Is monoculture's short-term yield worth long-term soil degradation?
My grandfather's farm used to rotate crops religiously, but my neighbor today grows corn on the same field for ten straight years and relies on synthetic fertilizer. He gets higher yields, but the soil tests show organic matter has dropped by 1.5% in that time. Can we really justify monoculture's short-term gains when we're degrading the land that future generations will need to feed themselves?