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I differ from those I disparagingly (and I suppose unfairly) call greenies in the following.

I believe the way out of the trap we are in is by going forward, not backwards. There is no backwards solution to be had or found.

By increasing farmland production, by tiling and drainage and by improving the crops we plant by all breeding methods available, including genetic, I believe we will be able to take an increasing amount of farmland out of production... and this land can be planted with clover, alfalfa, flowers, bushes, shrubs and trees... and turned loose for the wild.

I believer this is very doable, if not derailed by greenie legislation that would try turn the clock impossibly back. Intense production on select land will result in more land available to restore habitat on. And the three things that matter most to wildlife of all types is habitat, habitat, and habitat.

(my hope is that we can bring wolves back to Indiana

Tiling is a focal point in modern ag vs environmentalists. It is a boon to some (me), a bane to others (me).
Tiling: www.ag.ndsu.edu/tiledrainage/documents/faq-about-subsurface-tile-drainage

My farm has been tiled. And it has been graded and ditched by land scrapers operating with laser and satellite guidance. The production benefits are as clear a crystal bell ringing in a glass cathedral.

Three years ago we got a heavy shot of rain mid-summer. Six-plus inches all at once. Neighboring fields suffered drown-outs and the crops lost yield to stress from waterlogged soil. My renter's crops suffered no drown-outs and the crop was superb.

Last spring was wet, wet, wet. My guy got in an easy ten days or so ahead of the adjacent un-tilled land, got better crop emergence, and again, a clearly better crop.

Neighbor guy saw enough. He tiled his land that fall.

It took a little longer for the north to tile (old news in the corn belt proper), but tiling is now being done by any who can afford it and has land good enough to justify the substantial investment.

But while farmer guy sees better production and much, much more reliable production with subsoil tiling and lasered surface ditches, the environmental eye sees something much different. Vastly improved farmland drainage has increased, and rapidly so, the discharge of excess farm water into waterways, rivers, and, eventually, the ocean. This farmland drainage contains unwanted leached fertilizers (like nitrates and phosphates) that can degrade water quality.

The degree of farm to stream degradation is case by case. My farm, for instance, drains into a swamp a couple miles west of me, and a swamp is an excellent water filter, but other systems can shoot pretty quickly into a river. Bottom line, nitrate levels are rising in many rivers and the dead spot in the Gulf is growing due to farmland to river phosphates.

I’m on both sides. Nutrient run off from farm land to river is bad, and tiling and modern drainage system increase this run off. But, from a production standpoint, a well-drained and tiled farm fields will produce despite nearly any water event nature throws at it. And if heavier rainfall events are in the cards, as they seem to be, well-drained and tiled farmland becomes not just a bonus for the farmer’s billfold but very possibly a matter of food security.

Nope.

"During the presidency of George H. W. Bush, which lasted from January 20, 1989, to January 20, 1993, the Speaker of the House of Representatives was Tom Foley. Foley, a Democrat from Washington, served as Speaker from June 6, 1989, to January 3, 1995. He succeeded Jim Wright, who resigned from the position amid controversy." (Sound Hole Source)

There are a lot of non-farmers telling farmers what they should grow. Spend the time instead telling the world what to buy. Farmers grow what the market wants, and the market, the world market wants wheat, corn and beans. If you want farmers to grow Kernza, Quanza and millet, then buy those crops at a price farmers can afford to grow them. Tell the world to stop asking, begging, for corn, wheat, and beans. Tell the world what it really wants and needs is some kind of oddball bird seed it doesn't know what to do with.

Greenies yelp about all the water and nutrients needed to grow the crops the world demands. Corn takes up too much water and nutrients they claim. They don't understand that any crop grown to current production levels will take current levels of water and nutrients. There are no miracle crops that grow without water and nutrients. Corn takes X amount of nutrients while miracle hippie crop only takes Y amount of nutrients these green experts say. They ignore in their figuring that corn can reliably produce 12,000-14,000 lbs. of valued product per acre while miracle hippie crop Kwanza will only produce 800-1200 lbs. of product per acre, product no one currently wants to buy. Greenies are happy, world is starving.

