Forage legumes and cultural sustainability: lessons from history

The mutualistic relationship between leguminous plants and Rhizobium bacteria has synergistic biological effects in the fixation of atmospheric N. This fixed N in turn creates a resource base for other ecological interactions in the soil. We suggest that these synergistic effects can be extended to include human social interactions when forage legumes are used in agriculture and offer historical evidence for our hypothesis. Use of forage legumes in a rotation sequence is a cornerstone of successful sustainable agriculture as practiced in many parts of the world. The history of these practices is traced, with particular emphasis on development and use by various Anabaptist groups, whose attitude toward ecologically responsible innovation enabled them to embrace technological changes which the mainstream culture resisted. Before the widespread use of forage legumes in western Europe, agricultural production was little above subsistence level. As forage legumes became more common, soil fertility improved, resulting in surplus production and capital accumulation. Coincidentally, it was not until capital began accumulating from the surplus production resulting from widespread use of legumes as harvested hay that the Industrial Revolution began to expand. As agriculture has become more and more mechanized, use of forage legumes has decreased. Ironically, the environmental and economic fallout of the Industrial Revolution is creating selective forces for agriculture to return to these rotational practices.