Current Farm Economy Not Stable

By: Ann Bailey
Publication: Grand Forks Herald

Food and Society grantee says depletion of natural resources will force a sustainable agriculture system

The depletion of fossil fuels, environmental degradation, climatic change and a bankrupt farm economy will force changes in industrial agriculture, says Fred Kirschenmann, director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. “Our industrial agriculture is almost entirely fossil fuel dependent,” he says, noting that the system uses fuel for energy, fertilizer and irrigation. That dependence has resulted in exploding input costs for farmers, Kirschenmann said. The bankrupt farm economy will be an incentive for the industrial system to change to a more sustainable system.

For full article, please see:
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/business
/12989237.htm