Wheat, corn, and beans have been the basis of the human diet for ten thousand years. These crops are the result of ten thousand years of domestication and development. They weren't selected as the crops to domesticate ten thousand years ago by accident or ignorance. You would think ten thousand years of feeding humanity and allowing it prosper would garner these crops a little respect and gratitude. But, no, not from some.

You want to start from scratch with some new crop that was wisely ignored by those savant farmers back in the days of yore and mammoths, fine, go ahead. Make this new crop a reliable producer and convince people to buy it. But understand, if this new "wonder" crop is to reach the same production levels we are currently getting from wheat, corn, and beans, it will require the same, or more, amount of water, fertilizer, and chemical inputs. There is no free lunch. If by some miracle you can get something like Kfunza to reliably produce 80-100 bushels an acre instead of its current 12-15, it will take the same level of water, nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, and other soil nutrients as our current wheat varieties require.

(nature's law. Annual grass plants will always produce more seed than perennial grass plants. Annual plants put all their energy into seed then the plant dies. Perennial grass plants can only put so much energy into producing seed as they have to devote a good portion of their energy into loading up their root system with enough carbs to initiate a new cycle of growth come spring. Annuals 100% seed. Perennials 50/50 seed and root.)

I think all of America should see the movie King Kong X Godzilla: The New Empire. The movie itself is dogshit, but it has a message this country is dearly in need of. If Kong and Godzilla can put aside their differences and unite to fight an evil worm from outer space, then we too can put aside our differences and work together if and when another evil worm shows up from outer space.

That photo of a bloodied Trump with his fist raised will be electoral gold.

To edit further, there is a difference between (A) making a claim and (B) pointing something out.

The phrase "pointing something out" has its basis in the objective. To point something out is to draw attention to something observable, factual, obvious. E.g. "I would like to point out that your socks don't match." "John pointed out that the car had a flat tire." There needs to be something objective/clear to point to (and point at)

Making a claim is another matter entirely. A claim requires no basis in the objective. A claim can be fuzzy, imaginary, vague, wild, unsubstantiated. E.g. "Bill claims that Big Foot must exist." "Though he has never seen one, Tom claims there are ghosts." "Donald claims there were over ten million people at his inauguration, if you count the invisible ones."

John pointed out nothing. He made a claim that an undetermined number of people acting in an undetermined manner did something undetermined to subvert the results of the 2020 election.

I'm good. Wife works with the oil and coal industry and I sing in a church choir.

Breeding is why corn is King!

Figures made up, but the ratio is correct:

In the last twenty years:

- There has been $500,000,000 invested in breeding improved varieties of corn.
- There has been $500,000 invested in improved strains of wheat.
- There has been $.50 invested in breeding improved strains of rye.
- And there has been $.005 invested in buckwheat, flax, and millet combined.

I kid you not, if I were to head out to the elevator in town and buy some rye seed to plant this fall, it would be the same damn variety I grew in 1985 (the last year I grew rye). And if I were to head out and buy some buckwheat seed, I wouldn't make it back home as I have instructed friends to shoot out the tires of my truck if I every try plant that worthless shit crop again. You look at buckwheat wrong and the few seeds that actually bothered to set will shatter out and become next year's weeds instead of this year's crop.

This isn't a plot. Breeding dollars follow demand. And the resultant breeding improvements that result increase the demand further, which in turn increases further the dollars that get poured into breeding, which again improves product which again increases the demand because the resultant product has become just so damn good. Corn has become a near miraculous crop that can be grown nearly anywhere on the planet for nearly any purpose.

If variety and diversity in our cropping landscape is wanted, serious dollars have to be invested in currently shit crops like rye, flax, and buckwheat to take them out of the 1800's. (invested in University and big dollar private breeding programs, not organic mother earth types playing farmer).