Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[E J <emj@uvic.ca>]

Some of this may be true but quick checks on some stats shows vital 
information left out....

On 22/04/11 9:45 PM, Tradingpost wrote:
> The following are 20 signs that a horrific global food crisis is coming....
>
> #1 According to the World Bank, 44 million people around the globe have been 
> pushed into extreme poverty since last June because of rising food prices.
>
> #2 The world is losing topsoil at an astounding rate.  In fact, according to Lester 
> Brown, "one third of the world's cropland is losing topsoil faster than new soil 
> is forming through natural processes".
>
> #3 Due to U.S. ethanol subsidies, almost a third of all corn grown in the 
> United States is now used for fuel.  This is putting a lot of stress on the 
> price of corn.
>
> #4 Due to a lack of water, some countries in the Middle East find themselves 
> forced to almost totally rely on other nations for basic food staples.  For 
> example, it is being projected that there will be no more wheat production in 
> Saudi Arabia by the year 2012.
Yes, but Saudi Arabia is one of the worlds smallest wheat producers and 
wheat production in 2008 & 2009 reached highest levels ever 
(International wheat production statistics 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_wheat_production_statistics)
> #5 Water tables all over the globe are being depleted at an alarming rate due to 
> "overpumping".  According to the World Bank, there are 130 million people in 
> China and 175 million people in India that are being fed with grain with water that is 
> being pumped out of aquifers faster than it can be replaced.  So what happens once all 
> of that water is gone?
>
> #6 In the United States, the systematic depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer could eventually turn 
> "America's Breadbasket" back into the "Dust Bowl".
>
> #7 Diseases such as UG99 wheat rust are wiping out increasingly large 
> segments of the world food supply.
>
> #8 The tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis in Japan have rendered vast 
> agricultural areas in that nation unusable.  In fact, there are many that 
> believe that eventually a significant portion of northern Japan will be 
> considered to be uninhabitable.  Not only that, many are now convinced that 
> the Japanese economy, the third largest economy in the world, is likely to 
> totally collapse as a result of all this.
>
> #9 The price of oil may be the biggest factor on this list.  The way that we 
> produce our food is very heavily dependent on oil.  The way that we transport 
> our food is very heavily dependent on oil.  When you have skyrocketing oil 
> prices, our entire food production system becomes much more expensive.  If 
> the price of oil continues to stay high, we are going to see much higher food 
> prices and some forms of food production will no longer make economic sense 
> at all.
>
> #10 At some point the world could experience a very serious fertilizer 
> shortage.  According to scientists with the Global Phosphorus Research 
> Initiative, the world is not going to have enough phosphorous to meet 
> agricultural demand in just 30 to 40 years.
>
> #11 Food inflation is already devastating many economies around the globe.  
> For example, India is dealing with an annual food inflation rate of 18 
> percent.
>
> #12 According to the United Nations, the global price of food reached a new 
> all-time high in February.
>
> #13 According to the World Bank, the global price of food has risen 36% over 
> the past 12 months.
> #14 The commodity price of wheat has approximately doubled since last summer.
>
> #15 The commodity price of corn has also about doubled since last summer.
>
> #16 The commodity price of soybeans is up about 50% since last June.
>
> #17 The commodity price of orange juice has doubled since 2009.
Rice prices down 2% (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13108166)
> #18 There are about 3 billion people around the globe that live on the 
> equivalent of 2 dollars a day or less and the world was already on the verge 
> of economic disaster before this year even began.
>
> #19 2011 has already been one of the craziest years since World War 2.  
> Revolutions have swept across the Middle East, the United States has gotten 
> involved in the civil war in Libya, Europe is on the verge of a financial 
> meltdown and the U.S. dollar is dying.  None of this is good news for global 
> food production.
>
> #20 There have been persistent rumors of shortages at some of the biggest suppliers of 
> emergency food in the United States.  The following is an excerpt from a recent 
> "special alert" posted on Raiders News Network....
>
>      Look around you. Read the headlines. See the largest factories of food, 
> potassium iodide, and other emergency product manufacturers literally closing 
> their online stores and putting up signs like those on Mountain House's 
> Official Website and Thyrosafe's Factory Webpage that explain, due to 
> overwhelming demand, they are shutting down sales for the time being and hope 
> to reopen someday.
>
> So what does all of this mean?
>
> It means that time is short.
>
> For years, many "doom and gloomers" have been yelling and screaming that a 
> food crisis is coming.
>
> Well, up to this point there hasn't been much to get alarmed about.  Food 
> prices have started to rise, but the truth is that our stores are still 
> packed to the rafters will gigantic amounts of relatively cheap food.
>
> However, you would have to be an idiot not to see the warning signs.  Just 
> look at what happened in Japan after March 11th.  Store shelves were cleared 
> out almost instantly.
>
> It isn't going to happen today, and it probably isn't going to happen 
> tomorrow, but at some point a major league food crisis is going to strike.
>
> So what are you and your family going to do then?
>
> You might want to start thinking about that.
>
>
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