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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Energy Crisis & Climate Change Cannot Be Solved WithoutSustainable/Organic Agriculture
  • Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 23:07:20 -0600


from paul tradingpost@gilanet.com
http://medicinehill.net NM
------------------------------------

Energy Crisis & Climate Change Cannot Be Solved WithoutSustainable/Organic
Agriculture (Daily & Organic)
http://www.indsp.org/SustainableWorldInitiative.php
ISIS sustainable world initiative launched

The Independent Science Panel (ISP) and the Institute of Science in Society
(ISIS) are launching this Sustainable World initiative to engage with all
sectors of civil society to make our food production system truly
sustainable. We are convening a special ISP group on Sustainable
Agriculture (ISP-SA) - currently 18 strong - and a task force of
sponsoring
organizations and individuals who will make direct input into a
comprehensive report on sustainable agriculture at the end of a year. The
report will include a series of recommendations for government and inter-
governmental agencies on the social, economic and political policy and
structural changes needed to implement a sustainable food production
system.

True costs of industrial food production system:

1 000 tons of water are consumed to produce one ton of grain
10 energy units are spent for every energy unit of food on our dinner table
1 000 energy units are used for every energy unit of processed food
17% of the total energy use in the United States goes into food production
&
distribution, accounting for more than 20% of all transport within the
country; this excludes energy used in import & export
12.5 energy units are wasted for every energy unit of food transported per
thousand airmiles
20% of all greenhouse gases in the world come from current agriculture
US$318 billion of taxpayer's money was spent to subsidize agriculture in
OECD countries in 2002, while more than 2 billion subsistence farmers in
developing countries tried to survive on $2 a day
90% of the agricultural subsidies benefit corporations and big farmers
growing food for export; while 500 family farms close down every week in
the United States
Subsidized surplus food dumped on developing countries creates poverty,
hunger and homelessness on a massive scale

Some benefits of sustainable food production systems

2- to 10- fold energy saving on switching to low-input/organic agriculture
5 to 15% global fossil fuel emissions offset by sequestration of carbon in
organically managed soil
50 to 92% reduction in carbon dioxide emission from the soil on switching
from conventional tillage to no- till agriculture
5 tons of carbon dioxide emission disappear with every ton of nitrogen
fertilizer phased out
2-3-fold increase in crop yield using compost in Ethiopia, outperforming
chemical fertilizers
Organic farming performs as well or slightly better than conventional
industrial farming in the US
Small farms are 2 to 10 times more productive than larger farms
Organic farms support significantly more birds, bats, invertebrates and
wild
plants than conventional farm in Europe
Organic foods contain more vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients than
conventionally produced foods
1 000 or more community-supported farms across US and Canada bring $36m
income per year directly to the farms
$50-78m go directly into the pocket of farmers trading in some 200
established local farmers' markets in the UK
Buying food in local farmers' market generates twice as much for the local
economy than buying food in supermarkets chains
Money spent with a local supplier is worth four times as much as money
spent
with nonlocal supplier





  • [Livingontheland] Energy Crisis & Climate Change Cannot Be Solved WithoutSustainable/Organic Agriculture, Tradingpost, 07/19/2005

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