pesticides are created in part from petroleum, which also
fuels tractors, processing machinery, and transport
vehicles. While organic fertilizers may seem to be a good
alternative, their production often relies on another
farm’s soil being able to produce the raw materials, such
as alfalfa, cottonseed, and feed for animals that provide
hoof and horn and blood meals. With these materials
constantly taken away from the soil that produces them,
these soils lose nutrients and eventually become depleted
and infertile.
When our focus is on harvesting as much as we can
from the soil, we forget to give the soil what it needs to
remain fertile. We must grow soil in a way that is
sustainable. Only then can it continue to provide us with
abundant food. If we farm in a way that does not sustain
soil fertility, the soil that is currently used functionally to
grow crops will soon be depleted. Like a non-renewable
resource, it will be used up.
The Loss of Soil Nutrients and Humus
When soil grows crops, the crops extract nutrients as
well as humus from the soil. To maintain the soil’s
fertility, the nutrients and humus must be replenished.
Both of these needs can be met simultaneously when the
crop and all other residues from those who consumed
the edible portion of the crop are composted and
returned to the soil. The cured compost will have almost
all of the nutrients that the crop contained and,