NOTES FROM A RICE PADDY

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Civilizations tend to be only as strong and enduring as their agricultural bases ... it is accordingly an understatement to say that we should be concerned with what is going on in U.S. agriculture. Commercial rice culture in the United States illustrates many features of our total agricultural system. It involves extensive use of fossil fuels to power machinery, to fertilize, and to control insect and plant pests. Most of us are better fed than former populations. But our technological agriculture has also introduced harmful synthetics into the environment and replaced crop rotation with chemicals, resulting in the loss of humus and increased erosion of sloping lands.

Our systems for the preservation and widespread distribution of agricultural products have given us yearround access to many hero tofore seasonal foods but some of us miss the flavor of fresh, naturally ripened produce, which is seldom available nowadays.

Energy- intensive farming in the United States has been associated with social changes. There are fewer farmhands in the nation now and more unemployed workers in the cities. Since our agricultural methods rest significantly on the depletion of nonrenewable resourc es, they resemble some other features of our socioeconomic structure in that they probably cannot be sustained over the long term.

My maternal grandfather was a farmer and rancher in south Texas, so I was exposed to commercial agriculture as a youngster during the early 1940's: After 10 years of adult life in Norman, Oklahoma (population about 60,000)—and with our two sons out of high school—my wife L ottie and I agreed that we should try living on a farm.

Our 220-acre farm is mostly pasture. The original part of our house was built by a family of Choctaw Indian descent, which claimed 80 acres when the Indian lands in Oklahoma were allocated to individuals at the start of this century. I use a lot of old, but still functional, farm equipment that is not in great demand by full-time farmers. Most of it was pur chased for about 15 percent of the cost of new equipment. Our farm income, which is derived principally from honey sold to health food stores, amounts to less than $1,000 per year. My agricultural experiments-consequently-depend for their support on my income as a meteorologist.

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