Omnivore - Chapter 10

Chapter 10 is all about grass farming, whose strategy is to capture solar energy in grass and convert it into animal meat/crops instead of the industrial strategy of using petroleum as energy. It does take more careful monitoring and management of grass growth (rotational grazing to avoid and "second bite rule" of overgrazing) and is thus not as easy as dousing fields with chemicals to increase yield.

Grazing helps to build top soil and hummus because the biting of grass blades stimulates root decomposition to return organic matter to the soil. Additionally, eating taller blades allows low-lining grass species to proliferate increasing biodiversity on the pasture (but it requires intensive grazing instead of continuous to avoid over-grazing). Clovers are an important species that is fostered through this technique; it is a legume that helps to fix nitrogen in the soil. Thus, while corn mines energy from the soil, grass farming continues to generate energy.

So why did industry choose corn over soil? It all has to do with what species can fit into the machine of industrialization. I'd go into it, but I'm tired. Simply put, grass is more suspectible to environmental variables, etc. As a result, the industry has evolved to operate with corn.