[yaktubi]

I think it would be great if you could invest in creating biodiversity more so than accelerating mono-culture agriculture with pesticides.

The real problem is that these folks (And all other cash crops) have rows and rows of the same crop and nothing else.

That’s not how nature works. Work WITH nature by creating bio-diversity and pests will be eaten by something else, etc.

If you haven’t seen it, I recommend watching “Biggest Little Farm” https://www.biggestlittlefarmmovie.com/

[mikorym]

I don't think that monoculture (or agriculture in 2020) is a problem in of itself. The problem is producing food, and science attempts to improves the efficiency. The methods that work so far are things like crop rotation, and anything away from monoculture should generally be attempted scientifically. If you look at things like deforestation in Indonesia for palm oil, I wouldn't say the problem is the monocultured palm oil: The problem is they are cutting down forests, whether they plant ten crops on the burnt land or one.

One example is nematode diversity. The more diverse your nematodes, the better your yield. If you kill all the nematodes then you have one season of massive yields followed by really vicious Meloidogyne the next couple of years. If you condition your soil for diverse nematodes (e.g.: multiple genetically diverse rootstocks) then from the top it will look like monoculture (and it is), but your costs and impact with regard to nematicide will go down.

[lordlimecat]

The article notes that this affects multiple olive varieties as well as almond and cherry.

I don't think this is the time for a monoculture soapbox.

[rini17]

I filed your comment in the "Your statement is correct but misses the point" box.

Why? There are millions of other plant species aside from almond and cherry, thousands of them edible and many of them support natural predators for the insects that spread Xylella.

[yaktubi]

My goatsac vibrates many oscillations