Page 100 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 8

FARMING GOD'S WAY

curred in the American Great Plains demonstrate the folly of man lean- tional plowing, after 1 hour of rain-
in the 1930s, after some devastating ing on his own understanding as fall, 90% of the applied rainfall was
effects of plowing caused what is re- compared humbling ourselves and lost in runoff, along with 28.5 tons of
ferred to as the Dust Bowl. These following God’s ways. soil was lost in erosion per hectare.
farmers had decided to practice very Whereas the no plowing trial, with
intensive harrowing of the top lay- A) General Benefits 80% mulch surface cover lost only
ers of their soils to create a powder- 1) Minimal Runoff and 6% of the rainfall in runoff and a
type mulch for the protection of the 2) Minimal Erosion mere 1-ton of soil was lost per hect-
moisture in the dry season; however, Experiment 1: 2 runoff trays are.
they had no idea of the enormity of Diagram 1
the wind erosion that was to come. These are in-
The soil was blown up and dumped credible facts!
all over the USA, with some towns On their own,
having houses, roads and vehicles they should
buried in the soil. be enough evi-
These dramatic examples of wind dence to con-
erosion are highly visible, but we vince farmers to
should realize that our malpractice turn to the way
of plowing also causes water ero- God has shown
sion, which is far less visible, but us.
far more devastating, with our soil 3) Improved In-
ending up in rivers, catchments and filtration
oceans. Southern Afrikan agricul- Experiment 2:
tural lands lose between 55-250 tons Bread crust in-
or 1000 bags of soil per hectare per filtration
year through sheet erosion. Because So why do we
of the folly of plowing, agriculture lose so much
worldwide is moving away from the Let’s look at an experiment to show water through runoff when we plow?
plow with over 100 million hect- the effects of God’s Blanket on run- Raindrops fall at very high speed,
ares currently being commercially off rates and erosion. Each small like little hammers, hitting the sur-
farmed with no plowing or no-till- container has the same amount of face of the bare ground. Their im-
age, worldwide. soil, with the difference being that pact causes a layer of compaction
the conventional farming trial has no called a crust, just like that on a loaf
Unfortunately, no-tillage accounts cover and the Farming God’s Way of bread.
for less than 1 million hectares in trial has God’s Blanket. By pouring Let us look at an example of this ef-
Afrika – so far! just 2 liters of water over each small fect with a loaf of bread.
container the results are dramatic. Pouring just 250 ml of water on the
Technologically, Farming God’s You can clearly see how the runoff crusted loaf, we collect 200 ml water.
Way is not only about no plowing, on a conventionally plowed field That is because the crust seals the
but we are also after 100% mulch is very high and as the water gath- bread and stops the water from pen-
covers, which we call God’s Blanket. ers momentum down the slope it etrating deeper.
God’s Blanket has the potential to erodes the soil surface firstly and This is exactly what happens when
reveal God’s promised abundance then forms rills and ultimately even we plow, the first drops of rain cre-
in our fields, but most farmers, causes gullies to develop. ate a crust and this allows only 10%
without this knowledge, reject this In the Farming God's Way trial even of the rainfall to go into the soil and
amazing gift by burning or burying though we used the same “plowed is very wasteful.
it. To those that appreciate it, God’s soil” we covered it with God’s Blan-
Blanket becomes a real blessing and ket, the runoff is very low and as a Diagram 2
provides the ideal environment for result, the soil erosion is also mini- When we pour 250 ml of water
the healing of the land to take place. mal. on the uncrusted surface…. we col-
We will be comparing and contrast- Rainfall trials done at Cedara in lect just 50 ml water i.e. 4 times as
ing conventional farming to Farming South Africa, applying 68mm on a much water penetrates the uncrust-
God's Way stands throughout, to 4% slope, showed that with conven- ed bread. God’s Blanket protects

100 | Heal . restore . rebirth . Afrika