Farm article MPX STEM 11-1-13

Since ancient times, it has been tradition to plant and grow crops in the spring. Even though it is is a tradition that has been celebrated for thousands of years, it is ineffective. Planting the crops every year deteriorates the soil, and makes it harder and harder every year to plant crops and have them flourish. Without fertilizer, it makes it almost impossible for big name crop planters and companies to plant and grow crops organically. That is what Jackson's whole campaign is about. He wants to create a prairie like growing system, mainly for different types of grains. His goal is to basically rewrite the way we grow our crops. He will be growing not only one type of crop at a time in the same space, but multiple crops in the same place, to level out the nitrogen in the soil.

"Jackson has a biblical way of speaking: “The plow has destroyed more options for future generations than the sword,” he says. “But soil is more important than oil, and just as nonrenewable.” Soil loss is one of the biggest hidden costs of industrial agriculture — and it’s created at literally a glacial pace, maybe a quarter-inch per century. The increasingly popular no-till style of agriculture reduces soil loss but increases the need for herbicides. It’s a short-term solution, requiring that we poison the soil to save it." Jackson wants to stop the short term saving of the soil, because it literally is putting poison in the soil to save it, but only for a short time. He believes that perennial polyculture, with fields containing varieties of mutually complementary species, planted once, harvested seasonally but remaining in place for years, is the answer to the crisis we are desperately trying to avoid.

His article connects deeply to our year long project. Our goal for the year long project is sustainability, which is also Jackson's goal. Finding shortcuts and loopholes is what created our crisis. What both Jackson, and the students of MPX are trying to do is find ways to sustainably grow crops, while thinking of the ecosystem, the plants, and soil before the profit.