Although monoculture (the practice of raising a single cash crop on extensive acreage) is a common business model in agriculture, it's a very bad idea. The Irish found this out the hard way back in the 1840s and again thirty years later – and if you know anything about your history, you know the how and why of it.

On the other hand, diversification of crops not only protects a community from famine is one crop should fail, it could actually be quite profitable. In fact, in a recent paper published by University of Iowa economics professor David Swenson, expanding production on farms in the Upper Midwest (Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa) to include 28 different varieties of fruits and vegetables, it could turn locally-based agriculture into a (get this) three billion dollar a year industry – and have many other benefits as well.

The paper, which came out in 2010, is entitled "Selected Measures of the Economic Values of Increased Fruit and Vegetable Production and Consumption in the Upper Midwest." You can download and read the paper here.

In light of statements made by the prophets of doom that we are all heading into Malthusian catastrophe in which population is going to outstrip food supplies and we're all going to starve to death, a number of things struck me about Professor Swenson's work. First of all was his statement that under his model, produce for ten thousand people can be produced on under 100 acres of land. An area the size of one Iowa county (a little over 270,000 acres) could meet the needs of the entire population of the six-state region. But that's not the best part.

According to Swenson's research (remember, this guy is an economist), that produce would generate over $880 million in direct sales – and this figure would more than triple by the time it reached retail outlets. We're talking $3 billion a year, folks. But here's the best part: such a project would create more than 9600 new jobs in agriculture paying almost $27,000 a year.

By the way, this doesn't include the contributions that could be made by backyard gardeners and small family farms.

What produce are we talking about?  Apricots, raspberries, tomatoes, strawberries, pears, watermelon and cantaloupe for starters. As far as vegetables go, there's nutrient-rich greens including mustard greens, collards, kale and spinach; root vegetables like sweet potatoes and  carrots; garlic and eggplant, squash, cucumbers and more.

Unfortunately, at the moment a lot of land in that region has been given over to only three crops: maize, potatoes and wheat. Michigan is turning out to be the exception, however, and is already emerging as a major force in this new type of diversified agriculture. This could be the start of a new lease on life for this economically devastated state (you may remember awhile back I posted some info on a proposal to turn Detroit into the world's biggest urban farm).

So...what will it take for the other five states in the region to follow Michigan's lead? With the influence in D.C. of big corporations like Monsanto and ADR and their endless quest to control the world's food supply, I would not expect any help from our bought-and-paid for federal government. However, at the state and community levels, there may be some real hope – perhaps starting with some property tax reforms and incentives.

Time to start organizing.