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Piedro
Tar Sands
Joined: Jul 16, 2007
Posts: 59
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 Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 6:47 am Post subject: Organic Farming can Feed the World |
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From Resurgence Magazine: link
FEED THE WORLD Why organic farming must replace industrial agriculture.
OVER THE PAST year, much attention has been focused on encouraging the governments of the G8 nations to 'Make Poverty History' by ensuring fairer trade, increasing aid and cancelling debt. While the aims are clearly laudable, insufficient attention is being given to what form the aid should take and what model of economic and agricultural development countries in Africa should pursue.
A fairer and more equal distribution of resources will not be enough if we do not fundamentally rethink the way we farm, in richer and poorer countries alike. The culture that has given us industrial agriculture is changing climate globally and destabilising even the little that remains of the biosphere's natural ecosystems. If this trend is not checked, the likelihood of the re-emergence of sustainable agriculture that can continuously feed the world will be drastically reduced.
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killJOY
Fission
Joined: Feb 21, 2005
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Location: ^NNE^
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 8:13 am Post subject: Re: Organic Farming can Feed the World |
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The whole reason the industrial model of agriculture arose is BECAUSE ORGANIC FARMING DIDN'T WORK to feed the burgeoning population.
I farm organically because I want to, because it's cheaper and I'm reliant on my own sweat instead of fossils fuels for most of the work.
I have no illusions that my method can be scaled up to "feed the world."
In fact, I don't even care about feeding the world, only feeding myself.
Organic farming for me is a matter of survival, not sustainability.
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MadScientist
Heavy Crude
Joined: May 19, 2004
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 8:59 am Post subject: Re: Organic Farming can Feed the World |
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thats a lot of crap
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Quinny
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Jul 03, 2008
Posts: 608
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 9:05 am Post subject: Re: Organic Farming can Feed the World |
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vtsnowedin
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Jul 11, 2008
Posts: 632
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 9:12 am Post subject: Re: Organic Farming can Feed the World |
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 Organic farming can feed the world. The insect world that is. Every bug will have a full belly and we will scratch by on what they don't eat. |
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MadScientist
Heavy Crude
Joined: May 19, 2004
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 9:15 am Post subject: Re: Organic Farming can Feed the World |
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the idea that feeding the world organically would do anything but accelerate our crash course with overshoot/collapse.
AND
the amount of crap it would take to organically feed 6.7 billion people.
Now if this thread was entitled, "Organic farming can feed you and your tribe", I'd be impressed.
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pedalling_faster
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Dec 10, 2005
Posts: 946
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 10:47 am Post subject: Re: Organic Farming can Feed the World |
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| killJOY wrote: | | The whole reason the industrial model of agriculture arose is BECAUSE ORGANIC FARMING DIDN'T WORK to feed the burgeoning population. |
i think it's more like people got seduced away from it by what became American or Western culture. so i drive a car 1 or 3 miles 3 days a week to go swimming. i could walk.
one of the main reasons the carrying capacity of the planet is limited is because we're polluting the F*CK out of it.
how many people could live on the planet if we all lived like the American Indians (using all the parts of the buffalo, limiting possessions to what you could carry on your back)
does not equal
how many people could live on the planet when (for example) the surfing industry's answer to the use of TDI (i = isocyanate, a component of the poly. foam used to make surfboards) is to shut down Clark Foam (in Irvine Ca - it's a little more complicated, Clark got complicated of the envir. regulations & had made a bunch of $$) - and set up factories that pollute more in other countries that have more lax environmental regulations !
we don't have peak ANYTHING really, what we don't have is the cooperation & honesty skills required to make do with our finite resources. i'm pretty sure i prefer American dentistry to American Indian dentistry, though.
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Ludi
NeoMaster
Joined: Dec 27, 2004
Posts: 13191
Location: naive idiot fantasy world
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 10:55 am Post subject: Re: Organic Farming can Feed the World |
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| killJOY wrote: | | In fact, I don't even care about feeding the world, only feeding myself. |
What does it even mean "feed the world"? Feed as many people as we care to cram on the planet? Nearly 7 billion people are probably not sustainable even if you could feed them organically. There's more to life than feeding, as Monte often mentions. What about sufficient land for biodiversity? What about preservation of watersheds/ hydrologic cycle? What about waste sinks?
Stop trying to feed the world
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Quinny
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Jul 03, 2008
Posts: 608
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 3:27 pm Post subject: Re: Organic Farming can Feed the World |
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OK I can live with that. It is however essential to develop viable permaculture sysems if we are to sustain life at lower population levels.
| MadScientist wrote: |
the idea that feeding the world organically would do anything but accelerate our crash course with overshoot/collapse. AND
the amount of crap it would take to organically feed 6.7 billion people. Now if this thread was entitled, "Organic farming can feed you and your tribe", I'd be impressed. |
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mos6507
Fusion
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Joined: Aug 03, 2007
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Location: Boston Suburbs
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 3:51 pm Post subject: Re: Organic Farming can Feed the World |
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| killJOY wrote: | | The whole reason the industrial model of agriculture arose is BECAUSE ORGANIC FARMING DIDN'T WORK to feed the burgeoning population. |
Maybe not that it didn't work, but that it didn't work well enough. It's human nature to want to make our lives easier and cheaper. We want a Jetsons pushbutton lifestyle and sustainability is an afterthought.
Of course, we can debate where we were at the turning point, but by now there is almost certainly no turning back without die off, and the odds just get worse with each passing year.
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eastbay
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Posts: 4994
Location: One Mile From the Columbia River
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 4:06 pm Post subject: Re: Organic Farming can Feed the World |
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I have a copy of Green Living for Dummies and (on page 154) it says an organic vegetable garden plot of from 600 to 2400 sq ft should be able to provide a family of four with all their fruit and vegetable needs. All.
I believe I've read about how much land it takes somewhere here, but it seems to me that much more land would be needed no matter how carefully the crop was planned and grown.
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coyote
News Editor
Joined: Oct 23, 2005
Posts: 1851
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 4:34 pm Post subject: Re: Organic Farming can Feed the World |
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| eastbay wrote: | | I have a copy of Green Living for Dummies and (on page 154) it says an organic vegetable garden plot of from 600 to 2400 sq ft should be able to provide a family of four with all their fruit and vegetable needs. All. |
But that wouldn't include their grain and protein needs, right?
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eastbay
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Joined: Dec 18, 2004
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Location: One Mile From the Columbia River
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 6:51 pm Post subject: Re: Organic Farming can Feed the World |
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| coyote wrote: | | eastbay wrote: | | I have a copy of Green Living for Dummies and (on page 154) it says an organic vegetable garden plot of from 600 to 2400 sq ft should be able to provide a family of four with all their fruit and vegetable needs. All. |
But that wouldn't include their grain and protein needs, right? |
Nope. Just the F and V.
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mos6507
Fusion
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 6:51 pm Post subject: Re: Organic Farming can Feed the World |
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| coyote wrote: | | But that wouldn't include their grain and protein needs, right? |
Couldn't potatoes, nuts, and beans fill in?
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Ludi
NeoMaster
Joined: Dec 27, 2004
Posts: 13191
Location: naive idiot fantasy world
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 7:49 pm Post subject: Re: Organic Farming can Feed the World |
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The book "One Circle" presents a nearly nutritionally complete vegan diet which can be grown in 1000 square feet per person (female, males take a bit more).
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