Farmland disappearing rapidly as grain harvests decreasing

This is perhaps the best argument for limiting our growth and destruction of the planet. The growth fanatics like to talk about food surpluses, but those are disappearing. Our farmland capable of feeding us is being destroyed by development and desertification at the same time that our population is surging to an expected 9 billion in the next 50 years. With ocean fish stocks also being wiped out, where do we think we are going to get the food from to feed all these people?

And is our society really stupid, or is this some kind of elite plot to destroy the world?

farmlandforecast.colvin-co.com...

www.earth-policy.org...

reply to post by CB328


The deniers will come out in full force at any mention of food problems but there is an underlying truth.

Anything that interferes in the production of food on a global or semi-global scale will result in the death of billions.

In the past we have had such problems. A volcanic winter being the most likely together with a solar minimum.

When food stocks are insufficient, the elite will hoard and hunker down in bunkers while everyone else runs out of food on a mass scale.

Remember also that any calamity that interferes with our food supply will also interfere with livestock food supplies. So basically, we run out of grown food, we then eat our farm animals then we eat anything we can catch.

After that you have two choices, die of starvation ....... or ....... eat each other.

As long as Mother Nature is kind to us we will manage.

One single calamity, and billions will die.

P

reply to post by CB328


Yep, as humans we really are that stupid. Desertification here in OZ, chopping up viable farms into small blocks so the yuppies can have a few acres for their ponies in NZ.

Everywhere you look it's happening.4

And then there's climate change... dun dun dun

Now those are some truly troubling thoughts....I believe I've read that if JUST semi truck movement was halted that most major cities in the world would be void of food in any stores within 48 hours.


This really is a problem and as the above poster said, all we can hope is that mother nature is kind on us and our overloads do not initiate a nuclear winter.

link

Previous studies estimate that global agricultural production may need to increase 60-110 percent to meet increasing demands and provide food security.

"Clearly, the world faces a looming agricultural crisis, with yield increases insufficient to keep up with projected demands," says IonE director Jon Foley, a co-author on the study.

from the study above
PLOS ONE source doc

Using ~2.5 million agricultural statistics, collected for ~13,500 political units across the world, we track four key global crops—maize, rice, wheat, and soybean—that currently produce nearly two-thirds of global agricultural calories. We find that yields in these top four crops are increasing at 1.6%, 1.0%, 0.9%, and 1.3% per year, non-compounding rates, respectively, which is less than the 2.4% per year rate required to double global production by 2050. At these rates global production in these crops would increase by ~67%, ~42%, ~38%, and ~55%, respectively, which is far below what is needed to meet projected demands in 2050.

Article includes maps and a lot more info

lightedhype
Now those are some truly troubling thoughts....I believe I've read that if JUST semi truck movement was halted that most major cities in the world would be void of food in any stores within 48 hours.

This really is a problem and as the above poster said, all we can hope is that mother nature is kind on us and our overloads do not initiate a nuclear winter.

Most cities in the modern world have around 30 days supply at any one time. This includes peoples homes, supermarkets and warehouses. That is an average per person. Obviously some people would only have day or two because they always eat out while at the other extreme, a prepper may have six months put aside.

To put it another way, a huge snow storm that lasts 30 days could spell disaster.

P

CB328
With ocean fish stocks also being wiped out, where do we think we are going to get the food from to feed all these people?

They already have a solution for us.

They will use the "fema caskets" for aquaponic tanks. Yay!

lol

reply to post by CB328


I think the western world would be in a whole lot of trouble if there was a situation causing mass food shortage. The rest of the world is already living it.
33% of the USA are obese according to CDC . That's 100 million fatties. There's our meat right there.

Ottawa tables legislation to clear grain transportation backlog

Legislation could potentially allow more service by more rail companies www.cbc.ca...

He said cold weather after the harvest, especially the "polar vortex," has taken its toll on CN's performance.

Cold weather partly to blame, says CN

"Extreme cold weather starting in early December became an issue ... hampering CN operations and leading to a downturn in transportation performance for all commodities, including grain," Hallman wrote in an email.

"Very cold weather continues to affect CN's operations in Western Canada."

Hallman said CN uses shorter trains during cold weather to ensure brakes can be used properly.

Shorter trains mean more of them are needed, necessitating more crews, which affects shipment capacity.

CN plans to significantly improve the speed and reliability of all commodity shipments, including grain, once the weather improves, Hallman said.

But grain farmers in Alberta also say competition for rail shipments from oil producers is delaying their efforts to get last fall's record harvest to markets.

Rail shipments of oil in Canada have gone from about 6,000 train carloads in 2009 to an estimated 14,000 this year, according to Statistics Canada and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. www.cbc.ca...

Alberta farmers struggle to market record harvest www.cbc.ca... Grain farmers in Alberta say competition for rail shipments from oil producers is delaying their efforts to get last fall's record harvest to markets.
2013 was a record year for farmers, with production up as much as 40 per cent for some crops.

ETA I believe this was orchestrated by the Harper Govt. to put pressure on the public to build the pipe lines for oil ...

reply to post by ZeussusZ



It's nature taking its course on mankind. But mankind's greed shows up in the dead lakes, zero fish to be found. Will the ocean be next or the rivers or even your neighborhood fishing ponds. It's terrible to see shopping centers built of rich farmland. I remember all the orange orchards there going out to San Bernardino and Riverside co. in Calif. Now the oranges come from Chile or... terrible I tell ya.

