‘Sixty Harvests Left’: How we are farming our way to disaster
In reducing sentient creatures to the role of animal machines, we threw away our moral compass, disregarded the importance of farming with nature and tore up our 10,000-year-old contract with the soil.
PHILIP LYMBERY: In his new book Sixty Harvests Left, Scotsman columnist and CEO of Compassion in World Farming Philip Lymbery argues that industrial farming methods are endangering the planet and only by returning to sustainable methods, along with a huge reduction in the consumption of meat, can we avert a global disaster… At the heart of sustainable change lies a recognition that all life on our planet is interconnected, and that our future depends on treating it with compassion and respect. In so doing, we can protect the world’s soils and wildlife as if our lives depend on it – because they do…
While writing this book, I’ve discovered that change is inevitable, that if we carry on as we are, more planetary boundaries will be crossed. The prospect of climate change and the collapse of nature have entered the collective consciousness like an autumnal chill. While leaders are starting to say the right thing, only action will turn things around, preventing society from entering a perpetual winter. Global agreements on climate change and the protection of biodiversity are already in place, but what’s missing is a United Nations commitment to change the one thing that stands in the way of achieving both of these: food.
For millennia, farming has worked in harmony with nature, but just one lifetime ago, things took a different course with the emergence of industrial agriculture. In reducing sentient creatures to the role of animal machines, we threw away our moral compass, disregarded the importance of farming with nature and tore up our 10,000-year-old contract with the soil. Hence why the UN has warned, carry on as we are and there could be just sixty harvests left in the world’s soil. No soil, no food. Game over…
Whilst writing and living on a farm hamlet, I have seen many times why a fusion between food, farming and nature is the way forward. I have also seen why we should respect the kinship that exists between living beings. One moment in particular sticks in my mind, back in spring 2021, when I walked with Duke along the river valley in search of our neighbouring cows. We spotted them grazing on the far side of the river. Having noticed us, the cattle waded across in a straggly line.
We hadn’t met these individuals before. They were young, eager and inquisitive, bright-eyed and enthusiastic about life. The first ones out of the river fixed Duke with a stare. They hesitated a bit before gingerly approaching. As they reached us, cows and dog extended necks and sniffed each other curiously before going nose-to-nose. Then their tongues met in a timeless gesture of kinship – animals licking each other, exchanging saliva; a gesture of greeting and reassurance. In that moment, I wanted the whole world to see what Duke was demonstrating: that these ‘livestock’, far from machines, were fellow creatures. SOURCE…
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