Abstract
It has often been said that the ‘discovery’ and opening up of the New World rescued Europe from early decline. The most obvious basis for this claim is the renewed abundance of resources ranging from gold, silver and other minerals, to timber and guano (natural fertilizer) essential for the growth and maintenance of civilization.
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- 1.
To add perspective, note that it takes about .45 ha (1.1 ac) of US grazing lands and cropland to feel the average American at prevailing US levels of productivity and consumption (2700 cal/day including wastage). Europeans have lower intake, but with much less agricultural land/capita many European countries are net importers of core foodstuffs and livestock fodder.
- 2.
Note that 40 % of US and 11 % of Canadian maize output have been diverted to fuel bio-ethanol production in recent years, encouraged by federal subsidies. This is a morally questionable diversion of feed-grain. Moreover, it is doubtful, from a complete systems perspective whether maize ethanol even represents a net energy source.
- 3.
China produces about half the world’s vegetables and 20–30 % of its fruit.
- 4.
Defined here as “a system of planting (seeding) crops into untilled soil by opening a narrow slot, trench or band only of sufficient width and depth to obtain proper seed coverage” The goal should be a state of permanent or continuous zero-tillage in which post-harvest soils remain permanently covered with crop residues from previous cash crops or green manure cover crops which will remain undisturbed on the soil surface after re-seeding (Derpsch et al. 2010).
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Rees, W.E. (2017). North American Soils and World Food. In: Ginzky, H., Heuser, I., Qin, T., Ruppel, O., Wegerdt, P. (eds) International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy 2016. International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy, vol 2016. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42508-5_4
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