Freely-Speaking: On Soil

This is just a quick note on my way to work. I just listened to a news podcast from DW. I have to give it to the German press: Today's podcast covered a topic that I think is very forward thinking. It discussed the importance of soil. The main points were very simple:

1.) Fertile soil is an important resource.
2.) It takes a long time to build up fertile soil (upwards of a generation or so).
3.) The demands on soil are increasing because of in large parts increasing populations and decreasing availability of fertile soil (due to different forms of erosion, and unsustainable agricultural practices). Interestingly the news podcast also discussed that a future in which the biobased economy takes root will by necessity also contribute to increased demands on the limited soil that we have.

Given the above, and the fact that making, managing fertile soil is never in the farmer's short term interest as the farmer usually just thinks about the next few harvesting seasons, the article suggested that having a political framework that puts in place the right economic incentives to foster innovation in long soil management would be prudent. Apparently, the discussion for such a framework is ongoing in Germany. Of course, talk is cheap, and it's action that ultimately counts, but I want to emphasize the following:

1.) American politics does not seem concerned about this topic at all at this point. And even if they were,...
2.) ...the American press also does not think that this topic is important enough to discuss anywhere. Instead, we spend our time talking about whether a presidential candidate would attend a hypothetical gay marriage in the family.

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Bio-Based Ideas

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