Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

Current food production system due for collapse
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/SustainableWorldInitiativeF.php

World grain yield fell for four successive years from 2000 to 2003,
bringing reserves to the lowest in thirty years. The situation has not
improved despite a 'bumper' harvest in 2004, which was just enough to
satisfy world consumption.

In too many food production regions of the world, conventional farming
practices have severely depleted the underground water to the point where
rivers and lakes have dried out, topsoil has been eroded away, and wild
life decimated. At the same time, world oil production may have passed its
peak; oil price hit a record high of US$58 a barrel on 4 April 2005, and is
expected to top US$100 within two years. This spells looming disaster for
conventional industrial agriculture, which is heavily dependent on both oil
and water. The true costs of our current food production system are
becoming all too clear (see Box 1).

Box 1
True costs of industrial food production system

    * 1 000 tonnes of water are consumed to produce one tonne 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 air-miles

    * 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

Getting our food production sustainable is the most urgent task for
humanity; it is also the key to delivering health, ameliorating the worst
effects of climate change and saving the planet from destructive
exploitation. The benefits of sustainable food production systems are also
becoming evident (see Box 2).
Box 2
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 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission disappear with every tonne 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 non-local supplier

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.

ISIS and ISP are in a unique position to draw these previously disparate
strands together into a powerful scientific and social consensus. We have
scientists in many disciplines working together and some of the scientists
are competent across several disciplines. A majority of the scientists are
already working with grass-roots organisations and local communities in
both the developed and developing countries, or are supporting their
activities in other ways.

There will be a series of consultations (by post or e-mail) with our
sponsors, and two to three working conferences throughout the year when the
report is being drafted, depending on finances available.

A major international conference to launch the final report will take place
in 2006. Copies of the report will be sent to all relevant governments and
inter-government agencies as the start of a campaign to get the
recommendations implemented.