UNNOTICED THEFT
They are stealing soil carbon while nobody cares
By the grain, like sand, or a tonne a hectare a year
So the pasture grows less and they use more urea.
They are stealing the net which holds the moisture
And the minerals, and feeds the inhabitants
Who feed the plants, which feed the animals.
They are stealing the deep black crumbly stuff
Which Nature has created over millennia
And pretending that their chemicals work the same.
Farmers are buying more urea each year
And told they can’t grow grass without it
Not good grass but quick grass they tell me.
They blame the cows for our dirtying streams
Graze too hard and then spread chemicals
Thus humus doesn’t stand a chance of forming.
No humus, no carbon made, just more gases
As climate warms from excess carbon rising
Times roll on and still no one takes action.
While commerce scores big profits from urea
Soil carbon dwindles unnoticed and unseen
Our safety net to worldwide food produced.
Someone is stealing soil carbon and I’m scared
With less each year, how many seasons left
Of pasture growth and food to feed us all.
Will we ignore till there is naught to nourish
Our plants and animals, what will humans do
When all carbon in our soil has leached and gassed away.
Sue Edmonds (Jan 2017)
