permaculture

["John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>]

> On Aug 17, 2012, at 4:19 PM, John D'hondt wrote:
>
> > What is the draught doing in your calculations Tony.
>
> I'm glad you asked--it makes my point! The USDA harvest projections show 
> how complex and unpredictable the food systems are. Harvests of all grains 
> are down 12-15% in the US--which means the worst harvest in 8-10 years; 
> far less of a catastrophe than one might think, given that the drought is 
> the worst in 56 years. But get ready for this: The projections are for 
> greater total stocks of corn than last year by 10% or more, because the 
> decline in the global economy means less exported corn, less being made 
> into ethanol, and, for reasons I haven't learned, we are importing more 
> this year.
> http://www.agweb.com/blog/Farmland_Forecast_148/

I am amazed for in Ireland there will be many farmers who loose it all. I 
saw many, many fields of barley or oats flattened by wind and lying in so 
much water that no machine can get near it. And many dairy farmers already 
have their cattle in and are finding out that their silage is killing the 
cows as a result of bad fermentation. How do you network something like 
that? There is just not enough cattle fodder around anywhere near and that 
includes most of continental Europe.
> From monday there will be another 6 cent added to petrol price here. I am 
all for non-linear thinking but I still can't see how this is going to 
improve anything?
john