It's a first century job with nineteenth-century amenities

Part of the sheepherder's mystique is having opted to be an outsider. It's a first century job with nineteenth-century amenities - a traditional wagon with rounded top and a ship-tight interior, a saddle horse, and stock dog to get the work done. But to have chosen a life of solitude is seen as a sign of failure. In most cases they've abandoned the world for less saintly reasons than spiritual transformation. More often, it's a social defect that's kept these men at bay - women troubles, alcohol, low self-esteem. Others prefer the company of animals. But in the process of keeping their distance they may learn what makes the natural world tick and how to stay sane.

G. Ehrlich, The solace of open spaces (1985), 29

Taken to keep the white man's shambas alive while theirs fell into neglect and waste!

Some were taken to work on European farms while the white man went to war. Imagine that: taken to keep the white man's shambas alive while theirs fell into neglect and waste! For a woman alone can never do all the work on the farm. How could she grow sugar cane, yams, sweet potatoes which used to be man's domain.

N. wa Thiong'o, Petals of blood (1977), 254

As much as a third of all the greenhouse gases that human activity has added to the atmosphere can be attributed to the saw and the plow

A diverse enough polyculture of grasses can withstand virtually any shock and in some places will produce in a year nearly as much total biomass as a forest receiving the same amount of rainfall. This productivity means Joel's pastures will, like his woodlots, remove thousands of pounds of carbon from the atmosphere each year; instead of sequestering all that carbon in trees, however, grasslands store most of it underground, in the form of soil humus.

In fact, grassing over that portion of the world's cropland now being used to grow grain to feed ruminants would offset fossil fuel emissions appreciably. For example, if the sixteen million acres now being used to grow corn to feed cows in the United States became well-managed pasture, that would remove fourteen billion pounds of carbon from the atmosphere each year, the equivalent of taking four million cars off the road. We seldom focus on farming's role in global warming, but as much as a third of all the greenhouse gases that human activity has added to the atmosphere can be attributed to the saw and the plow.

M. Pollan, The omnivore's dilemma (2006), 197-8

Small farms are actually more productive than big farms;

It's simply more cost-efficient to buy from one thousand-acre farm than ten hundred-acre farms. That's not because those big farms are necessarily any more productive, however. In fact, study after study has demonstrated that, measured in terms of the amount of food produced per acre, small farms are actually more productive than big farms; it is the higher transaction costs involved that makes dealing with them impractical for a company like Kahn's — that and the fact that they don't grow tremendous quantities of any one thing. As soon as your business involves stocking the frozen food case or produce section at a national chain, whether it be Wal-Mart or Whole Foods, the sheer quantities of organic produce you need makes it imperative to buy from farms operating on the same industrial scale you are.

M. Pollan, The omnivore's dilemma (2006), 161

All the usable nitrogen on earth had at one time been fixed by soil bacteria living on the roots of leguminous plants

Until a German chemist named Fritz Haber figured out how to turn this trick in 1909, all the usable nitrogen on earth had at one time been fixed [combined with other elements] by soil bacteria living on the roots of leguminous plants (such as peas or alfalfa or locust trees) or, less commonly, by the shock of electrical lightening, which can break nitrogen bonds in the air, releasing a light rain of fertility.

...

[Vaclav Smil calls this] the most important invention of the twentieth century. He estimates that two of every five humans on earth today would not be alive if not for Fritz Haber's invention.

M. Pollan, The omnivore's dilemma (2006), 42-43

Perhaps as much as 50 per cent of all agricultural land ... [was] devoted to game conservation

By 1911 there were around 25,000 keepers employed on estates in England, Wales and Scotland; and the disadvantages to the tenant farmer of so much countryside - perhaps as much as 50 per cent of all agricultural land - being devoted to game conservation was causing disquiet in official circles.

A. Tinniswood, The long weekend (2016), 292

It's not that Kansas is the best place to grow wheat - it's that wheat is the only thing that will grow in Kansas

From 1850 to 1950, he [Steve Jones] discovered, there were more than 143 varieties of wheat grown in Washington. And Whidbey Island, just west of the Skagit valley, had set the world record with one wheat crop of nearly 120 bushels an acre.

"People say wheat is 'out of place' around here," he said. "I always get a kick out of that. A place like Kansas is considered real wheat country. But that's not correct. It's not that Kansas is the best place to grow wheat - it's that wheat is the only thing that will grow in Kansas."

D. Barber, The third plate (2014), 400

Less than a hundred years later, only 4 percent of farms had chickens

In 1900, diversification (at least on some level) was inherent in agriculture; 98 percent of farms had chickens, 82 percent grew corn, and 80 percent raised milk cows and pigs. Less than a hundred years later, only 4 percent of farms had chickens, 25 percent grew corn, 8 percent had milk cows, and 10 percent raised pigs. And, in may cases, the farms producing these commodities did so exclusively.

D. Barber, The third plate (2014), 74