Role of Agriculture in Global Warming
Peak Food author John Gossop this week had this article printed on pages 28 and 29 of the Farmers Weekly under the topic of the week section. Dated 8th January 2010, the article was entitled ‘Agriculture has a key role in taking heat out of global warming debate’. The issues raised were then then debated on the Farmers Weekly Forum.
The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time slow the depletion of finite oil and gas reserves has massive implications for the future of farming, which has become nothing more than a system of converting cheap, plentiful calories into a much smaller amount of expensive food calories. As oil and gas supplies are finite, and their production is expected to peak soon and then decline, our present farming system must be regarded as temporary.
As the world moves to collecting and using more of the abundant solar energy that reaches us every day, the most important method will be to use plants to collect solar energy to synthesise simple carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water – in other words agriculture. But to feed the nine billion people predicted by 2050 with fewer fossil inputs, we will need to grow more of our input energy, fix more of our nitrogen and recycle more nutrients. It will be a massive challenge, but agriculture will surely become the most important industry in the world.
John Gossop speaks on Vegetarianism
Following headlines in the national news about Sir Paul McCartney’s call for everyone to eat let meat, John Gossop, author of Peak Food, spoke on Andy Comfort’s Morning Show on Radio Humberside. John answered questions alongside Annette Pinner, Chief Executive of the Vegitarian Society.
John Gossop Radio Humberside
Click below to listen to the interview. It is in two parts and not all is included due to download limitations.
radio-humberside-4th-dec-09-part-1
John Gossop speaking on Radio Humberside part 2
Soil and Peak Food.
In David R. Montgomery’s brilliant book,”Dirt, The Erosion of Civilizations”, he explains the effect of poor soil management on past civilizations and the likely effect on our own. Excerpts from the last page should be read by anyone worried about our future:
“As much as climare change, the demand for food will be a major driver of global environmental change throughout the coming decades. Over the past century, the effects of long-term soil erosion were masked by bringing new land under cultivation and developing fertilizers, pesticides, and crop verieties that compensate for declining soil productivity. Coupled with the inevitable end of fossil-fuel-derived fertilisers, the ongoing loss of cropland and soil poses the problem of feeding a growing population from a shrinking land base. Whereas the effects of soil erosion can be temporarily offset with fertilizers and in some cases irrigation, the long-term productivity of the land cannot be maintained in the face of reduced soil organic matter, depleted soil biota, and thinning soil that so far have characterized industrial agriculture.
“Many factors may contribute to ending a civilization, but an adequate supply of fertile soil is necessary to sustain one. Using up the soil and moving on to new land will not be a viable option for future generations. As odd as it may sound, civilization’s survival depends on treating soil as an investment, as a valuable inheritance rather than a commodity – as something other than dirt.”
All talk and little action on Climate Change.
Our government and most governments in the world are on 4-5 year contracts and are scared stiff of losing their jobs with all the perks and gold plated pensions.
This must be the reason that despite them being well aware of the disaster we face if we continue emitting greenhouse gasses and depleting the worlds resources at ever increasing rates, action is painfully slow and crucial years go by without the international agreements needed. In fact the world’s leaders are desperate to get back to fossil fueled economic growth as quickly as possible without considering policies that would greatly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels but might not increase living standards. They may be right, the public are not yet convinced that there is a problem worth making sacrifices for. We need to convince them.
This week the government climate change committee reported that if aviation growth is not slowed, the rest of us will need to reduce GHG emissions by 90% by 2050 instead of the 80% that was the previous target. A spokesman said on channel 4 news that a levy on air travel could be introduced to slow growth. When the presenter suggested this would be unpopular, he quickly said the levy would not be draconian, maybe £4-£10 on short haul and £20 transatlantic.
If the government thinks that would cause a significant reduction in aviation emission, they really are in denial. Draconian is what we need.
DEFRA U-Turn on Food Security
The present government has up until now taken the view that Britain is a trading nation that is best at producing high tech goods and providing financial services such as banking and insurance. Food should be imported from the cheapest areas while our farmers act as glorified wildlife custodians.
But in documents recently released, DEFRA acknowledges that food security can no longer be taken for granted and pressure on natural resources across the globe is making markets more volatile. Hilary Benn has been on TV and in the press saying that UK farmers should produce a bigger proportion of our food.
The papers state that the UN predicts the world will have to produce 70% more food by 2050, and as we have often pointed out, this needs to be done at a time when we will be short of land, water, oil and fertiliser. We will also have severe climatic disruption due to climate change.
We recieved a letter from Mr Benn over a year ago saying that he found the points raised in our book “Famine in the West” interesting and that he would be passing a copy to Defra policy officials for them to read.
Buy Famine in the West Printed Book £6.49 +pp
Buy Famine in the West Ebook £2.99
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