Balls: Stephen Curry Reinvents Warriors To Winners, Frank Hilario Reinvents Conservation To Sustainable Agriculture!

The Golden State Warriors were losing, then Stephen Curry exploded, the final scores being 115-105 Warriors vs LA Clippers Friday, 08 January 2020[1] (Monte Poole, NBCSports.com). The Warriors were behind 85-63 with 3:15 remaining in the 3rd Q, but a true warrior finds his way to victory. Curry contributed 38 points. Mr Poole says the lesson is: “Do not accept premature burial, no matter the skill of those wielding the shovels.” The Clippers were shocked.

In an entirely different world, I am not quitting, but here is my personal shock:
Today, I realize that Conservation Agriculture/Farming has been losing all the time – the resources may be/are being conserved, but the poor farmers are not!

Saturday, I saw this Facebook sharing, “Solving South Asia’s Sustainability Issues Will Require A Systems Approach To Crop Management[2]” by Alison Doody (17 December 2020, CIMMYT.org). Miss Alison writes:

New research by an international team of scientists, including scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), (overall) shows that adopting a portfolio of conservation agriculture and crop diversification practices is more profitable and better for the environment than conventional agriculture.

“Systems approach to crop management” but not “systems approach to farmer management.” Miss Alison, you are separating “conservation agriculture” from “crop diversification practices” when the very image you are using (below), says “diversified crop rotation” is 1 of 3 principles of conservation agriculture! One is part of the other and cannot be separated.

There are 2 main reasons why I’m writing this essay:

(1) Agriculture: Those 3 are components, not principles of.
(2) Conservation Agriculture should give way to Sustainable Agriculture.

Why Sustainable Agriculture, not Conservation Agriculture?

The concept of “conservation” focuses on the resources – soil, crops, livestock, systems, while the concept of “sustainable” includes people.

Sustainable Everything: Beyond conservation, you need to make agriculture sustainable: technically feasible, economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially acceptable.

Sustainable Everyone:You target the lives of people. Now, look at my image above again; it says “4 Components of Sustainable Agriculture.” It shows only 3: (1) Minimum Tillage; (2) Permanent Soil Cover; (3) Crop Mix & Rotation. Because I am hiding the 4thcomponent, the human, at the top of the image, my logo: “Brave New World.” Most of all, in agriculture, you need to make farmers’ lives sustainable – with lives improving more and continuously. Which requires that you look at the village, not simply the individual farmers. It takes a sustainable village to nurture a sustainable farmer.

Another way of putting that is this:
It is not enough that farmers keep on earning higher and higher incomes – are they in fact escaping from poverty?

Yes, Miss Alison, as Andrew McDonald, your systems agronomist at Cornell University, puts it: “Tackling these challenges requires strong collaborative efforts from researchers, policymakers, development partners and farmers.” I’m coming from Development.

The sooner we graduate from Conservation Agriculture to Sustainable Agriculture, the better!@517

 


[1]https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/warriors/steph-currys-38-point-performance-vs-clippers-ignites-nba-twitter?fbclid=IwAR0r2VT_9WeKeY9fJFYXj5OZ9EDCA52MwsT0bZ3qrOOpu4P8mlTB6OpxMo4

[2]https://www.cimmyt.org/news/solving-south-asias-sustainability-issues-will-require-a-systems-approach-to-crop-management/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Knorr Of Big Business Unilever Thinks Big Business Regenerative Agriculture – My Tiny Country PH Also Should!

Image
“Knorr’s plan for 50 regenerative agriculture projects is predicted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water use by an estimated 30% while improving biodiversity, soil health and livelihoods.” That is regenerative agriculture (RA) news by Julian Cirineo (05 Nov 2021, “Unilever Wants To Rethink How Farms Work To Secure Food And Resources For The Future,” Rappler , rappler.com ). Note: 50 (not 5 only) RA projects to improve greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and water use by 30% – plus improving biodiversity, soil health and livelihoods. Note the last 7 words in the above paragraph. How can RA improve biodiversity? RA requires that the farmer practices multiculture (a few or many crops grown at the same time in the same place), where monoculture (such as rice-only or corn-only) is the practice – the biodiversity improves crop health because of the ensuing balance of nature, such as some organisms feed on other organisms that would otherwise become pests or cause diseases. RA is your
Read more

In Looking At The Crown Of Thorns, I Found The Clowns

Image
We could use a surprise sense of humor!  Yes, especially on the wide problematic fields of Agriculture. There was this news that some high PH government officials wanted to probe Vice President Leni Robredo for “competing against” PH agencies in providing much-needed assistances during this coronavirus lockdown, and Marigs Laririt shared a picture-story on Facebook quoting Ms Leni as saying, “I didn’t know it was competition. I didn’t see any competitors!” Ms Marigs says, “Ay, parang friends ko kung sumagot si Mam.” (Ay, with Mam, it’s just like my friends answering back.) That is a two-handed backslap, and you can imagine the lady laughing! She is the humor-monger; they are the clowns. Today is Friday, 03 April 2020 and in one account ( Wikipedia ), Friday the 3 rd of April was crucifixion of Jesus and his crowning of thorns [1] . (images: Crown of Thorns [2]  from St Anthony Messenger , 1 st clown [3]  from The Guardian , 2 nd clown [4]  from Shutterstock ) About the living clowns I
Read more

“Natural Farming” – Aggie Journalists, We Must Be Careful With The Terms We Use!

Image
Look at the contrasting images: Which one is correct in claiming what is being practiced is “natural farming”? Top Image: This one accompanies the Anonymous WWF-Philippines story, “Mindanao Farmers Start Off the Year with Natural Farming Systems Technology” published online December 2019 [1] . The World Wide Fund, WWF, is a very credible international source of knowledge on conservation, right? Not this time. Very clearly, you can see the white plastic mulch covering the furrows and bare soil in-between them. Mr or Ms Anonymous, the plastic mulch is not natural. The soil not covered in-between furrows is not natural. So much soil bare, not natural, allowing so much natural water wasted because it had evaporated from the unprotected, hot soil surface! That is not conservation; that is not natural. The term “natural” is used here very carelessly . Aggie journalists, wake up! How come I noticed all that immediately when I saw the photograph? Because I learned my organic farming more t
Read more