Our Coming Food Crisis

The following article from yesterday's NY Times on "Our Coming Food Crisis" by a prominent scientist is important reading. Temperatures up to 130 degrees are now happening here in California. We are in a new reality. It is important for more people to learn how to garden and farm, as well as to understand the importance of water. These are basic survival issues.

As the following article says, "roughly 40% of the net farm income for the country normally comes from the 17 Western states." This summer has been my worst year in 20 years of farming. It started strong. Then we had a big out-of-season rain, following by 100 degree weather. So first my fruit got spoiled, then fried. As it gets hotter up here, more pests will arrive, which means more pesticides, which means more asthma, cancer, and other health problems. A cascade of problems will follow, especially with respect to health care.

We need many changes in policy and in farm practices. As this article suggests, we need more perennials, which my crops are. But most of all, we need more farmers, especially younger people. When I left full-time college teaching 20 years ago to farm, many colleagues were critical. It was already clear to me back then that we will not be able to feed the growing population with the industrial ag practices, which seek more consumers. Note that the new Farm Bill is striking down food stamps. What happened to compassion?

Agri-culture is the basis of culture. You are what you eat. Colleges need to have more courses on ag. and issues such as climate change, if more humans and other species are to survive on this one, holy Earth. Our North Bay can become even more of a leader on these issues. It is time to stop cutting down apple orchards, especially near schools, and dairy farms and replacing them with vineyards. We need a massive change in consciousness about what is really important. There is a larger spiritual issue here.
Shepherd Bliss, Kokopelli Farm

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July 21, 2013
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Our Coming Food Crisis
By GARY PAUL NABHAN

TUCSON, Ariz. — THIS summer the tiny town of Furnace Creek, Calif., may once again grace the nation’s front pages. Situated in Death Valley, it last made news in 1913, when it set the record for the world’s hottest recorded temperature, at 134 degrees. With the heat wave currently blanketing the Western states, and given that the mercury there has already reached 130 degrees, the news media is awash in speculation that Furnace Creek could soon break its own mark.

Such speculation, though, misses the real concern posed by the heat wave, which covers an area larger than New England. The problem isn’t spiking temperatures, but a new reality in which long stretches of triple-digit days are common — threatening not only the lives of the millions of people who live there, but also a cornerstone of the American food supply.

People living outside the region seldom recognize its immense contribution to American agriculture: roughly 40 percent of the net farm income for the country normally comes from the 17 Western states; cattle and sheep production make up a significant part of that, as do salad greens, dry beans, onions, melons, hops, barley, wheat and citrus fruits. The current heat wave will undeniably diminish both the quality and quantity of these foods.

The most vulnerable crops are those that were already in flower and fruit when temperatures surged, ...

Continues here.

I've been rereading Silent Spring, expecting much of it to be outdated. Surprisingly, her warnings and suggestions are as relevant today as they were then. At times she calls attention to still distant dangers that have since arrived with a vengeance. The longer our imperial 'leaders' delay the more prophetic Rachel Carson becomes.

Shepherd,

Have you been over to Singing Frogs Farm for one of Paul Kaiser's tours? He's growing lots more food, using much less water, creating and preserving habitat for bees, birds and other critters, plus adding organic matter to the soil at a rate Rodale and other organic researchers haven't been able to approach.

I think replicating his methods across the land is essential. Consider that 14% of greenhouse gases are produced by agriculture. Of that 87% is actually gases being released as the soil is turned over. We can eliminate 12% of greenhouse gas emissions just by doing what he does. While the Agriculture Department recognizes that tilling is a catastrophe for soil, most of what is called "no till" agriculture out there in factory farm world uses lots of herbicides.

Singing Frogs doesn't even use the sprays approved for use on Certified Organic farms, which is why Paul received an award for bee protection. And being on his 8 acre farm is like visiting paradise. Even organic gardens planted on rototilled earth look wrong after seeing his crops. Nature is invited as a participant, or should I say he accepts Nature's invitation to collaborate.

If you haven't already been out there, I suggest putting him on your social calendar.

Blessings,
Sandy

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Posted in reply to the post by Shepherd:

...We need many changes in policy and in farm practices. ...

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Posted in reply to the post by ronliskey:

The longer our imperial 'leaders' delay the more prophetic Rachel Carson becomes.

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when we rely on the emperor to solve our problems, we're SOL. With a few exceptions history shows bad outcomes for those who needed top-down solutions, designed and implemented by insightful and virtuous leaders. That's just not how things work.

Unfortunately, history is full of examples where things go pretty much to hell for a big part of the population, too...