How to explain Agricultural Collapse as a Capitalist

If nutrients were bank loans, and you never paid the interest or principal, what would happen?

Photo by Micah Williams on Unsplash

In order to reduce our use of oil in the agricultural sector, we must enter an age of nutrient austerity. That means paying back the Earth for all the withdrawals we’ve made over the years. We must alleviate our debt, close the nutrient loop of farm to table back to farm, so that we are no longer dependent on nitrogen fixing. To understand this, it helps to think of modern agriculture in the same terms as our modern economy — one built on debt and the service of that debt.

Debt is a one-way street

Imagine you withdraw money from your bank account but don’t deposit any. You use that money to buy a big screen TV, some fancy sports equipment, a big car, and a jet ski. After a while your bank account runs dry. Normally you would go bankrupt, but the bank agrees to lend you money to survive. You spend this money on a big house, great schools, and travel. You continue to borrow more money from the bank, paying neither the interest nor the principal. While away on vacation, you visit international banks and start to borrow from them, too. You spend this money on a big yacht and more houses and hedonistic experiences. The banks just keep…