I’ll admit I’m proudly left of the bell curve on those studies. I have read a lot, and seen a lot of the regenerative agriculture work done by the likes of Geoff Lawton, Joel Salitin and many others. Joel’s family farm has increased soil depth by 2’ in places. (They started their practices in the 70’s I think.) Meanwhile factory crop fields greatest export is top soil. That’s nuts and clearly unsustainable. If we run out of top soil, crops don’t stand a chance. Meanwhile, animals add to it, while nourishing and fertilizing as they graze. Over grazing is a huge issue on factory farms, but the Great Plains were built by buffalo, elk, deer, etc.

Again, I’m left of the bell curve but it seems hard to believe mining and drilling for fertilizers and pesticides in one area, shipping them to another area to create an enormous mono crop devoid of any bio diversity is somehow better than rotationally grazing critters over biodiverse, perennial ecosystems.