What Is Cumulative Impact?
By Sherrie Ottinger (The Tennessee Dirtgirl)
Why does it matter how we grow, as long as we’re producing? Good question! Complicated answer, one I’ll try to simplify, this week.
As our readers know, we’re a regenerative agriculture non-profit, with a mission to educate those who are interested, in how to produce, be profitable, all while caring for and healing our soils. Why do the soils need healing? Don’t they take care of themselves? As with the human body, if the ground, the water, the air, are the receptors of toxins and pollutants, continuously and without regard to health, then the ground, the water, the air becomes sick and weakened, unable to restore itself. Modern humanity has treated the planet like a chemical dump for nearly a century. The cumulative effect is what we’re dealing with today. What’s the cumulative effect? It’s an event that’s produced by something happening over a long period of time. The toxins in the beginning of the event, doesn’t show signs of the damage done, as it will when the ability to contain the toxins is gone. So, in the beginning of conventional farming, and synthetic fertilizers, and mechanical implementation, the initial signs were positive…or at least not negative. I suppose one could blame some of this on ignorance, or science hadn’t uncovered certain truths. I mean, there was a time when cigarettes were prescribed by doctors as cures for lung problems, as well as other issues.
With the invention of tractors, in the late 1800’s, and the end of WWII, conventional farming took off like a rocket, and just kept going. Bigger, better, more modern, and an assumption that production would be greatly enhanced, began to overshadow the possibility that Nature had always had a better way. Now we know that conventional farming as probably not produced any more food, and certainly not as nutritious a food, than family farms would’ve. Sad…
The Tennessee Dirtgirl
