Can I ask for a bit of help from my friends here?

[Tumbulu]

21. I do not think that the farmers large or small

meant to hurt anyone. The mantra for the past 60 years has been "feed the world for as little money as possible- increase the yield per acre of everything!" and to do this the plant breeders selected for plants that put most of their energy into the salable portion- in the case of grains the seeds- and not roots or stems. This was a huge change. They also were trying to please the final customers- bread bakers, and so they selected for grains with the highest amount of the type of gluten that makes the bread really rise. But without the plant having the capacity to really thrive with a reduced root system, they need to be irrigated and fertilized. The old wheats produce maybe 1000 lbs of grain per acre. The new ones produce a good 4000 lbs + per acre. No farmer, large or small can stay in business selling their crop at the same price with such a vast reduction in yield. And can people pay 4x/the price? Is this sustainable? How was it once sustainable .... I sell this wheat to my coop and to friends, but I only grow normally 10 acres of it a year, this year I decided to put more in primarily to help the soil recover from the plowing done to break up the hardpan- this action that I resisted for so long.

And how about the soils- this mining of the soil to produce product that is removed and does not enrich the soil results in what we in the organic farming world call "soil mining". This is why people always want one to add more soil to the land- where does this soil come from? Is it appropriate to take soil from one place move it to another and then harvest the most of it and leave the soil depleted again?

One of the goals in biodynamic and organic farming is to farm in a way that the soil is improved, not mined. I do think that this wheat can be part of the way to do it. A plant with such a vast root system is a wonderful way to increase the organic matter in the soil and sequester a lot more carbon. If the sheep can eat the stubble (the stems after the grain has been harvested) and make that cellulose available to the soil microorganisms then topsoil can actually be produced.

It is the goal of many of us to produce topsoil in addition to a salable crop.

Thank you for sending blessings- I am grateful for all the comforting energy.