herbicides and #insecticides commonly used in agriculture have been associated with both acute poisoning and long-term chronic illness.
• Water #pollution from #fertilizer runoff contaminates downstream drinking water supplies, requiring costly cleanup measures with an annual price tag of nearly $2 billion.
• Loss of mid-sized #farms. Once the backbone of US agriculture, medium-sized farms are a dwindling breed, which means that fewer and fewer people make their living as farmers—a trend that has been bad for the economies of rural communities and farm states.
• Harm to neighboring and downstream economies. Industrial agriculture can pack an economic wallop hundreds of miles from its origin—just ask local governments and utility managers who must install expensive equipment to remove fertilizer by-products from public drinking water supplies. Or ask people who make their living from fisheries or tourism on the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere, where "dead zones" and toxic #algae blooms caused by farm runoff do damage with an annual price tag in the billions. CAFOs, too, create pollution problems that reduce livability and depress property values in surrounding communities.
#ClimateCrisis #Pollutants #Pesticides #ClimateChange #RedTide #Sargassum #BigAg #Runoff #WaterIsLife #Biodiversity #RedTide #Sargassum #DeadZones
Read more: https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/hidden-costs-industrial-agriculture
Union of Concerned ScientistsThe Hidden Costs of Industrial AgricultureIt was sold to the public as a technological miracle that would feed the world. We now know that the price is too high.
Florida beaches could be dealt a one-two punch of red tide and seaweed blob
March 17, 2023
A toxic algae bloom known as red tide is already killing fish along the Gulf Coast, causing a stench. Now, a massive blob of seaweed twice as wide as the United States is drifting across the Atlantic and could wash ashore in the coming weeks, creating an even bigger mess.
"It could be two problems turning into a bigger one," said Mike Parsons, a marine science professor at Florida Gulf Coast University.
MSNFlorida beaches could be dealt a one-two punch of red tide and seaweed blobA toxic algae bloom is already killing fish along the Gulf Coast, causing a stench. Now, a blob of seaweed twice as wide as the United States is drifting across the Atlantic.