Crop monocultures deplete soil nutrients and harm biodiversity from "summary" of The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
The problem of monoculture is that it represents an extreme form of simplification. When you plant a single crop over a large acreage, you're essentially placing all your chips on a single number. You're betting that this particular plant will thrive in this particular soil under these particular conditions. But nature abhors a monoculture. When you eliminate diversity from a system, you create vulnerabilities. One of the vulnerabilities of monoculture is that it depletes the soil of nutrients. Different plants have different needs, and when you grow the same crop year after year, you're constantly drawing on the same pool of nutrients. Eventually, that pool runs dry. You can keep the system going for a while by adding synthetic fertilizers, but these are just a temporary fix. They may provide the macronutrients that plants need to grow, but they don't replace the micronutrients and trace elements that are essential for soil health. ...
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