Turns out those old-fashioned ways of farming were actually pretty smart

[bhikkhu]

19. Bio-intensive, labor intensive agriculture produces 2-6 times the yield of industrial ag

and the key is its not about one crop. I know the thing you're talking about, but I'm taking about and described a whole different approach. Its been done by the Chinese as a traditional multi-crop practice, and by the Mayans, the Greeks, and a large number of small-scale farmers currently.

One basic write-up here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biointensive_agriculture

The important point is that is produces more calories per acre than modern industrial agriculture. I'm not a modern convert or anything, but I'm fond of facts, and this is one that I learned ages ago in college studying old Chinese agricultural models, and its been confirmed more recently by a variety of new work.

There are things that modern industrial agriculture does well, but producing the maximum yield per acre is not one of them. Profit is more the goal, and that weighs costs versus production. A lot of potential production is ignored to avoid labor costs.