Food prices set to rise BBC news

[stuart f]

Hi folks i though this was interesting
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13538304

And could this be the start of desertification http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertification here in the uk ,as looking at the news story it was interesting too note how the top soil was blowing away when the farmer was handling the dried out soil.

Hmm food for though me thinks.
Cheers Stuart.

 

[santaman2000]

Seasonal or periodic climate anomalies (drought, flooding, etc.) cause the need for globalization. Rarely do the anomalies affect globally so while the UK experiences drought, Eastern Europe can produce excess wheat or reverse the example in a few years for example. The irony being that globalization is believed to be one of the causes of the anomalies.

 

[locum76]

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/02/18/world.food.prices.wheat/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_food

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33268

A little bit of drought in middle England is just a blip and globalisation wont help. Learn to grow your own.

 

[Toddy]

......and meanwhile I've got three overflowing ponds and two inches of water on the lawn
The burn is roaring down beside the back path and the river is full and heavy.
The woodlands are dripping wet, and it's raining, again.

Camelot it ain't

M

 

[santaman2000]

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/02/18/world.food.prices.wheat/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_food

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33268

A little bit of drought in middle England is just a blip and globalisation wont help. Learn to grow your own.

Hopefully it's only a "bit" of drought. But on a worldwide scale sometimes a drought lasts for years or even decades. Especially with climate change. That's what my point was; the unpredictability and inter-relationship between cause and effect.

 

[Toddy]

Generally the UK is okay for water. The east coast suffers a bit, but the west is sodden with the hills catching the rain filled winds from the Atlantic. It's a maritime climate and it's because we really do live on an islands.
A temperature rise of 2degC would bring Scotland's temperature up to the level that was prevalent during the late Bronze /Iron ages. Lands that are now sub marginal and only used for Summer grazing were productive arable lands then. They might well be again
Swings and roundabouts, the world keeps turning and we just have to make do with what we're given.

When the American plains became a dustbowl, the 'plain folk', the Amish and the like, didn't suffer nearly so badly. They farm small, and they build fences. They use real horsepower, that adds it's own fertiliser and humous to the soil. These were crucial in their survival.
Farming is a very wide ranging set of possibilities

cheers,
Toddy

p.s.
http://www.orionmagazine.org.indes.php/articles/article/343/

 

[sandbender]

This article from the US publication 'Foreign Policy' casts some light on the role the markets have in producing unnecessary rises in food costs. Its a long piece at 2000 odd words, but worth reading.

Article here.

 

[locum76]

There's no doubt that prospecting pushes food prices up as it does with any other commodity. There is the the small issue of supply and demand though.

 

[lub0]

Farming went to crap when they started taking the shortcut of chemicals.
Any shortcut will always cause a problem sooner or later.
There is no topsoil anymore, and the soil that is there is pure evil.

The reason I got an allotmont is becuase the veggies sold in the shops are tasteless and full of "cides" (pestiCIDE, fungaCIDE, ad infinitum) that wreck havok on the bodies numerous sub-systems, which all contribute to "mysterious" fatigue, crap mental performance and eventually manifesting in any of the inumberable diseases.

 

[santaman2000]

Farming went to crap when they started taking the shortcut of chemicals.
Any shortcut will always cause a problem sooner or later.
There is no topsoil anymore, and the soil that is there is pure evil.

The reason I got an allotmont is becuase the veggies sold in the shops are tasteless and full of "cides" (pestiCIDE, fungaCIDE, ad infinitum) that wreck havok on the bodies numerous sub-systems, which all contribute to "mysterious" fatigue, crap mental performance and eventually manifesting in any of the inumberable diseases.

The chemicals you mention are definitely one of the reasons for the loss in taste of modern vegetables. You can add another reason as well; modern vegetables are breeds (varieties) that were developed for abundant yield, durability in transport and cheap production. Notice what was missing? Taste. It's just not a profitable commodity.

That's another benefit of growing your own; you can grow the older heirloom varieties and get much better taste as well as the satisfaction.

 

[santaman2000]

...When the American plains became a dustbowl, the 'plain folk', the Amish and the like, didn't suffer nearly so badly. They farm small, and they build fences. They use real horsepower, that adds it's own fertiliser and humous to the soil. These were crucial in their survival...

cheers,
Toddy...

When the "Dust Bowl" occurred it wiped out ALL farmers in the Great Plains. The whole thing occurred because the plains weren't suitable to being farmed at all. At least not with the technology of the day. Ploughing centuries old grassland (without irrigation) left the topsoil vulnerable whether done on a large scale or a small scale.

The Amish survived because they were concentrated in Pennsylvania and Ohio (far from the Great Plains and the Dust Bowl)

 

[torc]

This article from the US publication 'Foreign Policy' casts some light on the role the markets have in producing unnecessary rises in food costs. Its a long piece at 2000 odd words, but worth reading.

Article here.

You beat me to it.
This also makes grim reading, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/25/the_new_geopolitics_of_food

Happy trails...torc.

 

[Toddy]

The dustbowl soil blew across farms right across the country, it even reached Washington. Where the Plain folks farmed, their fences caught the soils. Their farming practices didn't destroy their topsoil structure. They added moisture retaining organic matter to the soil. They didn't use tractors and other heavy machinery which wrecked the soil stability, they used horses, which add their own manure to the entire process.
Incidentally the Amish, Menonite and others are quite happy being pioneer farmers, they had, and have farms right across the USA.
Like the rest they suffered, but their practices were used as models for those who later successfully farmed those acres of 'dustbowl'.

The plains were deep rooted grasslands, and those roots held the soil together when the weather and climate both turned hot and dry.

Temperature change as the climate fluctuates is a natural part of the cycle. Whether humanity chooses to be reactive enough, quickly enough, is another matter.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[locum76]

I think the major contributing factor to the lack of taste in vegetables is simply that by the time they are in the supermarkets, they are not very fresh.

 

[Toddy]

I miss the smell of veggies too. It used to be that you could smell mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, onions, neeps, apples, oranges.....now they just smell of supermarket

M

 

[sandbender]

"...This also makes grim reading, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/25/the_new_geopolitics_of_food..."

Thanks for that.

I miss the smell of veggies too. It used to be that you could smell mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, onions, neeps, apples, oranges.....now they just smell of supermarket

I buy my lumpy, misshapen and dirty veg at the local market, usually from short well wrapped grandmothers. The veg here does taste better, on those few occasions I return to the UK the difference is obvious. If you have a little land, grow something! Even if it is only a row of turnips! You may appreciate the practice in times to come.

www.chew.hu

 

[locum76]

That is exactly what farmers markets should be like in Scotland. You would not believe the amount of high ranking officials I have challenged on this. Thankfully Richard Lochhead and some folk from the SAC are taking note.

I've toyed with the idea of starting one myself but there isn't enough producers..... yet.

 

[Toddy]

Sandbender, that just looks like good food

I'm hungry now.

Good on you Rob
I try to buy local and I can tell the difference.
My own garden is so shaded with trees that it's hard to grow more than herbs and fruit bushes. The older houses round here have huge gardens though and the older folks in them are happy for the more able bodied to use their vegetable plots

cheers,
M

 

[Tony]

Shelly's out working hard on the veg plot, she's out there now in the rain with the kids planting more cabbages and Cauliflowers......

 

[g.harper]

Tell you what; i can’t wait to get a house with a bit of garden to turn over. At the moment i have a little tiny balcony full of fruit and veg. All coming along very nice. Infract we should be able to have a few courgettes in the next couple of weeks.