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submitted 6 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] bennieandthez@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 6 months ago

There has to be a balance, we need to understand that as long as we export harvests out of the field we need to import nutrients into the field. We can't expect plants to naturally replenish the nutrients that we unnaturally extract.

Also we need to understand that when we introduce heavy machinery into a field, we need heavy machinery to break compaction. Plants and soil organisms simply cannot naturally break the compaction caused by our unnaturally heavy machinery that is heavily concentrated in the small contact area of a tire.

Some of these dogmatic beliefs lead to "regenerative" farmers being more extractivists than the industrial farmers they demonize.

[-] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 6 months ago

Absolutely. I'm happy to see more people on the same page here. Conservation of Mass is a law that we have to abide by.

On compaction, I have read on some cultivars of root grass crops being capable of penetrating plow pan and freeing up the soil underneath but I have not yet read any studies that empirically validate this. And, even if the data proves it, the proposed process is NOT fast and requires assistance from seasonal freeze/thaw cycles to help mechanically crack the compacted layer. So, not likely useful for remediation of fields needed to grow food in the short to mid term.