Thinking about Food...

[helwen]

Rice Rustlers in Thailand

Food Riots and Shortages Around the World, Affecting Middle-Class in Some Places, Not Only the Poor

Sharon Astyk wrote on this stuff today, plus a hilarious April 1 post on Buying Green.

Some farmers are looking at turning more the Midwests' open plains and prairies into cropland -- nevermind that the plains and prairie aren't really suited to growing crops (I hope everyone reading this knows that not all soil is the same, some are richer than others, etc.).

Currently some of the land is used, not for crops but as a buffer between the cropland and environmentally fragile areas, helping to catch/filter the chemical runoff. Hm, combine this with a really good drought and.... anyone heard of the Dust Bowl?

Ah well. Hopefully there will be more rain in the west/south this year, and not just for the grain farmers. All the folks down there could use more water.

Comments

[bunnyjadwiga.livejournal.com]

I don't understand our economy or the business world.

Agricultural product prices are rising. The housing market is crashing. And yet business continues to turn cropland into housing developments at an ever-increasing rate.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

We're trying our best to slow down housing new-builds in our area, but it all depends on each owner. The state has programs that can help farmers keep their farms, but then, you have to want to still be a farmer... Some folks are creative in their 'farming' though, I have to say. Our neighbor down the road has a golf course, as well as doing some sugaring and haying. In fact he had to expand the course in the past few years in order to stay competitive (full 18 instead of 9 twice). Worked out a deal where some roadside property got sold, but other parts he was able to do some sort of forestry/conservation thing with it, to keep it from being built on. Meanwhile, while it isn't farming, the golf course keeps the buildings away too. It's a pretty wild place for a course, with lots of slopes in all directions :)

But in general? Have no idea how these things work. I think some people just believe X problem won't happen in their part of the world...

[mjcan.livejournal.com]

the prarie grass holds down the soil and survives the climate, from rain to fires. it is strong enoughto withstnd the grazing of prarie animals and has the biodiversity to sustain the other habitats of the prarie, it provides the animals with the habitat they need and keeps the soil nutrients appropriate.

crops do not withstand the natural climate, need to be watered, fertilized and the "varments like mice and insects are not welcome.

man feels he can take anything he wants and will not share.

the story of cane and able may actually be about the change from a hunter gather (sharing the fruits of the land) society to an agricultural society (mine mine mine) which dominates. this would have happened in the "middle east thousands of years ago.

the hunter gathers lived in harmony with nature, (primative society which modern societies look down upon andtry to change, the american indians, aborigional people of australia, the rain forest peoples) the agricultural society lost that bond and thus were not a blalnced society and needed to look to god to find balance. each generation falls short so the next generation trys to address the needs differently and so modern man is lost. the hunter gather people have that bond and thus do not need modern religion to find the purpose in lio find the higher power, theynever lost it.

the book ISHMEL was one i read this summer. i thought it was going to be stupid when i first read it, and some of it was a bit far fetched, but the phylosophy and ideas were wonderful. interesting way to look at things, did not preach or put any one down just presented ideas and different ways of seeing things