After their cotton had been ginned, farmers would keep some of the seed for next year's planting, plow some into the ground as fertilizer, and use the rest to feed their cows.

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The ground has to be tilled, the seeds sown, fertilizer spread, the ground watered.

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He just continued to let them run through the processing conveyor belt for oil extraction, in a one size fits all penalty regime, and then ground them up for fish fertilizer, while bragging about the results of his fishing expedition.

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And you just throw them on the ground, and they die and degrade into great fertilizer and compost.

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Other culprits include the application of fertilizer in the fall, when the ground is bare, and the spreading of manure on the surface, instead of into the soil.

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