tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post4548634957948216278..comments2024-02-29T03:57:00.088-05:00Comments on The Mermaid's Tale: How is crop diversification like disease prevention?Anne Buchananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09212151396672651221noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-91431898159291538442013-10-19T22:01:01.216-04:002013-10-19T22:01:01.216-04:00I believe it is not only diversity in crops that i...I believe it is not only diversity in crops that is important but diversity in all of farming, up to & including our acceptance of a variety of farming practices. There is increasing diversity & tolerance/ respect of diversified farming practices occurring now in midwestern farming practices, and I expect the trend to continue.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-89372909816677446072013-10-16T14:27:29.152-04:002013-10-16T14:27:29.152-04:00There are lots of problems with the funding system...There are lots of problems with the funding system, as with any complex system. Vested interests and a hierarchy of access are among them. The pressure to do steady research, pay staff and faculty's own salaries, and so on, is part of this. We write about the issues often here on our blog.<br /><br />There is no obvious answers. We won't go back to the 40s, because history doesn't literally repeat itself. But some changes seem inevitable.<br /><br />Our own view is that less money to more people, perhaps with longer terms, no faculty salary on grants, and accountability for generating promised results would help. In regard to the last, there should be penalties for being too grandiose or making too grand of promises.<br /><br />Institutes like the Human Genome Institute should be shifted to NSF, with smaller budgets (because no faculty salaries and perhaps less high-tech driven and more focused work), and no medical connections. Let NIH do the medical, and make them prioritize work that is on target for real diseases, not just diffuse generic concepts as so much is the case now.<br /><br />I can't comment on things like arctic research and so on. But if we have too many faculty pressed to do too much work and bring in huge amounts of money (so large overhead amounts) then we get the rather distorted situation we have now. Then, with everyone dependent on it, budget cuts like the sequester harm lots of otherwise innocent people.Ken Weisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02049713123559138421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-68707818623811106912013-10-16T14:05:28.151-04:002013-10-16T14:05:28.151-04:00In this context, I wanted to mention that we put t...In this context, I wanted to mention that we put together some thoughts on what the next stage of science funding system would look like. I suspect the government-funded model of the last 30 years will go away due to debt payment, corruption and waste from big science. So, we will go back to what existed before 1940s, but with the benefit of the internet.<br /><br />http://www.homolog.us/blogs/blog/2013/10/14/us-science-funding-let-us/<br /><br />http://www.homolog.us/blogs/blog/2013/10/15/alternative-part-ii/<br /><br />I would welcome all ideas and criticisms.Manoj Samantahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04264467983614167240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-3338301857626699382013-10-16T12:03:25.266-04:002013-10-16T12:03:25.266-04:00Thanks, Manoj. Yep, let's throw Big Science in...Thanks, Manoj. Yep, let's throw Big Science in there, too. And you're right about Joel Salatin. Thanks for the reminder. Anne Buchananhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09212151396672651221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-35621729685354880112013-10-16T12:02:39.612-04:002013-10-16T12:02:39.612-04:00The ideas have to become a serious-level movement,...The ideas have to become a serious-level movement, which may be happening as the threats seem to be more easily grasped. But the movement has to become angry and vocal and political if it's to have traction. Hopefully, it will.Ken Weisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02049713123559138421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-25801343614069587272013-10-16T11:49:05.091-04:002013-10-16T11:49:05.091-04:00Very good post. Two comments.
1. "Big Medic...Very good post. Two comments.<br /><br />1. "Big Medicine is a lot like Big Ag."<br /><br />I see lot of similarities with 'Big Science' as well.<br /><br />2. Your readers may enjoy learning about Joel Salatin, who set up an alternative farm. He is featured prominently in Michael Pollard's book.<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Salatin<br /><br />Manoj Samantahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04264467983614167240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-52338611913796050442013-10-16T09:00:38.174-04:002013-10-16T09:00:38.174-04:00A lot of this kind of thing is in the 'Prius&#...A lot of this kind of thing is in the 'Prius' category: well-off people feeling good about their contributions to Saving the Earth, because they have means and so on. But not a mass movement of the sort that's needed.Ken Weisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02049713123559138421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-77974659312665348792013-10-16T08:41:21.387-04:002013-10-16T08:41:21.387-04:00I guess the secret is somehow to expand the locavo...I guess the secret is somehow to expand the locavore market beyond its current elitest, comparatively-wealthy base (i.e. us). With luck, as the market expands, the prices will go down. But I gotta say, I won't be hopeful until I see more poor customers at the local farmers' markets I attend!Jim Woodnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-31838079748357815872013-10-16T08:33:11.245-04:002013-10-16T08:33:11.245-04:00Thanks, Jim. Such systems are certainly happening...Thanks, Jim. Such systems are certainly happening here in the US, at least on small scales. Converting the whole system from chemical/annual/GMO-dependent monoculture to more sensible farming is another story entirely. Anne Buchananhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09212151396672651221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-31535696987181707352013-10-16T08:02:36.041-04:002013-10-16T08:02:36.041-04:00Bravo, Anne. I would only add that livestock coul...Bravo, Anne. I would only add that livestock could potentially play a role in the farming system you describe. Where we work in northern Scotland, people mostly raise beef cattle. The herds are small, all the animals are grass-fed, and they're housed in special byres that allow their manure to be collected. In springtime the farmers spread the manure on the fields where forage is going to grow (it's smelly but it works -- and the local people say it smells like money). Some of the forage is sown, some of it natural or at-least self-propagating. The local beef from the area is now considered the best in the United Kingdom and goes for excellent prices, at least in niche markets where it's aggressively advertised as coming from that particular part of Scotland. Interestingly, the farmers themselves don't think of themselves as "organic" (a term they associate with aging hippie incomers). They're just doing what makes sense. And money.<br /><br />To transplant such a system here in an economically viable way would require changes not only at the farm end of things, but also in marketing. Locavores of the world unite! Support your local small-scale beef farmer! -- or pig farmer or sheep farmer or goat farmer or ....Jim Woodnoreply@blogger.com