Vito wrote:
"katy" wrote
They did a study of the Amish farmers in the southern Michigan and
northern Indiana area and found that for small farms, those under
300 acres, that Belgian horses were more efficient than tractors.
One of the factors was that a horses weight on the soil does not rip
it up like the heavy tread of a tractor.

There is some truth in this. FWIW circa 1968 I used "no-till" to grow corn for
my cattle. Plowing is for weed control, the freeze-thaw cycle naturally
prepares the soil for planting, and plowing is hideously expensive in fuel, time
and wear & tear on machinery. I'd spread rye grass seed on the snow followed by
manure. The manure sank through the snow carrying the seed with it. Come early
spring the rye grew knee high and kept the soil shaded and moist. Then I
poisoned the rye with a non-persistent herbicide and it lodged up into a mat
that allowed me to drive a flotation tired tractor over the very wet soft soil
pulling a light planter. After harvesting the corn in the fall, I'd disk the
stalks into the soil but never plow. Had the same or better yield/acre as
conventional plowing. I'd have loved to farm like the Amish but it would be
impossible to produce enough crops to feed our current non-farming population
today - let alone grow enough corn to make enough ethanol - using horse and
buggy technology. We'd have to force modern Americans off welfare and make them
(gasp) work like illegal aliens just to provide the manpower. Never happen!!


See? There are answers to this...ut's just that no one's willing to
implement them.
Those on welfare should have to go to a specific location every day
where work (farm or otherwise) is available. They would be provided
a chit for the days work to take back to the welfare office. if
they refused work (they would be permitted to allow for infirmities
and redirected into something they could do) their welfare is
decreased. Another good that would come out of this is that all
corn production (except for sweet corn for the table) would be
diverted to fuel. Corn meal is not a healthy whole grain and
Americans eat way too much of it. Corn syrup is added into most
processed foods as a sweetener. Divert to sugar beet for sweeteners
on a commercial basis. Sugar beet grows where corn won't and the
pulp is usable for feed lot filler.