Comments on: The Food Crisis: “A Perfect Storm” – and How to Turn the Tide http://permaculture.org.au/2008/11/14/the-food-crisis-a-perfect-storm-and-how-to-turn-the-tide/ Changing the world one site at a time Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:07:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Malia http://permaculture.org.au/2008/11/14/the-food-crisis-a-perfect-storm-and-how-to-turn-the-tide/comment-page-1/#comment-27882 Malia Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:49:03 +0000 http://permaculture.org.au/?p=869#comment-27882 This should be of concern to everyone. I think it is imperative, however, that we begin to reframe the debate because as long as we focus on price caps and subsidies, etc., we will fail to address real reforms in worldwide agricultural practices. Industrial scale monoculture is a problematic practice in a variety of ways, whether for the production of food or fuel. There are superior feedstocks for ethanol and econol production other than grains, byproducts from the manufacture of these fuels that are superior animal feeds, and permacultural farming practices that can produce a greater variety of food and fuel while creating soils and empowering people. The oil industry already controls agribusiness, so this industry needn't change at all to maintain control of the energy paradigm--so long as they supplant oil with the grains they already produce. Meanwhile, starvation, poverty and environmental degradation will be our ruin. This is not a question of food vs. fuel unless we continue to allow the controllers of both to make it so. Creating worldwide fertility can solve these problems, and I hope to see our efforts shift in that direction. This should be of concern to everyone. I think it is imperative, however, that we begin to reframe the debate because as long as we focus on price caps and subsidies, etc., we will fail to address real reforms in worldwide agricultural practices. Industrial scale monoculture is a problematic practice in a variety of ways, whether for the production of food or fuel. There are superior feedstocks for ethanol and econol production other than grains, byproducts from the manufacture of these fuels that are superior animal feeds, and permacultural farming practices that can produce a greater variety of food and fuel while creating soils and empowering people. The oil industry already controls agribusiness, so this industry needn’t change at all to maintain control of the energy paradigm–so long as they supplant oil with the grains they already produce. Meanwhile, starvation, poverty and environmental degradation will be our ruin. This is not a question of food vs. fuel unless we continue to allow the controllers of both to make it so. Creating worldwide fertility can solve these problems, and I hope to see our efforts shift in that direction.

]]> By: Lucario http://permaculture.org.au/2008/11/14/the-food-crisis-a-perfect-storm-and-how-to-turn-the-tide/comment-page-1/#comment-27859 Lucario Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:55:48 +0000 http://permaculture.org.au/?p=869#comment-27859 Even though I wring my hands in despair and thump the table in indignination at the deeper context that you are describing, I am still a flumoxed... I can barely offer my family sufficient nutrition from my own backyard beyond a small fraction to supplement an otherwise supermarket-dependent lifestyle. How can I immagine answers for the most primordially basic human rights and necessities for so many on the edge of existence... Beyond guilt i can immagine in my own little world when we can unplug from the convenience of slow material destruction of the mad high-consumption life... But WHY is community self-sufficiency so clearly a threat to an exploitative system? I know some of the answers, but will it take a catastrophic broadacre failure of modern acriculture and economic arrangments to convince the many 'private' players to choose alternative futures? I hope culture can shift deeply enough to change our pathways... YES. Real examples beginning with my own life is what I can do... Anyway, words powerful as they are, do not by themselves improve soil structure/ecology nor agrodiversity nor soften terms of trade... BUT the words of educated impassioned and focussed individuals (like Craig) and groups have been changing things for as long as I have been alive... and obviously good information will lead to useful knowledge and grow the power for wise policy transformation... Even though I wring my hands in despair and thump the table in indignination at the deeper context that you are describing, I am still a flumoxed… I can barely offer my family sufficient nutrition from my own backyard beyond a small fraction to supplement an otherwise supermarket-dependent lifestyle. How can I immagine answers for the most primordially basic human rights and necessities for so many on the edge of existence… Beyond guilt i can immagine in my own little world when we can unplug from the convenience of slow material destruction of the mad high-consumption life…

But WHY is community self-sufficiency so clearly a threat to an exploitative system? I know some of the answers, but will it take a catastrophic broadacre failure of modern acriculture and economic arrangments to convince the many ‘private’ players to choose alternative futures? I hope culture can shift deeply enough to change our pathways… YES. Real examples beginning with my own life is what I can do… Anyway, words powerful as they are, do not by themselves improve soil structure/ecology nor agrodiversity nor soften terms of trade…

BUT the words of educated impassioned and focussed individuals (like Craig) and groups have been changing things for as long as I have been alive… and obviously good information will lead to useful knowledge and grow the power for wise policy transformation…

]]> By: Sue http://permaculture.org.au/2008/11/14/the-food-crisis-a-perfect-storm-and-how-to-turn-the-tide/comment-page-1/#comment-27825 Sue Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:08:42 +0000 http://permaculture.org.au/?p=869#comment-27825 Thanks for submitting this Craig. It's a great article and the videos are very informative. Thanks for submitting this Craig. It’s a great article and the videos are very informative.

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