What would Wendell Berry say about these excerpts from and Nashville Tennessean article?

US asks farmers: Can you plant 2 crops instead of 1?

https://nashvilletennessean-tn.newsmemory.com

New policies aim to increase amount of wheat grown

Sept. 1, 2022

Scott McFetridge

ASSOCIATED PRESS

DES MOINES, Iowa – There is only so much farmland in the United States, so when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted worries that people would go hungry as wheat remained stuck in blockaded ports, there was little U.S. farmers could do to meet the new demand.

• But that may be changing.

Earlier this summer, the U.S. Department of Agriculture instituted new policies to encourage American farmers to begin growing two crops on one piece of land, one after the other, a practice known as double-cropping. By changing insurance rules to lessen the risk of growing two crops, the USDA hopes to significantly increase the amount of wheat that U.S. farmers could grow every year, lessening the reliance on big wheat producers like Ukraine and Russia and eliminating bottlenecks.

The idea is an intriguing development from the Ukraine war that hasn’t received widespread attention. As fall approaches, it’s unclear how many farmers will actually try the new system, but some who already grow two crops say it’s something farmers should consider.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Illinois farmer Jeff O’Connor, who has doublecropped for years and hosted President Joe Biden at an event in May to promote efforts to increase food production. “How successful it will be, I don’t know.”...

The USDA didn’t mention climate change, but the agency and other experts have long said warming temperatures will spur farmers to rethink what they grow and how...The USDA didn’t respond to a request for details about how many farmers the agency hopes will begin double-cropping or how much U.S. production could increase. Farmers who double-crop often have smaller crops, but two smaller crops would still be significantly larger than an individual crop.

A study published in August by the University of Illinois and Ohio State University found that was certainly the case this year, as high wheat prices resulted in double-cropped land in southern Illinois bringing a projected $251 per acre return for wheat and soybeans, which is $81 higher than a stand-alone soybean crop.