Oops -- I forgot to hit the "Publish" button on this one yesterday.
This longread takes a long look at the social and economic development of the Great Plains and calls into question the sustainability of our current model. I had heard about depletion of the aquifer, but this article really helped to put it into context for me. It also looks at some of the alternative visions for this land ranging from organic agriculture to wind power generation. We cling so strongly to a pastoral vision of the Midwest as America's breadbasket, but as this article makes clear, reality is rapidly disrupting this narrative.
"Broken heartland: The looming collapse of agriculture on the Great Plains" by Wil S. Hylton
Published in Harper's, July 2012
http://harpers.org/archive/2012/07/0083968
Eric
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