By Thoburn Thompson, Paths to Peace

Several months ago, my wife, Marge, and I traveled the back roads of Minnesota and Iowa to the Mississippi and to Wisconsin. The corn was fantastic, maturing and almost ready. It was beautiful and impressive. Soybeans were partly out of the fields. One could sense the abundance of the coming harvest.

Later, after dark, it struck me that something wasn&8217;t right: We saw no road kill, only a couple of red-shinned hawks, but no pheasants, no deer at that time of day, and few birds. It was eerie. Surely it was because of the season, the time of day. But the almost unending fields seemed too quiet, too devoid of animal life, and unnatural.

My thoughts shifted to 2005, in Bolivia, and snakes, and agriculture.

My friends own a sugarcane plantation in eastern Bolivia. In times past 200 machete wielding cane cutters would come at harvest time. They would kill any snake they would see. One kind is deadly, some of the other thirteen species on their land might make you sick, and the rest are entirely harmless. An itinerant and very savvy young Uruguayan herpetologist (reptile guy) offered to educate the farm workers about the snakes. Nephews in the extended family welcomed him which coincided with their ecological model for growing sugarcane. These nephews had an agricultural education and a new vision.

Extensive monoculture is being challenged. Monoculture means one crop almost as far as you can see, unbroken except by small farm roads. I saw a transformation in real time. It is so exciting that I can&8217;t stop thinking about it as a metaphor for religious monoculture, musical monoculture, racial monoculture and social monoculture &8212; and other &8220;monos&8221; (mono means &8220;one&8221; in English, but &8220;monkey&8221; in Spanish!)

It takes two years for sugarcane to mature. Yearly cuttings continue on the same plant, but the yield declines and a cycle starts again. In this system chemical fertilizers become almost obligatory. These young cane growers have done something so radical, and yet so beautifully conservative, that it should be a model for us.

Our Bolivian friends have cut their extensive acreage into blocks of cane fields, approximately 120 yards wide and 300 yards deep, with 35 yards of &8220;monte&8221; (jungle) surrounding each field.

This pattern allows critters of all types to live in their ecological niche, be it tree, grass, under the ground or in the air. Birds eat insects, mice eat grass, other mammals and amphibians eat grubs, and snakes eat rodents. Meanwhile the forest grid acts as humidifier and windbreak in this hot and humid climate. Insecticides are not used. Fertilizer use is minimized because run off from the forest floor is contained and erosion is markedly reduced. In the last few years this land use model has tripled production.

A huge mechanical harvester is owned cooperatively with five other growers. Pre-burning of the fields before cutting with machetes is no longer necessary. The leaves and cane tops are spit out onto the ground, while the juice bearing stalks are cut into 6 inch pieces. The bonus is less snakebite, more mulch, and less carbon into the atmosphere from burning. The harvest work force is reduced by 90 percent and paid more. Snake killing is strictly prohibited except for the poisonous species. The workers have been taught to respect the snake&8217;s role in good farming practices.

So, not all snakes are dangerous. Snakes, lizards, mice, fish, bats, bugs, birds, and people share a place in this world. If we understand the connections, we can help our environment re-establish itself when it has been altered for short-term convenience and short-term gain. The grid of that farm in Bolivia is not a system of barriers between field and forest, but a beautiful tapestry of life.

The reduced workforce on that Bolivian farm is now year-round, not just at harvest time.

The owners now give a decent wage and health care to 20. Trying to do it for 200 seasonal workers and their families was not possible under the old system.

My bias is that one species &8212; one crop, one religion, one political ideology, one antibiotic, one anti-cancer drug, one color of paint, one idealized body shape, one basketball defensive pattern, one musical style, one economy &8212; cannot adequately honor the beauty and complex interplay of our shared life. Celebrate life! Share it.

Thoburn Thompson is a member of Paths to Peace in Freeborn County