permaculture

[Robyn Francis <erda@nor.com.au>]

On 3/4/08 1:27 AM, "lbsaltzman@aol.com" <lbsaltzman@aol.com> wrote:

> But once again --
> without cheap oil, there is no possible way to feed the current
> population of humans, probably not even half. You forget that most of
> our cropland has been thoroughly poisoned with chemicals that will no
> longer be available. Another substantial portion of cropland requires
> irrigation and their source of water is rapidly drying up.

I think the Cuba experience most relevant here - over 11 million people on a
small island suddenly deprived of fuel, ag fertilisers and chemicals, and
the 80% of their food which was imported. There was hunger until the gardens
started producing but no-one died of starvation - largely due to the food
rations for staples and the natural neighbourliness and generosity of the
population. 
Cuba largely feeds itself from small organic farms and urban agriculture -
still imports around half its rice and cooking oil.
I think the intellectuals have forgotten food production existed before
modern fossil fuel agriculture - we need to contract to small scale farming
and localised food production to feed ourselves. And yes, the days of cheap
food are coming to an end.
Water will be a big issue, but a lot of water is wasted in commodity farming
and food processing. A family can produce most of their vegies in a small
garden using only household waste water - the permaculture kitchen garden
programs in semi-arid India are living evidence of this.

Ciao
Robyn