Soil -- from dirt to lifeline: Fred Kirschenmann at TEDxManhattan
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Published 2012-02-03
Fred Kirschenmann has been involved in sustainable agriculture and food issues for most of his life. He currently serves as both a Distinguished Fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, and as President of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, New York. He also still provides management over site of his family's 2,600 acre organic farm in south central North Dakota. He was recently named as one of the first ten James Beard Foundation Leadership Awards which recognizes visionaries in creating more healthful, more sustainable, and safer food systems. He is the author of a book of essays which track the development of his thought over the past 30 years; Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays by a Farmer Philosopher, published by the University of Kentucky Press.
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All Comments (21)
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This is a good informative video and well presented. Having watched a few you tube videos on soil and composting, I have concluded that soil that is compacted and dry becomes dirt and that all that was good in the soil is now dead. Dig it up, turn it over and wet it and it starts to look like soil again but it's still dead. Turning in some composted organic matter, leaves, grass, seaweed etc reintroduces some life and makes the soil better year on year. Just use what nature provides. That's it!
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Ten year old talk good for all times. Insight to a living world underground that should master much
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I met him in 2006 at UW-Stout, in Menomonie, WI. Great speaker and really smart man.
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I love your programs, they bring such important and timely information to the attention of the public. But I, like many "seniors," have hearing loss. Could you see that all your presentations include captions so we can better understand every word? Thank you.
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Great talk, really enjoyed it and him touching on the importance of soil microbes in relation to plant health.
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Dennis Hopper is amazing!
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Ingenious!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it.
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I want to start a compost collection company and branch out from there. Love this video. 🙏
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Well put
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@Beligerentt1 the problem is, that the really good soil, aka peat, is almost gone. Afaik there are only a handful of areas worldwide where the really good peat can be harvested.
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@Forestofthyme Peat has a lot of nutrients. I guess that's why it's used so often. But I agree. I do prefer Coco as it has the same handling soil has, but several advantages like that it is organic matter or that is nutrient-free, allowing custom nutrition or that the buffer-effect is only about half as long as in soil, allowing more direct nutrition of plants than Soil. I'm all for coco.
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He's so cute and cuddly. Great speech
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GABE BROWN has progresed lightyears ahead of this now.
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Gentlemen, we can rebuild him (our soil) . We have the technology.. We can start working with nature instead of against it. I teach how each individual person can do their part.
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We need to design our society, by growing locally, as long as we have to transport food from states to states, countries to countries, no much gonna change. We need permaculture!;)
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Fred looks like he might be related to Dennis Hopper.
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Step on me, Fred.
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i think its TRAGIC that for as long as these talks have been online they arent getting any real views and its either a sign of our stupidity ,or its a specific group blocking views , regardless of why this information isnt getting out to enough people we can do something about it by sharing and ACTING to correct the problem , or be happy with the problem and let it be our undoing
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Britain has used this system for ever. Cut your field sizes down and put the animals back on the land and rotate crops to help the land instead of killing it with pesticides.
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I agree with his general premise but i think some of his numbers are way off
