National Association of Wheat Growers reverses policy on climate change – opposes EPA regulation

P Walker (14:42:02):
You are correct that after bison, cattle ranged the Great Plains for a time (relatively short, though), then the plains were torn up for wheat cultivation.
The Great Plains were actually the last areas of the US (and I think Canada) to be settled intensely by means of the Homestead Act. However, the Native Americans were deliberately driven off the land to make way for Homesteaders by several means, including massive elimination of the bison, a major source of their food supply. Bison are exquisitely suited for this habitat of extremes and were once an integral part of this formerly very biodiverse area (flora, fauna, and micro-fauna) – keeping the grass growth in check, returning vital nutrients to the land, dispersing the many varieties of seeds, and more).
European breeds of cattle were not suited for the Great Plains, which was hotter in the summer and colder in the winter, plus the region is subject to constant high winds. The cattle operations were generally unsuccessful in the long run, and those that remained when wheat was introduced were quickly eliminated.
The boom-and-bust fluctuation of wheat prices in the US was a major factor in the expansion of wheat cultivation in the last few decades of the 19th century through the first third of the 20th century. Key to this expansion was the introduction of a breed of Russian/German wheat that was relatively hardy in the Great Plains climate of extremes (the Russian thistle, otherwise known as the tumbleweed hitched along with the wheat seed and established itself, too). The strong-willed immigrants who brought the wheat were extremely resilient, too. Major fortunes were made and lost in the handful of interior states with massive cultivation of wheat, especially by “suitcase farmers” during the ‘boom years”, who would arrive on the train to plant the land, then leave, only to return at harvest-time. The transition from horse-drawn plows to tractors really accelerated the number of acres of wheat cultivation and increased yields, which rapidly dropped the bushel price due to supply and demand. Eventually, the only way to make money/stay afloat was to cultivate more acreage. Sound familiar?
But after a few decades of ripping up the sod (the new residents of this area were walled “sod-busters”), the problems with western wheat cultivation started accumulating, with increasing soil erosion, dust storms, continual drought, and so on, culminating in the massively destructive decade called the “dirty thirties” (but the devastation really started even before the 30s and even before the Stock Market fall in 1929). The human toll was paid not only in declining local, regional, and national economies, but in hellish living conditions (houses filled with soil dust, dying babies and children), poor health, increased mental anguish, and torn-apart families.
New Deal research into improved farming practices that reduced soil degradation and loss brought some relief eventually, as did the post-WWII practice of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides, as well as deeper wells into the ancient underground aquifer. But truly, the tide of destruction was just slowed; it never really stopped.
A really excellent book on this subject is The Worst Hard Times, an historical account of that era in settlement and agriculture in the US. The research for that book is incredible, with truly moving accounts from interviews with survivors, heart-wrenching journal entries of people who lived through it, and records from the public statistics and various bureaus (weather, farm, and govt agencies). There are lessons for us in what happened, but so few have any idea. You know, the “staff of life” and all. ha! That sort of agriculture and intense reliance on monoculture ends in desertification on a massive scale the world over, and I fail to see how we will stop the destruction if we keep doing what we’ve been doing.
Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel is another good peek at the downside of grain crops.

Curiousgeorge (13:45:15) :
“Really good post. Really. I think we read many of the same books. Ever read any of Marvin Harris’ books(Cannibals and Kings, etc. ) ?”
Thanks very much. No, I don’t know that one, but I’ll look it up.

Cap&Trade run by a Van jones?
http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/dick-morris-van-jones-in-charge-of-cap-and-trade-bonanza/
Via Realclimate.com

I was at an energy rally in Livonia Michigan this week against the Cap & Trade Bill. The president from either the Michigan Farmers Association or Dairy Farmers pointed out that vegetable, fruit and nut crops and trees are exempt from providing carbon credits in the bill. This organization is now against the bill in any form.

anna, you might look into the effects of beef protein on general population height, and consider that as opposed to the wheat theory.

I think that Anna is an anti-glutite. I have seen some of the books and claims against wheat and most grains in general. It seems that nowadays anyone can pick any topic and write a book and start a website and collect a following. Of course, most of them initiate it with gloom and doom and then offer (at a cost) to deliver you.
My best retort to all the gloomer’s is; why does our life expectancy keep going up?

Van Jones resigned. Now to get rid of the rest of them. Hansen, Sunstein, and related, & Pelosi, Reid, and eventually Obama.

Paul Vaughan (23:41:03) :
“Humans were a factor in the blowing soil, but they didn’t stop the rains, nor did they make them resume (via implemented US government policies) years later.”
I don’t think humans had anything to do with the rains. Humans removed the sod that held the soil, exposed the soil when they tilled, and when the drought came the soil dried out. When the storms came, there was nothing to hold the loose soil so it was picked up and carried away in massive dust storm clouds.
Additionally, human well drilling lowered the water table. The native grasses had much deeper roots than wheat did and could probably have survived the droughts (though without the bison ranging anymore, I don’t really know if that is the case).

Anna, you are wrong about soil erosion being the fault of exposed land due to tillage. Think of palouse soil. Any dig through palouse prone areas will show stratification of large and small deposits of windblown soil way before tilling was even the apple of someone’s eye. You give way too much weight to human influence on more than just a locally restricted area.

Pamela Gray (10:10:10) :
“You give way too much weight to human influence on more than just a locally restricted area.”
Could be. I’m not a soil expert, though my entire childhood was permeated with my dad’s Rodale influence so I know the difference between soil and dirt ;-). In recent years I just keep running across soil degradation and soil fertility issues connected to monoculture in a really wide range of contemporary, historical, and prehistorical contexts. Clearly, there’s a lot more I can learn about soil.

Jim Masterson (10:53:47) :
“I remember a comment about the teeth. They were in excellent condition, because the Roman diet was mostly grain.”
What evidence was cited that the wheat grain was the primary factor in the excellent condition of the teeth? The Romans were quite practiced in the field of dentistry, even before they had doctors. Ancient Roman dental tools are not much different than many of the tools used by dentists today. To me that suggests Romans might have had a lot of dental problems overall though of course there may be exceptions.
I suggest a wider review of dental evidence from a variety of widespread populations in past eras (paleolithic and neolithic), not just one cache of remains. Dental conditions reveal a quite a bit about overall health and illness, including nutrition status, dominance of plant or ruminant animal foods in the diet, infectious and chronic disease, etc.

Anna –
“There is ample evidence that wheat consumption wreaks havoc on human bodies.” Citations from the SCIENTIFIC literature, please. Sure, some people have allergies to gluten, some people have lactose intolerance, some people lack alcohol dehydrogenase, some people have allergies to almost anything. A wheat based diet deficient in other nutrients, OK, but wheat as a poison, I ain’t buyin’ (excess sugar and fat consumption, yes.) Sugar and lack of dental hygiene lead to tooth and gum disease. A diet contaminated with sand and other abrasives causes earlier dental wear (well documented in people and range cattle.) There’s a reason that wheat is called the staff of life. Without it there would be widespread malnutrition, indeed, famine. Same for rice, barley and other grains. That’s not to say that poor agricultural practices don’t lead to soil erosion and water problems. They do. Any agriculture leads to some.