8 Ways to Fix the Global Food Crisis

GLobal Food Crisis Resource Center

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The Global Food Crisis is a manipulation of international import, export, and production policies enacted by the UN, World Bank and CFR. View a vast archive of reports, articles, videos and more at The Luce Report.

We have the largest single archive of Food Crisis news and resources available online at http://lucereport.com/Pages/Food%20Crisis.html

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Higher Yields With LESS Petrolium

While there are many useful suggestions here, I am concerned about approaches that increase dependence on fossil-based fuels, fertilizers, and pesticides. A statement like "History repeatedly has shown that better farming techniques can help alleviate shortages," is misleading. The amount of energy used to produce food the modern way is enormous. Our metric of "yield per acre" pressures the use of increasing farm inputs, but the inputs aren't considered in the "per acre" part of the formula. And we destroy natural habitat and fertility in the process.

We can clear rain forests and use artificial fertilizers and pesticides to obtain high yields, or we can use sustainable agroforestry methods and maintain our remaining forest ecosystms.

A permanent form of agriculture, called permaculture, is a design method which imitates nature to rapidly improve soil, efficiently use water resources, and produce multiple yields, even in extreme conditions. Look up what Geoff Lawton has done in Jordan in “Greening the Desert," or what Roxanne Swentzell and Joel Glanzberg have done at Flowering Tree in New Mexico.

Also, look at the way that Cuba adapted to losing her oil imports when the Soviet Union collapsed in the 90's. See how permaculture transformed rooftops, balconies, yards, gardens, and farms in "The Power of Community." These are the kinds of changes needed to stabilize food production for all of us. We don't need more oil based inputs.

Susan is right

According to the latest FAO report "Crop Prospects and Food Situation", 100 million tons of grain are being diverted to make biofuel this year, but over seven times as much (754 million tons) will be used to feed animals to produce meat. Depending on the type of animal, it takes up to, and sometimes more than, 10 plant calories to deliver 1 meat calorie. Meat consumption is therefore by far the biggest waste of grain globally.

Possible ways of future nutrition without livestock are presented at http://www.futurefood.org

HOW TO FIX GLOBAL FOOD INSECURITY

M DUMSANI NHENGETHWA FROM SOUTH AFRICA (KZN)DOING MY STUDIES IN COMMUNITY EXTENSION I THINK THE MAIN SOLUTION IN THIS WORLD FOOD INSUCURITY IS TO REVITALISING AGRICULTURE ,TO EMPLOY YOUNG PEOPLE IN DIFFERENT FIELD OF AGRICULTURE BY THAT WEWILL CREATE THE LOVE OF AGRICULTURE STUDIES IN YOUNG PEOPLE SO LET US JOIN OUR HANDS AND WE CAN MAKE IT BECAUSE IN 20 YEARS OF TIME COMING WE WILL STARVE LIKE DOGS THNK YOU

Reduce Meat and Dairy to address food crisis

Eating animal products is a much bigger threat to global security, including the food crisis. I grew up loving meat and dairy, and my parents run a large cattle ranch. However a) we eat more meat than others in the world (200 lbs per person vs 100 lbs in China) b) the UN FAO's "Crop Prospects and Food Situation" dated April says only 5% (100 mil tons) of GRAIN was used for biofuel, 54% (1006 mil tons) for people and 41% (760 mil tons) for animals. The US Dept of Agriculture states only 16% (38 mil tons) of global SOY crops were used for oil (including biofuels), another 16% (37 mil tons) for humans/other, and 68% (160 mil tons) for animals. These are all numbers for 2007/08; c) the Scripps institute and Lawrence Livermore labs are predicting that Lake Mead and Lake Powell (two largest man-made lakes in the US) will be dry by 2021. My parents' ranch is on the Green River which feeds into these lakes via the Colorado, and they tell me that they need to use up to 12 times their allotted water rights to grow the hay necessary to feed their cattle. My father and brother have literally discussed the idea that ranchers in their region might arm themselves to protect their right to access water (I'm not making this up). Many argue that Darfur is essentially a water war between herdsman and farmers in the face of the encroaching Sahara Desert due to climate change. "Saving water from Field to Fork" (Stockholm International Water Institute 2008) states 70% of water is used by agriculture, and a UC-Davis prepared report "Water inputs in California Food Production" shows that one serving of beef uses 1232 gallons of water, one serving of chicken uses 330 gallons of water, but one entire vegan meal (tofu, brown rice and two veg) uses only 98 gallons of water; d) the UN Food and Agriculture Organization issued "Livestock's Long Shadow" demonstrating that animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of global warming -- More than emissions from all the transportation in the world combined. Eating animal products (meat and dairy) is a significant factor in 1) global hunger 2) droughts (and water is expected to be the "new oil" of the 21st century) and 3) climate change. I know we like the taste. I know many consider it a choice. We once viewed smoking cigarettes as a choice, until we realized the right to health of second-hand smokers was greater. Now we need to make a choice. Who do we want to be? We can continue eating meat and dairy and say "yeah, well, I know its the right thing to do to stop eating meat and diary, but I just like it so much!" or we can say "I'm going vegan for the good of the planet, for the good of the hungry, and to help ensure people are fed and have adequate water the world over.” We can go either way. Personally, I have made the choice to go vegan. It is costing me my 50% share of a US$20 million cattle ranch because I no longer stand to inherit it. But that is a choice I'm willing to make. What about you?

different biofuels

Like Kent of NV said, the United States doesn't have enough land to sustain corn-based ethanol production. Some of you may already know, but because of the lack of arable land in the United States, President Bush is creating ties with President Lula (from Brazil) to produce sugar-cane based ethanol. Sugar-cane ethanol uses less land and resources to produce more. Look up Omestad, Thomas. "The View From Brazil: Biofuels Are Not a Problem; The food-vs.-fuel debate rings hollow since Brazilians say they have the capacity to produce both." U.S. News & World Report. (June 3, 2008) for more information.

BioFuel Limitations

I did a quick check on our corn and feed production stats in the U.S. I arrived at one conclusion: ethanol is not the answer. We don't have enough land to support biofuel production. For example, it takes about 11 acres of corn to supply enough ethanol for 1 vehicle per year. We have 240 million registered vehicles in the U.S. that require 2.5 billion acres of corn to be supplied. The acreage of the U.S. is slightly less than that at about 2.4 billion acres. Our farmers presently utilize 93 million acres to supply our corn consumption which is a drop in the bucket. We also need to factor in weather which can devastate corn crops as witnessed already in the mid-West this year. These limitations are in addition to the negative impact biofulels have on our food chain from redirecting food to to fuel ideas that are highly touted today. Congress needs to rethink the mandates for ethanol coming out of EPA and Department of Energy. My Senators are already questioning this mandate and seeking a change to it. I fully support this counter-movement.

Global Food Crisis

World hunger has been around for a very long time. We feel the crunch of our despair, our inability to sort out problems and develop solutions in this technological 21st century environment. We are amazed at the failure of our institutions and governments; our best minds are seemingly helpless in offering real solutions. What is wrong?

Perhaps we are looking in the wrong places. We look outside of ourselves to identify and solve pressing human problems. We never succeed. What is the cause of all this unhappiness and strife?

One thing that all the world's problems have in common is our egoism. We live our lives steeped in it and rarely, if ever, look to be in accord with nature. Humanity strains to be in conflict with natural law; the law of altruism. We can only change these ever-increasing global conditions by exiting our current operating system of egoism, and embracing selfless love or altruism.

Read more on this topic at http://www.kabtoday.com/epaper_eng/content/view/epaper/7771/(page)/1/(article)/7773