Editor’s Note: Located in the heartland of no-till country, Tim Brannon writes a regular column for Rural Lifestyle Dealer, which is another one of our Lessiter Media publications. In this article, the owner of B&G Equipment in Paris, Tenn., writes about feeding the world and recognizes the role no-till plays in solving this situation. 

— Frank Lessiter, Editor

“The battle to feed all of humanity is over” is the famous opening line from Dr. Paul Erlich’s 1968 book “The Population Bomb.” It sent shock waves around the world.

This scientist who studied the co-evolution of butterflies and flowering plants came to the conclusion that the world’s population had reached a tipping point and would never recover. “Mass starvation” on a “dying planet” was the prediction.

Then in 1992 the “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity” was signed by around 700 scientists, including living Nobel science laureates. Dr. Henry Kendall coordinated this document and it stated, “The earth is finite. Its ability to absorb wastes is finite. Its ability to provide food and energy is finite. Its ability to provide for growing numbers of people is finite and we are fast approaching many of the earth’s limits.” Dr. Kendall passed away during a scuba diving event when he forgot to open the oxygen valve on his rebreather.

Wrong, all wrong, along with the end of the earth due to the Ozone as pitched by fellow Tennessean Al Gore.

Worldwide Population Growth Is Slowing

Today we see a global concern that we are not repopulating the earth to the point of sustaining society. We could not feed the world’s population. 

Namely American agriculture responded to this challenge and nearly doubled yields to feed the population explosion at the time to the point where our crops are in surplus and selling at such low prices that farmers are below commodity production costs. 

We exported our ag technology to South America where China consumes the expanded production there and is no longer dependent on the U.S. to feed its billions. China is also now entering South Africa and will import food production from there as well.

Yes, We Are Feeding the World

We are feeding the world — about the only ones starving are from civil wars or warlord actions. We are in no danger from these false predictions; even the one by a political candidate that said the world would succumb to devastation due to climate change in 2035.

The only item these doomsayers get correct is that the continued burning of the rainforests is damaging the earth’s climate; not your 40-horsepower tractor, your leaf blowers or patio grills. 

Irony is the fact that China is a driving factor to burn the rainforests. The land there is cleared and farmed with diesel power that requires no emission equipment. China takes the crops, processes them into food and transports them to market with equipment that, again, requires no emissions controls. 

Then the food feeds Chinese workers who produce windmills and electric vehicle components with power from coal; yes, dirty, freshly built, low-tech coal power plants. Then they ship these supposedly pollution-controlling products to America where we transport and install them on pollution-laden and emission-stressed trucks, tractors and cranes. You can’t make this stuff up!

American Farmers Know How to Adopt

I have a bit of faith in mankind. When we saw our soils washing away, we invented no-till. Overpopulation was cured by affluence. Pollution was handled by common sense emission control and on and on. 

We just need some pure journalistic investigation to get to the bottom of self-serving, agenda-driven news that — when one follows the money — finds the lies and exaggerations that rob our pocketbooks and the future of our children faster.