{"id":5031,"date":"2009-10-18T19:13:11","date_gmt":"2009-10-19T01:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=5031"},"modified":"2009-10-18T19:13:11","modified_gmt":"2009-10-19T01:13:11","slug":"an-700-year-old-example-of-technological-innovation-in-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/an-700-year-old-example-of-technological-innovation-in-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"An 700 Year-old Example of Technological Innovation in Agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/a>
\n\"Planting<\/p>\n

[social_buttons]<\/p>\n

Around 1300 c.e. the Yao and Zhuang people of Guangdong Province in Southern China<\/a> faced a serious problem. \u00a0In the Longsheng area there was a growing population, but their mountainous surroundings gave them very little land that could be used for farming. \u00a0They needed more food and so they turned to technology for the solution. \u00a0What they did was to terrace their mountainsides<\/a> even up to slopes of 45%. I’m sure that the method was perfected over the 400 years of building. \u00a0What they were able to do is still an impressive example of civil engineering, even today. \u00a0Using stones and mud they built terrace walls that stand firm even with the torrential downpours that are common in the area. \u00a0They used bamboo piping to distribute water to each paddy – some so narrow that they only have room for two rows of rice. \u00a0This production system has remained productive for centuries when many other contemporary farming societies around the world simply depleted one area and moved on to the next. \u00a0These terraces are called\u00a0Longji, or the\u00a0“Dragon’s Spine” and they now extend over 66 square kilometers. \u00a0They are both beautiful and inspiring.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The Modern Food Supply Challenge<\/h2>\n

The entire population of the earth faces a challenge today much like the one that faced the people of Longsheng hundreds of years ago. We will still have a rapidly growing population for the next 40 or so years, and yet we really don’t have much more land that is\u00a0suitable\u00a0for conversion to farms (and it would be better for climate change if we could get by with less farmed land, not more). \u00a0We too need to innovate and find the technological solutions to our challenge. \u00a0It won’t be the same solution as was employed on those Chinese mountainsides, and it will differ around the globe, but it will be a technological<\/span> remedy. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Technology for Both Large and Small Farms<\/h2>\n

In my next couple of posts I’ll talk about a vision for an extremely productive and environmentally-friendly form of agriculture that is now possible in the developed world for use on hundreds of millions of acres of farms. \u00a0Technology is also what is needed for the small-holder farms that are still critical to feeding much of the world’s population. \u00a0For instance, cell phones have been a tremendous advance for small scale farmers in developing countries. \u00a0Instead of having to transport their crops with no certainty of finding a place to sell it for a decent price, the farmer can pre-arrange the sale and the whole market can operate more efficiently. \u00a0Small, foot powered pumps<\/a> can allow a farmer to grow a much better crop than with dependence on rainfall or a classical well. \u00a0Crops that are genetically engineered to resist pests like insects or viruses are an excellent, scale-neutral technology that can be given to farmers in the third world. Whether it is for small-holder farming or for large scale, we, like the people of Longsheng in 1300, need to employ our best creative skills to develop appropriate technologies to feed the world.<\/p>\n

The Opponents of Technology for Agricuture<\/h2>\n

Some people are actively against the idea of technology for agriculture. \u00a0For some it comes from a romantic (and frankly mythical) image of what farming “should be.” \u00a0For some it comes from a deep distrust of anything corporate – a suspicion that might be softened if they actually met the real people involved in developing agricultural technologies. \u00a0For some it is the\u00a0paralyzing\u00a0philosophy of the “Precautionary Principle<\/a>.” \u00a0In any case, what these attitudes fail to represent is a healthy survival instinct or an actionable\u00a0concern for the poor of the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Technology in any sphere is not automatically good or bad. \u00a0It depends on how well people think-through potential, unintended consequences, and on the ethics of whomever applies the technology. \u00a0The same cell phones<\/a> that help the African small farmer lead to deaths on our highways and trigger IEDs in Afghanistan. \u00a0That does not mean that cell phone technology is bad, but simply that it like any technology can be used for good or bad. \u00a0The flooded rice culture used on the Dragon’s Spine leads to the release of methane – a potent greenhouse gas<\/a>. \u00a0There are now alternative ways to grow rice, but that does not diminish the beauty or creativity of what these people accomplished with the best technology available to them at the time. \u00a0We must be just as creative.<\/p>\n

You are welcome to comment on this post or email me at feedback.sdsavage@gmail.com \u00a0<\/p>\n

All images photographed by B.T. Savage<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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