Food

Everyone loves food. Food is the one great bliss of life. But how do we get our food?
We raise animals and livestock on croplands, rangelands, and ocean fisheries. Of the 30,000 edible plant species, 90% of our daily intake of food comes from only 14 plant and 8 terrestrial animal species. Wheat, rice, and corn provide more than 50% of the calories we eat. Such concentrated eating habits lead to the development of industrialized plantation agriculture. This is when farmers take a plot of land and only grow one type of plant species on it like acres devoted to the production of wheat. Such monoculture wears down the land and degrades the soil. It also becomes quite susceptible to invasive species and is expensive to maintain.
In order to produce good food, we need good soil. There are three main nutrients that plants need: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. You can find the N-P-K numbers on any bag of fertilizer and it will tell you the varying concentrations each has in the bag. Soil salinization and erosion are huge problems in the US. Soil salinization occurs when there is too much irrigation water in the soil and when the water evaporates, leaves behind a thin crust of salts called the duracrust. Too much salt eventually causes the death of plants. Did you know that soil in the US is eroding 16 times faster than it's being replenished? At this rate, we might not have enough land to produce our food with.

How can YOU help?  :)
We can install drip irrigation systems that deliver precise amounts of water to targeted crops so that soil salinization doesn't occur.
We can also grow our own food in our backyards with no pesticides and being organic, healthier.
We can support local organic farms by purchasing their products in local farmer's markets.