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Its All About the Food
A local farmer came and did a deeply chopping “pre-till” of the garden area (he already did one pass, and today he did another). We're expanding yet again, lots more veggies, annual herbs, and even some grains going out this year. Shayla is even doing a few plants!
Of course he came while I was out on my walk and Natasha was the one who spoke to him. He's supposed to return in a few days and finish tilling the garden, and we're all chomping at the bit to get our spring seedlings out there. They'll start dying just from being so root-bound in their pots if don't get them in some beds soon! (The reason for the delay is the wet soil– it needs to dry out a bit before it can be ground up as fine as we'd like.)
I'm reminded of why we're doing this by articles like this one:
www.peakprosperity.com/blog/85449/rising-resource-costs-escalate-odds-global-unrest
Its worth a full read, but essentially it draws conclusions about what causes people to riot and revolt, and the answer is simple: When food prices go to 40% of income, people start to starve and they have little to lose by getting violent and threatening to overthrow their government. It was true of the French Revolution for example. People will put up with a lot, by contrast, if they simply have enough to eat. (The massive exception seems to be North Korea.)
“Food prices are high by historical standards and this is one of the key flashpoints for so many of the recently afflicted countries. The reason energy prices and food prices are so tightly coupled is because there are anywhere from 10 to 20 energy calories embedded in each 1 food calorie.
It seems quite likely that food prices will only continue to rise from here for a number of reasons, high oil prices being just one. There’s also increasingly chaotic weather impinging on harvests, which seem to be a part of our new normal. Already driving the price of food is a fair degree of speculation on the possibility of the emergence of El Nino in the Pacific later this year (2014); previous similar weather patterns have proven to be especially damaging to global grain harvests.
Droughts, as well, have been particularly vexing to several regions of the world, including the US.“
10 to 20 fossil fuel calories to produce every 1 food calorie. When gas prices go up– food prices do as well and that hurts. Also, high fuel prices means more alternative fuels like ethanol are made from corn that would otherwise be used to feed people and keep prices lower.
The weather is getting increasingly chaotic and it IS affecting food prices as well. Floods, droughts, late frosts, storms… all contributing to massive crop losses and higher prices.
“An additional factor in my prediction for rising food prices stems from the gross over-withdrawal of water from aquifers that has been ongoing for decades.
Some of those countries are not yet in revolt, but are on a very dangerous path that may well take them there. India is badly over-pumping its main aquifers and is hugely dependent on the food that comes from those efforts.
Saudi Arabia’s main aquifer is slated to run out as early as 2016. Because it has abundant energy resources Saudi Arabia will be able to turn to desalination plants, but for how long and at what costs to their ability to export oil as that same oil is being used to power those plants?
It takes up to 1,000 tons of water to grow one ton of wheat. Therefore, when China imports grains, like corn, soybeans and wheat, it is actually importing water, something it increasingly needs to do because of aquifer depletion and surface water pollution. “
Living in an area famous for its rainfall is not such a bad thing when you look at it from this perspective…!
The United States is one of the nations grossly over-pumping its aquifers. The entire Midwest and Southwest are going to be without well water by the end of this century (assuming there's enough energy/money to pump it down to nothing that long.) Farmers will go back to relying upon rain and praying a lot. There will be water wars like in the days of the Old West (in fact, that's a factor in my short story submission.)
Its definitely something to think about when circumstances allow for a move. Moving out of a rain-area into an arid region may be foolish, but going the other way may be the smartest thing you ever do. This is all happening NOW- its not a theoretical “someday” you have to hem and haw about. Its ON.
So we're learning gardening now to stretch our budget while food is still cheap enough that we won't suffer if things go wrong (and they do sometimes!) Its not really price-savvy sometimes (although health-wise and taste-wise its always worth it!) because grocery store food is still mostly cheaper. However, prices ARE going up and its getting more and more budget worthy to garden. Certain foods are becoming altogether too luxurious (fresh produce, salsas, sauces, wines, juices) and we really do stretch our food dollars by growing and preserving our own stuff.
I think high food prices is why more and more people, faced with declining job prospects, will be going into farming– especially organic farming. The decades-long (even centuries-long) trend of farms and farmers going away is reversing itself and has been steadily since 2008. Its easy to see why.
Source: http://lucretiasheart.livejournal.com/1038736.html
