Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

Dwindling Fossil Fuels and Our Food System
The relationship between energy and food is unsustainable, given the prospect 
of peak oil production. How long can we depend on fossil fuels to facilitate 
the transfer of food from farm to fork?
August/September 2010  By Lester R. Brown
http://www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-farming/energy-and-food-z10m0rog.aspx

Since 1981, the quantity of oil extracted from the earth has exceeded new oil 
discoveries by an ever-widening margin. In 2008, the world pumped 31 billion 
barrels of oil, but discovered fewer than 9 billion new barrels. World 
reserves of conventional oil are in a free fall, decreasing every year.

It can’t be denied: Agriculture uses a vast amount of oil. Most tractors use 
gasoline or diesel fuel. Irrigation pumps use diesel, natural gas or 
coal-fired electricity. Fertilizer production also is energy-intensive. 
Natural gas is used to synthesize the basic ammonia building block in 
nitrogen fertilizers. The mining, manufacture and international transport of 
phosphate and potash fertilizers all depend on oil. Our answer to the 
question of how we can end world hunger has thus far been to focus on 
increases in agricultural technology. These advances, unfortunately, require 
even more fuel.

Fertilizer production accounts for 20 percent of energy use on U.S. farms, 
and the demand for this fertilizer continues to climb. In addition, the 
international food trade separates producer from consumer by thousands of 
miles, further disrupting soil nutrient cycles. For example, the United 
States exports some 80 million tons of grain per year — grain that contains 
large quantities of basic plant nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus and 
potassium. The ongoing export of these nutrients will slowly drain the 
inherent fertility from U.S. cropland if the nutrients are not replaced.

This international food trade is responsible for more than just soil nutrient 
depletion. Sustainable farming alone cannot solve this problem.The amount of 
energy used to transfer goods from farmer to consumer equals two-thirds of 
the total amount of energy used to grow it on the farm (see “U.S. Food System 
Energy Use” chart in the Image Gallery). An estimated 16 percent of food 
system energy is used to can, freeze and dry food — everything from canned 
peas to frozen orange juice from concentrate.

Food miles — the distance food travels from producer to consumer — have risen 
in the United States thanks to cheap oil. Fresh produce routinely travels 
long distances, such as from California to the East Coast. Most of this 
produce moves on refrigerated trucks.

In the international food trade, staples such as wheat have historically 
moved long distances by ship — traveling from the United States to Europe, 
for example. But more recently, fresh fruits and vegetables have begun to 
travel vast distances by air; few activities are more energy-intensive. 
Packaging is surprisingly energy-intensive as well, accounting for 7 percent 
of food system energy use. Along with marketing, it also can account for much 
of the cost of processed foods. On average, a U.S. farmer gets only about 20 
percent of the total consumer food dollar, and for some products, that figure 
is much lower.

What’s the most energy-intensive segment of the food chain? The kitchen. We 
actually use more energy to refrigerate and prepare food at home than our 
farmers use to produce it in the first place.

With higher energy prices and a limited supply of fossil fuels, the modern 
food system that evolved while oil has been cheap clearly cannot survive as 
it is currently structured.
---------------
 Excerpted from Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, available for 
download or purchase online.

Many communities respond to growing concerns about food security by forming 
local food policy councils. These nonprofit groups — which work to build 
stronger local food systems that are less oil-intensive than factory farms — 
generally include food producers, consumers, merchants and policy makers. To 
find out if your community has one, search the Web for “food policy council” 
and your state’s name, or “food policy council” and your city’s name. Also, 
check out the Community Food Security Coalition’s information page on food 
policy councils. If there’s not an active council in your area, consider 
setting one up. — MOTHER