[i_am_jl]

>people did agriculture before 1974 (without drones)

We've added about 3.8 billion people to the planet since then.

I'm not saying that we can't feed the world without glyphosate, but "Let's just do it like we did in '74!" doesn't account for the fact that we need a lot more food today.

[tastyfreeze]

All the chemical inputs to farms make them unprofitable. Each year takes more input to make the farm work. We broke the ecosystem, nitrogen cycle and phosphate cycle by tilling, monocropping, and chemical input. The way we farm kills the soil.

We can support the population without chemical inputs if we manage the land differently. It takes about 3 years to transition to a regenerative management style. That is how long it takes to bring the soil back to life. After the transition period inputs are minimal and yields are similar to chemical farming.

[kurthr]

Tell that to Sri Lanka. There is massive unrest, because people will starve. The farmers were not the ones saying, "don't use chemical fertilizer", the ex-government was.

[triyambakam]

That's not a fault of regenerative farming but rather green washing - reduce chemical inputs but have no plan to implement anything else

[tastyfreeze]

The transition can't be forced. It is a paradigm shift in land management and an entirely different skill set. You can't just tell all farmers they cant use fertilizer anymore without teaching how to do without. That is how you get famine.

Regenerative management is more profitable for farmers so it is going to happen regardless of what governments want. You just can't force it.

[sofixa]

That's extremely misleading. The (still current, power is mainly in the president who is refusing to leave) government banned chemical fertilizers on an extremely short notice, with no planning. That's just incredibly stupid.

Had it been planned, with subsidies, education, multi-year transition, it probably wouldn't have ended in a disaster as it did. But anyways, that's not the only reason for Sri Lanka's demise (lots of stupid money wasting in useless infrastructure, lots of corruption, and Covid). It was just lots of incompetence from very stupid people.

[thatcat]

You have to have an alternative management plan in place, obviously.

[mkoubaa]

Child labor was allowed back then too, which solved both child obesity AND weeds