Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

I'd like to know what you see left out; there are many angles to this. From 
what I've seen it's not coming, it's already here and has been for some time 
and will get worse than the writer could imagine in worst case scenario. For 
example, the consequences of continuing glacial melt on the Tibetan Plateau & 
Himalayas - feeding the rivers that support 3 billion in south and east Asia. 
At current rates the effects should start to be felt this decade. Closer to 
home the drawdown on the Ogallalah Aquifer has bankrupted lots of farmers in 
the NM-TX border area not too far from me. It's wells water much of the 
midwest breadbasket.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 4/25/2011 at 4:42 PM E J wrote:

>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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