the bbc world service comes on at 4 am on the local npr station and i usually listen to it on the way to work...this morning they were doing a broadcast form the north of england on the trials and tribulations of agriculture in a time of climate change...they discussed the drought here and then went on to talk to an english farmer about the overabundance of rain england has experienced this summer...he was unhappy about the amount of fungicide he had to use to keep the mold down on his wheat crop ( an issue my wheat did not have ) he said he didn't like to be "splashing round" a lot of chemical inputs but was forced to by conditions, even so he said that he experimented with some of the crop by only dosing it with half the recommended amount...the commentator (dan daymon )pressed by asking the farmer if, even though he was having some difficulties, the rising prices of grain futures wouldn't mean he'd get more for his crop...he replied that farmers were "market takers" they don't set prices but rather take what the market offers and that yes he did stand to make a bit more this season...then he said something telling...he added that even though he stood to make some gains it always seemed that when he made more money the price of the inputs he had to use ( he is farming wheat and barley on 600 acres...arable crops that can be harvested by machine so he's talking the full boat of industrial inputs, fuel, herbicide, fungicide, pesticide, and fertilizer ) went up a comparable amount...capital extracting more form a highly extractive industry ( you can tell i've been reading wes jackson )...another thread of evidence indicating the food issues we will be facing as the century wears on are a global issue and finding ways to cope locally is a first principle in the garden...i was on campus yesterday trying to find a couple of people ( found neither...but then it was the first day of the fall semester and i probably could have timed my search to fall on a better day...i will try again ) but was too wiped out by the time i got home to write much about it......in the top photo you can see the northern tepehuan teosinte has reached just about the same height as the hopi blue maize...hope it flowers soon...the second photo is of the rare brussels sprouts ( for me this season anyway ) and the third is of some chinese yam aerial bulbs up close...i wandered over to the iu northwest community garden after a bit to see what was what there...it looks fine and the fourth photo is of the potato bed with marigolds, geraniums, and some lamb's quarters intercropped ( actually the lamb's quarters are probably an interloper...but they're native and edible and since i am mostly an observer here i let them be ) they make a nice group even though the potato's season is about over...finally there's a shot of the garden from just south of the picnic table...it really is a pleasant place to spend some time if you're on campus and have a bit of time on your hands.
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