February 19th, 2008 by admin
The present world population of about 6.6 billion is expected to rise to about 9 billion by 2050 which would imply that food production would need to rise by about 50%. But Professor Robert Thomson told this year’s Sentry Conference that a tripling of food output would be needed.
This is because as people become more wealthy their demand for more and better food shoots up. Professor Thompson explained that much of the interior of China has been left behind as the coastal regions have grown wealthier and that more than one third of China’s population still lives on less than $2 a day. He said that as the majority of people in developing countries grew out of poverty and passed the $2 a day mark, they would make significant demands on the world’s food economy.
We at Peakfood have previously said that this - when combined with the many threats to food production - will cause famine if urgent changes are not made.
Posted in The East Moving up the Food Chain | 1 Comment »
February 11th, 2008 by admin
Slowly, people are realising that some biofuel crops can increase carbon emissions and reduce food production. It is so important that only crops with a good energy balance are grown, but government targets and incentives for the inclusion of biofuels do not set any standards for the type of crop or demand any kind of energy audit.
In a new study, Joseph Fargione of the American Nature Conservancy points out that clearing forests, grass and peatlands to make way for biofuel crops like corn and soybeans causes the carbon stored in the soil to escape to the atmosphere. He says that the conversion of peatlands to palm oil plantations in Indonesia has caused the greatest losses, and the conversion of land in Brazil for soy production was also very damaging.
Fargione says, “You release about 280 tons of carbon to the atmosphere for every hectare you convert, and that is compared to the saving you get when you use biodiesel, which is about 0.9 tons of CO2 for every year. So you would take 319 years just to get back to where you started by using biodiesel grown on that land.”
Posted in Loss of Crop Land | 1 Comment »
Water shortages are adversely effecting food production in many parts of the world, and are going to get much worse. Two examples have been reported on this week. In Fortune magazine, Daniel Pepper reports from India about falling water levels due to over extraction.
Ground water has been depleted to such an extent that it is devastating the country. A soil and water expert estimates that the energy used to subsidize rice production in the Punjab region costs $381 million a year. He and other experts warn warns that, if unchecked, future drilling will bleed state budgets, parch aquifers, and run farmers out of business.
Meanwhile, Reuters says that the Saudi government has decided to stop all subsidies to agriculture, and aims to rely entirely on imports by 2016.
This is due to fossil aquifers becoming depleted due to the previous policy of self sufficiency when grain was produced regardless of cost. Massive circles of green apeared in the desert as centre pivot irrigation systems were installed. These systems consist of a massive gantry carrying pipes and watering jets that go slowly round in a circle, the pump and well being in the centre.
Saudi became a major food exporter but will now instead become a major importer. As other countries are also changing from exporters to importers, and as big producers such as the US use more grain for biofuel, severe shortages are bound to happen as other threats to food production mentioned in other posts, come in to play.
