Unfortunatly, there are many other threats to food production coming at just the same time as energy uncertainty:
Climate change is already causing crop losses due to droughts, floods and other weather extremes.Â
There is loss of farmland due to desertification, erosion, urban and industrial sprawl, and road building.
Fisheries are collapsing. Wild fish is the only major food source that has no human or fuel input up to the time of harvest. Overfishing is causing fish stocks to collapse so that the per capita supply of fish is expected to decline rapidly.
There are water shortages. Agriculture is having to compete with cities and industry for water at a time when aquifers are being depleted and river flows declining in many areas.
Each year massive areas of land are being turned over to produce crops for biofuels such as biodiesel from oilseeds and ethenol from maize and sugar cane . The way this is being done will reduce food supply.
The concept of peakfood should put things into perspective for those of us in the West. Instead of worrying about where we are going on holiday next year or what colour to paint the kitchen, we should be seriously thinking about if our children will have enough food in the very near future.
My book, Famine in the West, goes into more detail on this and outlines solutions.
