You missed fungicides and insecticides Joe. True most chemical treatments are for weeds, but I have a huge bee operation at my place, and the keeper now figures he loses about 40% annually to colony collapse that times with applications of those chemicals. He in turn has to spray all his hives for throat mites and fungi. Most of the insects around my place have disappeared, along with several formerly common insectivorous birds. Gotta admit its nice to be in my garden and not be bothered with 'skeeters and deer flies.
Stan Triticale was just one of the grains agronomists were or are trying to breed to develop a stronger perennial habit. The effort must have failed as have not heard much about it for years. Yes they would also require fertilizer. You must live in an area with an entirely different agricultural system than the upper midwest. I don't know a single farmer that does not fertilize annually with urea or anhydrous N, even here in former grassland with some of the richest soils in the world. And many apply pellets with K and P also. OK they were not 'forced' to do it, they have to do it if they want a decent yield. Pre-emerge and post-emerge herbicides are a must. Very little 'new ground' around here as most of the homesteaders native pastures are long gone. But when the sod was first broken, yields were plentiful for many years and the native annual weeds were not much of a problem. One reason they called those in the ancient lake plains "Bonanza Farms.'
Don't know all the arguments of the 'the tree huggers and pro-organic people' as far as land use and feeding the world is concerned. But you are right as many are just wishful thinkers who propose a world that no longer exists or can exist. They remind me of those that use the term 'recyclable energy' as though Newton's Law does not apply to them like it does to the rest of us.
To stay on topic I believe the urge to hunt is an innate behavioral survival mechanism that has persisted in human males for a couple million years.
