HIGH YIELDS AND HIGHER HOPES

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Put all those factors together and it's easy to see why biodynamic/French intensive techniques may someday help countries grow at least four times as much food as they do currently, under natural rainfall conditions . . . with no expensive irrigation required in most cases at all! Even arid lands such as the African Sahel could conceivably become productive!

Fertilizer, of course, is used in vast quantities these days, and—worse yet—requires great amounts of energy (and materials) to manufacture, distribute, and apply to the land. The primary fuel used to make such substances is natural gas . . . of which the U.S. has only a nine-year reserve. And it's estimated that—by the year 2000—20% of all the energy consumed in the world will be needed just to produce nitrogen fertilizer!

Obviously, any reduction of the use of such materials would be significant . . . and, in our experiments with raising vegetables, we found that we needed only 1/2 to 1/16 as much added nitrogen per pound of food as do commercial farmers. And because the b/F intensive method is manual rather than mechanized, a further reduction in energy consumption is apparent. Such savings should be particularly important in countries which cannot afford today's high fuel and fertilizer costs.

A NEW KIND OF FARMING!

Consider the implications of what we've observed so far: The biodynamic/French intensive method can produce very high yields on little land almost anywhere in the world, using few resources and only simple low-capital-investment manual tools. Together, those factors have fostered a new concept that may well change the face of agriculture on Planet Earth: super-productive mini-farming!

Current estimates based on test results indicate that widespread use of b/F intensive techniques could conceivably allow 3%—6% of a population to grow all of a country's food. A family of four, working a total of 56 hours per week (that's two hours a day for each individual) on a little less than two acres, should be able to raise—within a six-month growing season—enough food (grains, vegetables, fruits, and fodder for dairy animals) to supply a complete 2,379-calories-per-day annual diet for 32 people!

Wholesale market value (50% of retail) of such a harvest, based on current U.S. food prices, would be around $9,600 . . . and, if inexpensive mini-greenhouses were used to extend the growing season year round, that output (and the resulting cash income) could be doubled!

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