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  • From: "Don Bowen" <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>
  • To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] Food prices and farming
  • Date: Sun, 4 May 2008 07:51:52 -0700

As we all know the price of food is rising faster than at any time in recent
memory. We all know the reasons, increasing oil costs cause rising prices in
growing, processing, and delivering food, world wide climate change causing
droughts in food producing areas, increasing incomes in developing nations
changing eating habits, and the criminal act of putting food in our fuel
tanks. Two articles I read this last week, one in Time Magazine, and one at
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2008/05/paul-collier-re.html,
portend a trend that we should be wary of.

Both give accurate reasons for the problem but support the wrong fix. They
push for more fertilizer, higher yielding seeds, and more water. Neither
advocate better farming using less energy intensive methods. Both articles
push for business as usual and more of the same and neither looks at
alternate methods.

Iowa farmers are complaining about the rising costs of fertilizer and Asian
Rice farmers are having problems getting fertilizer. The Iowa farmer was
worried that the current high prices he was getting for corn were not
sustainable and that when things settled he would be in financial difficulty.
The Vietnam farmer was worried about feeding his family. Fertilizer is made
mostly from Natural Gas and is transported long distances so there will be
little relief there in the future.

Higher yielding seeds come from research into plant genetics. Starting with
the studies by Mendel on peas and on to genetic manipulation by using viri to
transport genes from jellyfish into plants. Hybridization has reached a peak
and leaves whole plant families vulnerable to pathogens. Direct genetic
manipulation is fraught with danger and has not lived up to promise except to
allow sales of more chemicals.

More water is a real problem in many parts of the world. Climate change is
changing rainfall patterns and population growth and shift is placing heavy
strains on existing water supplies. To increase water to crops is to
increase irrigation from deep aquifers and distant surface water, both
requiring expensive pumping energy.

The answer is not bigger farms using expensive patented seeds with more
chemical and energy inputs. There are many answers but with the constant
noise from the established farming system those methods will have problems
getting aired.

Don Bowen KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html
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>Homesteaders who raise animals may wish to
>consider growing their own grains.

II have read that Gene Logsdon is reissuing his book on small scale grain
growing.

Don Bowen KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html





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