permaculture

[mIEKAL aND <qazingulaza@gmail.com>]

http://civileats.com/2012/08/16/18-little-known-facts-that-will-motivate-you-to-cut-back-on-food-waste/

On Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 12:16 PM, Toby Hemenway
<toby@patternliteracy.com> wrote:
> The myth of the US as not being food independent is wrong. Look at the data:
>
> Grain exports, 2010: 107,323,000 metric tons.
> Grain imports, 2010:  5,070,000 metric tons
>
> So we export 20 times as much grain as we import. Grain is what feeds 
> people. Data from
> http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0848.pdf
>
> Our biggest food imports, by about 10 times anything else, are fruit juices 
> (for soda) and beer (most of those are water, unlike grains). Hardly 
> something we are dependent on. Juices and beer are expensive, too, which 
> bloats the cost of imports, so looking at cost, not calories, will fool 
> you. But in calories? We are swimming in food.
>
> So let's learn to read the data for what they really say, and not twist 
> them to fit a fear agenda.
>
> It's a good idea to have several months of food in storage; that's a really 
> easy way to hedge your bets, as is having a good local food network.
>
> In truth, food output in the Soviet Union declined 30-40% in the collapse 
> and afterward, not 80%. One source out of many for that is
> http://departments.agri.huji.ac.il/economics/teachers/kislev_yoav/kislev-lerman1.pdf
>
> That's still a brutal decline, but it wasn't that the USSR lost domestic 
> production. The collapse in oil prices from $70 to $25/bbl meant that they 
> could no longer afford to import the huge amount of grain that they had 
> been. The USSR had not been able to feed itself for several decades by 
> then, and had been importing 30-50% of its grain.
>
> That is a very different situation from the US, where we are still 
> exporting a great deal of grain.
>
> My bet is on a brief, extreme currency collapse (loss of faith in the 
> dollar) rendering the dollar essentially worthless for a few months while 
> things get sorted out. Put your wealth in things that are tangible. A 
> currency collapse will wipe out the paper wealth of everyone with 
> investments and a bank account--and disrupt commodities markets, which can 
> disrupt food deliveries and make farmers plant more or less, depending. 
> But, as in the USSR, Argentina, and lots of other places, currency 
> collapses get repaired in a few months or, at worst, a year or two. You 
> just have to plan to survive that, and adjust to the new system. It doesn't 
> fall apart for long.
>
> The US is much more food secure than almost any other nation. We've got 
> other things to worry about. Focus on what's likely, not on what scares you.
>
> Toby
> http://patternliteracy.com
>
>
> On Aug 15, 2012, at 12:57 PM, Marjory wrote:
>
>> Micheal,
>>
>> You are so right.
>>
>> Looks like of all the various scenarios, economic collapse is pretty
>> high on the list.  Doesn't matter which thing causes it though ....
>> food and water will become paramont.  Thos who have any knowledge at all
>> will be called to teach, share, give.  I am doing what I can to
>> prepare.  Hope everyone else is too.
>>
>> Marjory
>>
>>
>> On 7/4/2012 1:31 PM, Michael Pilarski wrote:
>>> Several years ago I read a news report that the US had just changed from 
>>> being a net exporter of agricultural products to a net importer.  We now 
>>> import more value of ag imports than value of ag exports.
>>>
>>> Now bearing in mind that currencies are manipulated and that the 
>>> currencies of exporting countries in Africa, South America, etc are kept 
>>> low in comparison to dollars and euros, that the situation is probably 
>>> worse than officially stated.
>>>
>>> Bearing in mind that in the event of a dollar collapse there would be a 
>>> lot less oil, food and other imports coming into the US.
>>>
>>> Bearing in mind that when the Soviet Union collapsed that their 
>>> industrial food production dropped 80% and that home gardens had to pick 
>>> up the slack.
>>>
>>> We should have plans laid for what to do in such an eventuality.  Some 
>>> years back I proposed that in such a crisis that all permaculturists 
>>> should undertake train the trainers programs in their neighborhood to 
>>> vastly increase local food production using local resources and 
>>> permaculture (and regular gardening) techniques.
>>>
>>> Michael Pilarski
>>>
>>> --- On Wed, 7/4/12, Marjory<forestgarden@gvtc.com>  wrote:
>>>
>>> From: Marjory<forestgarden@gvtc.com>
>>> Subject: [permaculture] The US is no longer food self-reliant?
>>> To: "permaculture"<permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
>>> Date: Wednesday, July 4, 2012, 10:40 AM
>>>
>>> Hi Everyone,
>>>
>>> I just had this grim realization.
>>>
>>> This blows up that 'Bread Basket To The World" story.
>>>
>>> With very few exceptions, every bite of every American meal comes from
>>> big Ag.  And big Ag just coulndn't produce without massive amounts of
>>> oil and natrual gas.
>>>
>>>  From Wikipedia, the US imports about 65% of the oil it uses.
>>>
>>> So could the US produce enough food to feed it's population without
>>> imported oil?  It doesn't look likely.
>>>
>>> I know each of us is all about change towards local sustainability, but
>>> as it stands /today/, the US is *not food self-reliant.*
>>>
>>> Is there some problem with the logic here?
>>>
>>> The US does export about 15%-20% of the biggest crop it produces -
>>> corn.  But we also import a lot of other food stuffs (fruits and
>>> vegetables)  The US is not really a big net exporter.
>>>
>>> Am I missing something here...
>>>
>>> Marjory
>>>
>>>
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