Difference between revisions of "Food/Intro"
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[[Image:Food_market.jpg|350px|right]]Many people believe that we are soon to face a global food shortage. Population is rising rapidly, with a billion people added in less than ten years, and rainforests must be cut down to make room for more farming to grow food for these people. Meanwhile, 40% of farming land has been {{wp|Land_degradation|depleted}}. People are moving from farms into cities at the rate of over a million a week <sup>[http://www.makingcitieswork.org/toolsAndResources/urbanResources/urban101]</sup>, and their appetite for meat is growing<sup>[http://oecdinsights.org/2010/02/19/cashing-in-on-cows/]</sup>. These trends means that food demand is rising, but there are fewer farmers to supply it. It would indeed seem that we are heading for a food crisis. | [[Image:Food_market.jpg|350px|right]]Many people believe that we are soon to face a global food shortage. Population is rising rapidly, with a billion people added in less than ten years, and rainforests must be cut down to make room for more farming to grow food for these people. Meanwhile, 40% of farming land has been {{wp|Land_degradation|depleted}}. People are moving from farms into cities at the rate of over a million a week <sup>[http://www.makingcitieswork.org/toolsAndResources/urbanResources/urban101]</sup>, and their appetite for meat is growing<sup>[http://oecdinsights.org/2010/02/19/cashing-in-on-cows/]</sup>. These trends means that food demand is rising, but there are fewer farmers to supply it. It would indeed seem that we are heading for a food crisis. | ||
| − | But this analysis misses a key | + | But this analysis misses a key point: that there are far more efficient ways to produce food than the ones now in wide use. Any food shortage is really a shortage of applying [[Fundamental resources/Human intelligence|know-how]] to food production. In the case of soil depletion, for example, while it is true that certain farming methods deplete soil, there are other methods (like permaculture, discussed below) that rapidly and reliably increase the fertility of the soil. |
As for our growing appetite for meat: the argument is that it requires 16 kilos of grain to produce one kilo of beef, so to preserve food and avoid a food crisis, we must all become vegetarian <sup>[http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/global-food-shortage-fear/story-e6frf7l6-1111115339654]</sup>. This makes the assumption that cows must be fed grain. Cows eat grass. Grass is not edible by humans, so no useful food resources are being wasted, and beef from grass-fed cows has a better nutritional profile than from grain-fed animals<sup>[http://www.nwhealth.edu/healthyu/eatWell/grassfed.html]</sup>. Similar logic applies to other kinds of meat. | As for our growing appetite for meat: the argument is that it requires 16 kilos of grain to produce one kilo of beef, so to preserve food and avoid a food crisis, we must all become vegetarian <sup>[http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/global-food-shortage-fear/story-e6frf7l6-1111115339654]</sup>. This makes the assumption that cows must be fed grain. Cows eat grass. Grass is not edible by humans, so no useful food resources are being wasted, and beef from grass-fed cows has a better nutritional profile than from grain-fed animals<sup>[http://www.nwhealth.edu/healthyu/eatWell/grassfed.html]</sup>. Similar logic applies to other kinds of meat. | ||
Revision as of 15:10, 8 July 2010
. People are moving from farms into cities at the rate of over a million a week [1], and their appetite for meat is growing[2]. These trends means that food demand is rising, but there are fewer farmers to supply it. It would indeed seem that we are heading for a food crisis.
But this analysis misses a key point: that there are far more efficient ways to produce food than the ones now in wide use. Any food shortage is really a shortage of applying know-how to food production. In the case of soil depletion, for example, while it is true that certain farming methods deplete soil, there are other methods (like permaculture, discussed below) that rapidly and reliably increase the fertility of the soil.
As for our growing appetite for meat: the argument is that it requires 16 kilos of grain to produce one kilo of beef, so to preserve food and avoid a food crisis, we must all become vegetarian [3]. This makes the assumption that cows must be fed grain. Cows eat grass. Grass is not edible by humans, so no useful food resources are being wasted, and beef from grass-fed cows has a better nutritional profile than from grain-fed animals[4]. Similar logic applies to other kinds of meat.
Estimates of how much land is required to grow a person's food vary, but 100m2 seems a common estimate from people using organic permaculture techniques. (That means you could grow enough food for 4 people on an area the size of a basketball court.) In cities with high population densities, it would be desirable to reduce this even further.
This planet has 31,800,000km2, or 31.8 trillion m2, of fertile land . Even taking a pessimistic estimate of 400m2 farming land per person, this would grow enough food for 79.5 billion people, well over ten times the current world population. (And this does not even factor in the more efficient controlled-environment methods discussed below.)
Decentralized food production would mean a reduction in transport costs and would preserve the freshness and nutritional value of our food and eliminate the need for preservatives, energy-expensive refrigeration and food storage. Most importantly, it would create ensure wide access to food; no one would starve due to the inefficiency and injustice of the distribution of our food-resources. While this article gives suggestions on increasing food yields, we already have enough food to feed everyone on the planet [5]. The problem, unsurprisingly, is distributing it. Growing food in many small farms and greenhouses, so that no one is far from a source of food, will go a long way to solving the distribution problem.
Traditional methods of decentralized food production are rather labour-intensive. For many people, growing their own food is a very enjoyable and rewarding sort of labour that they willingly devote their energies to. Others would like the option of avoiding this labour. For those folk, it is now possible to automate food production (see below).
