the logic of industrial scale ag can make anything bad.
I used to work in a farm where we grew peanuts, but only like maybe 100 row feet or so, and rotated with dozens of others crops. it was a very sandy, coastal soil so we could harvest by hand with a digging fork, though like most annuals, planting involved tillage. the impact was reduced by how sandy it was and we weren’t assholes, so we kept passes to a minimum.
I’ve seen peanuts grown at a slightly larger scale in southern Japan, think like 50’ thick strips along the borders of fields stretching for miles. also southern/coastal so still sandy.
I’ve never really seen big monocrop peanut fields like I’m sure exist in the southeastern US, but I’m sure it’s rough.
the general benefit of legumes grown for crop is less that they leave fixed nitrogen behind and more that they fix their own instead of requiring it be brought to them. that’s a big deal in terms of energy expenditure and global warming potential of the production system.
In a well balanced permaculture system they are great for exactly that reason, in a typical monoculture with mechanized harvesting they require a lot of tillage.
I would have thought as legumes they produce green manure that helps the soil? Is this incorrect?
the logic of industrial scale ag can make anything bad.
I used to work in a farm where we grew peanuts, but only like maybe 100 row feet or so, and rotated with dozens of others crops. it was a very sandy, coastal soil so we could harvest by hand with a digging fork, though like most annuals, planting involved tillage. the impact was reduced by how sandy it was and we weren’t assholes, so we kept passes to a minimum.
I’ve seen peanuts grown at a slightly larger scale in southern Japan, think like 50’ thick strips along the borders of fields stretching for miles. also southern/coastal so still sandy.
I’ve never really seen big monocrop peanut fields like I’m sure exist in the southeastern US, but I’m sure it’s rough.
the general benefit of legumes grown for crop is less that they leave fixed nitrogen behind and more that they fix their own instead of requiring it be brought to them. that’s a big deal in terms of energy expenditure and global warming potential of the production system.
Okay, I have learned way more about peanut agriculture than I expected today, but this has been a way valuable lesson. Thank you!
Look at all that topsoil flying away
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vr0IVvcLbY
incredible.
what used to take several hundred years of ignorant human toiling can now be accomplished in just a few days with hundreds of gallons of fossil fuels.
the future is now.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
why does the tractor have boss music?
Have you ever fought a tractor?
In a well balanced permaculture system they are great for exactly that reason, in a typical monoculture with mechanized harvesting they require a lot of tillage.
Nitrogen fixers? Yeah, but harvesting the peanuts require tilling the ground.