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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] World May Be Up for A Drastic Shortfall In Food Stocks

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] World May Be Up for A Drastic Shortfall In Food Stocks
  • Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2006 09:36:29 -0600


Water is definitely a critical issue. Soil conservation gets a lot of press
but water conservation doesn't. Water quality is a problem in much of the
U.S. but aquifer drawdown is more an issue in the arid Southwest U.S. and
parts of the Midwest. Aquifers are dropping in some areas, for example the
fringes of the Ogallala Aquifer in the midwest plains and along the TX-NM
border. When wells dry up cattle and irrigation farming simply stop.
http://www.iitap.iastate.edu/gccourse/issues/society/ogallala/ogallala.html

http://www.kerrcenter.com/publications/ogallala_aquifer.pdf

There are some hard issues involved. Water wars were common in the old
west, but new water wars are coming. Where I am lawsuits over water rights
run for decades - some going back to the Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo.
Santa Fe, an hour north of us, stays on water rationing most of the year.
Everywhere we look, unchecked development demands more and more water for
growing cities. Coal mining wastes unbelievable amounts of water. The
sprawling feedlots of the Midwest use much of the Great Plains grain crops
to finish beef for slaughter. The American appetite for beef is unmatched
anywhere on the planet. Those crops take water, many times more water than
is needed to simply grow enough non-beef food for people (grass-fed beef in
areas unsuited for crops is a different story). And now the ethanol lobby
has enough plants building and planned in Iowa alone to use up all the corn
grown in Iowa. And that's just Iowa. That takes a lot of water, and none of
that corn will go to feed people. How much water is wasted? We can't even
guess. Big bucks from mining industries and industrial farming lobbies try
to scapegoat "environmentalists" as caring more about nature than people -
as if their own profits have nothing to do with it. But it's the people
who need the food and water. IMHO we can't solve those big issues. We can
grow our own though.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

“We know the worth of water when the well runs dry.”
– Ben Franklin

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 9/6/2006 at 4:03 AM three feathers wrote:

>i don't believe overpopulation is the problem. I admit we do have a
>"glut" of humanity, but I believe (and could be wrong, i might add) the
>food crisis is in the the lack of Knowledge of '"how" to grow our own food
>that is the problem......
>
>We have been conditioned to think of Kroger (for example) as our
>"mainstream" food supplier.............we need to alter that mindset and
>think about producing food for ourselves, whether as a singular family
>unit or as a neighborhood / community project.
>
>And many of us have lost that Knowledge, sad to say........which is why we
>all are on this forum :-).
>
>My concern is the problem with water resources to keep our food producing
>plots healthy and viable. I have read that there are corporations, such
>as Monsanto and others, that are trying to "buy up" all water
>rights.......and i want to know WHY.......new world order stuff, maybe?
>
>I don't know much about that, mainly because of the confusion on my part
>between fact and "conspiracy theory" stuff..........but if anyone here
>knows more about this, i would appreciate a "'Cliff-Notes" crash course on
>this push to buy up water rights, what that means and what it means for
>US, as folks wanting to be more self sustaining........
>
>be well--
>threefeathers in AR
>
>TradingPostPaul <tradingpost@riseup.net> wrote:
>Any discussion of feeding the world needs to avoid getting into
>overpopulation debate, ok?
>
>
>
>Donadaghovi AiSv Nv wa do hi ya do
>(Til next we meet, Walk in Peace)
>--<<< --<<< --<<<
>







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