Plants grown in synthetically fertilized soils are less nourishing than ones grown in composted soils; 1 such plants are more vulnerable to diseases and insect pests; 2 polycultures are more productive and less prone to disease than monocultures; 3 and that in fact the health of the soil, plant, animal, human, and even nation are, as Howard claimed, connected along lines we can now begin to draw with empirical confidence. We may not be prepared to act on this knowledge, but we know that civilizations that abuse their soil eventually collapse.
