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Carmentina
Raw Newbie
Now that the international food crisis is spreading like wildfire in large part due to biofuels but also due to unsustainable world economies and skyrocketing gas prices, a study was published here in Italy yesterday saying that there are enough supplies of bread and pasta for the next 7 months only. That’s not because suddenly italy has slowed down its agricultural output, but because other nations have stopped exporting in order to feed their own. The consequences might be further inflation, a change in economic policy – making agriculture “strategic,” and also lead many into becoming backyard farmers. We rarely think about the miles our young coconut has traveled to reach our plate, but with fuel the way it is now, we can’t but expect ramifications to be vast. I’m sure the consequences being felt now in Italy are widespread elsewhere.
How do you think this problem should be dealt with? I’d love to read your comments.
Comments
I know im only 14, but im very intrested with this stuff, plus im raw vegan. Well, my opinion is that we should all try and grow our own produce! And i think its the best time to go raw vegan! :)
Definitely growing our own food is a big way to help, but most people don’t have the space and/or climate to grow everything they need to eat, so it’s not going to completely solve the problem. Here’s a big part of the problem: 100 pounds of grain will feed 10 pounds of flesh (animal or human), and 10 pounds of animal flesh will feed 1 pound of human, for the same time period. I’m not sure how we can make a difference in this part, but if people stopped raising animals for meat, the land used to produce the animals’ food could grow food for 10 times the amount of people than the meat from those animals will feed. Norbest has closed (for a few months) because the price of their turkey feed has gone up so much recently – it is now about three times the price it has been the last ten years. I’m hoping this will become more widespread. Storing food is a good idea, so that when you can’t grow all your own food, you have some nuts, seeds, etc. available. Of course, in some places, it may be too late, but anything you can do now should help. And, of course, buying locally grown food when you can’t grow your own should help the situation, too.
We’re not running out of food; it’s just that countries like China can now afford to buy much more imported foods. The media is doing all it can to cause irrational fear and increase their audiences.
ALIX – The Bush Administration has been lying to Americans about the true cause of the increase in world food prices, which is due to a real food shortage. Although US corporate media often intentionally herd their audience in via irrational fears, they are more often engaged in hiding the truth from listeners to promote the corporate (Republican) political agenda. Most media is owned by large corporations now and they are heavily invested in things like pharma, medico, agribiz, and oil.
(EDIT: In all fairness, I should include the Democrats in here too because they are really Republican Lite anymore. Democrats try to hide what they are doing while at least the Republicans are out front with what although they lie about their reasons.)
The World Bank recently completed an international study on the driving forces behind the food shortages and it turns out the primary culprit is biofuels – a move in this country that began with a big political push came from Monsanto. Below are links to the study, which was recently leaked to the media.
Biofuels Cause 75% Increase in World Food Prices
Secret Report: Biofuel Caused Food Crisis
Exclusive: we publish the biofuels report they didn’t want you to read
Wow well said Meditating. From what I’ve read Argentina, India, Indonesia, Thailand and many other countries are now banning exportation of certain foods in order to feed their own (thank god they’re not only thinking about profits!!). How many demonstrations have there been?
I’ve love to start gardening once I have some land, but this isn’t viable for everyone. Whatever the case, a return to our roots is always the best option!
CARMENTINA – the riots based on food shortages is really scary. People who live in areas and belong to socioeconomic classes where they never thought they would go without food are now subject to not having any.
I think it is smart for these countries to stop exporting food. I understand my stupid country is ignoring the problem. This seems to be the way America handles its problems. I have not really heard of any countries implementing measures to increase the food production in their respective countries, except I thought I heard or read that Italy was asking residents to grow a few things on their own but may have read that in one of your posts. (My memory is not what it used to be.)
Has anyone read or heard anything on this yet?
If everyone started a local grassroots effort like those described in the following links, we would see a difference. There’s a thread under Other Stuff / how cool is this? The first link is a beautification effort. The second is vegetable gardening.
www.guerillagardening.org
http://incredible-edible-todmorden.com
The veggie gardening effort is like what I would love to see all over the place. Not too far from us, a lady has the flower beds in her front yard filled with vegetable plants – AWESOME!
Someone else I know grows vegetables in the space between the sidewalk and the street, where there is usually grass, and this year it looks like she has planted a couple of fruit trees there, too. She ties her tomato plants to tall stakes & cuts off a some of the sticking out branches, so they grow tall & grow a lot of tomatoes in a small growing area. I am trying to make use of more space each year for growing food. The last week, I’ve hardly eaten any store-bought produce because of my garden produce. Woohoo! It tastes soooo good fresh from the plant. :)
Supporting local farmers and urban agricultural efforts will make a huge difference. Have you guys heard of vertical farms (www.verticalfarm.com)? There was an article in the NY Times about it too – http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/science/15far… Not sure how I feel about this idea yet considering its cost.
Anyone with a patch of land here in Italy cultivates it. One of my neighbors has planted the whole creek bank in front of our building and that land belongs to the State. I think it’s awesome. I hope to get a piece of land soon so I too can start gardening. For now it’s my balcony!
A tomato plant in a bucket, inside the house, can be a good place to start. Tomatoes don’t need to be pollinated by bees in order to grow. Balconies are great, too. :)
Meditating, thank you for the links. My point is that this is a false food shortage. If people opt to grow grain for fuel instead of food, then it is a choice and not a true shortage, which(just in my opinion) would be caused by draught and other natural disasters. Even over population. But choosing NOT to grow food? I can’t call the result a real food shortage. If I throw all my food in the house out the window, I can’t turn around and scream, “famine!”
I’m not being flippant about people needing biofuel, by the way. I know not all countries can afford to gorge themselves on crude oil products like we can.
Well, it appears a politician in the great state of Texas finally realized that land used for ethanol production might be better used for food production. Unfortunately, he wasn’t thinking of the likes of people like you and me. We don’t have any lobbyists. However, the cattle ranchers do.
Texas Rebels Against Ethanol, Could Strike Fatal Blow