Source: Brummer, E.C. 1998. Diversity, stability, and sustainable American Agriculture. Agron. J. 90:1-2.

A general decline in crop diversity and a concentration of research funding on a few select crops has been the trend in agriculture in the United States since the 1940s. American agriculture has evolved into a highly unstable system that is easily disturbed by weather, insect and disease epidemics, and foreign trade fluctuations. Brummer argues that the only way to ensure a sustainable agricultural system in America is to diversify agriculture at several different levels. He contends that the current trend of mass production of a few crops cannot be sustained without increasing external inputs. The following are problems that arise out of the current system: (1) much row-crop land loses more soil each year than it can regenerate; (2) many surface and underground water sources contain considerable levels of fertilizers and pesticides; (3) most manure cannot be recycled due to the decoupling of livestock and crop operations leading to nutrient disasters at both feed lots and grain farms; (4) the use of chemicals has only made weeds and pests more difficult to control; and (5) rising input costs have depressed income. Brummer then asserts that the way to achieve a sustainable system of agriculture is to diversify at the following levels: (1) integrating crops and livestock in the farm enterprise; (2) cultivating multiple crops, including perennials, in a crop rotation; (3) intercropping multiple crops within the same field; and (4) planting a mixture of genotypes of a particular crop rather than a single hybrid or pure-line variety. Convincing data have been published to support all of the above situations and have shown them to be more stable, more profitable, and often more productive than the current system of monocultures. Brummer emphasizes the need to ask some important questions and make some tough decisions if we hope to have a sustainable agricultural system in America in the future. Brummer concludes that if we do not diversify our farms, we will be heading straight for disaster.

Abstract author: Danielle E. Ogurcak, 10 November 1998.

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