I relink the guardian news about food production here, because I think it is very important and its well written and researched. It's a scary piece of news I admit, but I would like to add a few things that are not mentioned in the article. One, maybe a minor one, is the fact that fish stocks around the world are being depleted, that means that fish are being taken out of the water at a faster rate than they can procreate, and this has being going on for quite a few years, a consequence of this is that fish stocks close to developed countries have pretty much maxed out, and in turn our ships go far away, even to underdeveloped countries coast's to 'harvest' their fish, as a result villages and cities that depended a great deal on their fishing have to look elsewhere for food, and that probably means grain imports. (haven't really researched this one, its pure speculation)
Another issue they don't mention is water, as you know, water is an absolute necessity in order to grow food, and intensive agriculture requires intensive irrigation which requires water that many times is sourced by withdrawing water from aquifers faster than they naturally recharge. Result: water tables are falling pretty much everywhere: Citing Lester Brown: "Over-pumping is occurring in an alarming number of countries throughout the world. In parts of the North China Plain, water levels are dropping by ten feet per year, which is particularly disturbing since this region produces half of China's wheat and one-third of its corn. India is over-pumping in every state except in the northeast. There is extensive over-pumping in the southern Great Plains of the U.S. In fact, over half of the world's people live in countries where water tables are falling." And what is one of the effects of global warming? Yes, droughts in dry places and floods in wet places (quite generally).
And now add to this that energy is more expensive: They do mention as a factor that high oil prices will have an effect on the aid budget, that is obvious. Another fact is that high oil prices (and overall high energy prices) makes irrigation and all the harvesting process even more expensive, possibly pricing out farmers in poorer countries with no access to subsidies, which maybe will turn to subsistence agriculture instead of feeding the locals... that will just increase demand for grains making them more expensive until people will not be able to afford it. Another thing the article fails to mention is that the turn to bio-fuels is actually caused by high oil prices, maybe somebody will think that it is due to global action against global warming and maybe up to some extent it is (although some research has come to the conclusion that growing bio-fuels is actually worse due to the CO2 emitted by deforestation and other factors) , but the main cause is the dependence on the every-day-more-expensive oil imports. And why is that? well fellas, that is one of the first consequences of peak oil. More about this another day.
Well that' enough for now, I know I leave so many things out but I have to get some work done... Please does somebody has anything optimistic to say?
Another issue they don't mention is water, as you know, water is an absolute necessity in order to grow food, and intensive agriculture requires intensive irrigation which requires water that many times is sourced by withdrawing water from aquifers faster than they naturally recharge. Result: water tables are falling pretty much everywhere: Citing Lester Brown: "Over-pumping is occurring in an alarming number of countries throughout the world. In parts of the North China Plain, water levels are dropping by ten feet per year, which is particularly disturbing since this region produces half of China's wheat and one-third of its corn. India is over-pumping in every state except in the northeast. There is extensive over-pumping in the southern Great Plains of the U.S. In fact, over half of the world's people live in countries where water tables are falling." And what is one of the effects of global warming? Yes, droughts in dry places and floods in wet places (quite generally).
And now add to this that energy is more expensive: They do mention as a factor that high oil prices will have an effect on the aid budget, that is obvious. Another fact is that high oil prices (and overall high energy prices) makes irrigation and all the harvesting process even more expensive, possibly pricing out farmers in poorer countries with no access to subsidies, which maybe will turn to subsistence agriculture instead of feeding the locals... that will just increase demand for grains making them more expensive until people will not be able to afford it. Another thing the article fails to mention is that the turn to bio-fuels is actually caused by high oil prices, maybe somebody will think that it is due to global action against global warming and maybe up to some extent it is (although some research has come to the conclusion that growing bio-fuels is actually worse due to the CO2 emitted by deforestation and other factors) , but the main cause is the dependence on the every-day-more-expensive oil imports. And why is that? well fellas, that is one of the first consequences of peak oil. More about this another day.
Well that' enough for now, I know I leave so many things out but I have to get some work done... Please does somebody has anything optimistic to say?
1 comment:
Here is a bit of hope: High food prices will increase the incentive to grow more food, and since the current increase is quite recent, new harvesting has not had the chance to have any effect on prices. Chances are that many more land will go into food production during this year pushing prices back down in a year or two.
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