"Wheat production up almost 13%

Statistics Canada said in its July crop production report that Canadian farmers anticipate record canola production this year, as well as increases in wheat, barley and oats. That report said total wheat production in Canada is expected to reach 30.6 million tonnes this year — up 12.9 per cent from 2012. Statistics Canada will release final production estimates for 2013 on Dec. 4.

The latest America projection for Canadian wheat is even higher.

In its September world agricultural supply and demand estimate, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, pegged Canadian wheat production at 31.5 million tonnes — up two million tonnes from its August estimate.

Townsend said estimates are that the six major grains in Western Canada — wheat, oats, barley, rye, flax and canola — could produce 61.4 million tonnes this year. The previous nine year average was about 47.7 million tonnes, he said.

Lynn Jacobson, president of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture, said rain and heat both came at the right times in most areas. He says some places in southern Alberta that dry-land farm, without irrigation, got extra moisture and "extremely good yields."

"Some of them have never seen crops like that," said Jacobson." www.cbc.ca...

In the US 20%+ of the corn crop is used to make fuel not for food.

Cities are using more and more water for lawns and trees, washing cars, ect ect that could be used for food crops instead.

what about all those swimming pools in cities like LA calif that rarely get used.

And cities do not use water efficiently and waste about 70% of the water.

The city of LA calif looses over a million gallons of water a day just due to leaks. They use 430 million gallons

I expect city vertical farms will start to spring up once the money men realise there is money 'in them thar high rises' Hong Kong already has one, others are being designed around the world, most of them recycled aquaponic type set ups. New York has a least one!

pikestaff
I expect city vertical farms will start to spring up once the money men realise there is money 'in them thar high rises' Hong Kong already has one, others are being designed around the world, most of them recycled aquaponic type set ups. New York has a least one!

That's not a bad idea. You can't get any fresher produce than what's grown locally. And when grown using greenhouse tech, grown locally isn't restricted to crops that fair well in the local climate. Your tropical fruit grown in the same area where the cold and frost would have killed it off if outdoors. Not to mention that a lot of places like those large grocery stores have a lot of roof space that is currently unused, if it's financially viable there's no reason not to do this.

reply to post by pheonix358




Time to turn words to action and grow that garden!

You know, it would save us - planting our own little crops. It saves fuel on transport of food-stuff, cheaper grocery bills, less chemical use, especially if we make our own compost, more healthy, etc.

I think it was Chile, who in a time of need were told by their government to grow gardens, saved the country a ton of money and empowered the people. True or not...

I know some states/countries have laws limiting such action, but those of us who can, should...
I need to be a little more pro-active with this myself

We should be very conscious of the population problem... to some it may seem a non-issue, but I ask, where and when are we going to find these infinite resources and at least manage them correctly?
We don't have infinite resources and if current socio-economic trends are anything to go by, our governing entities won't ever manage them correctly - the concern and thus the change needed, starts with us, the middle and lower tiers of society (the upper class could help, too).

Grow them fruits and veggies!! Make our forefathers proud

CB328
This is perhaps the best argument for limiting our growth and destruction of the planet. The growth fanatics like to talk about food surpluses, but those are disappearing. Our farmland capable of feeding us is being destroyed by development and desertification at the same time that our population is surging to an expected 9 billion in the next 50 years. With ocean fish stocks also being wiped out, where do we think we are going to get the food from to feed all these people?

And is our society really stupid, or is this some kind of elite plot to destroy the world?

farmlandforecast.colvin-co.com...

www.earth-policy.org...

So you support ending all immigration to the U.S. immediately as the first step to fixing our overpopulation problem, correct?

Fix our country first, then work on the global epidemic of too many people.

AGW ..eh ...well lets have a look at some things that for the most part are being hid from us in plain sight .."John Holdren, President Obama’s Science Advisor, once tried to reframe the climate debate in terms of his prediction of “global climate disruption”. Holdren stated at the time, that the term “global warming” is “a dangerous misnomer”.

"The question – does John Holdren believe that “global climate disruption” might actually lead to global cooling? Is this why Holdren is unhappy with the term “global warming”? Is this the advice Holdren is giving to President Obama?

Because there is some very circumstantial evidence that America, and other governments, may already be planning ahead, for the possibility that the world will cool.

Over the last few years, a number of major Australian newspapers have posted stories about the rising issue of large scale foreign buyouts of Australian farmland."

"Back in 2006, the Russian Academy of Science predicted imminent severe global cooling, beginning in 2012-2015, peaking at around 2055." Their prediction is based on the historic correlation between solar cycles and global climate.

Humans have been aware of the 11 year climate cycle since the dawn of history – several good years followed by several bad years is a fact of life. But there are also other, longer, more powerful cycles, which have an even larger impact on global climate.
One of them is the 200 year cycle. Every 200 years or so, solar activity falls to a sustained low. These long periods of low activity, known by the names of the scientists who discovered them – Maunder, Dalton, etc. – coincided historically with periods of extreme cold – plummeting global temperatures, crashing food production, and drastically shorter and less reliable growing seasons in the Northern Hemisphere.

At the peak of the cold periods, history records widespread famines and other disasters, such as the Year Without a Summer in 1816, a food production catastrophe triggered by low solar activity during the Dalton Minimum, combining with an unusually severe series of major volcanic eruptions. In the Year without a Summer, over vast areas, crops in the Northern hemisphere were destroyed by snow and frost in mid Summer, which created global famine and social unrest." wattsupwiththat.com...-107030

Now add to the above "Times are not easy for true-believers just now. The RSS satellite lower-troposphere temperature anomaly for March, just in, shows no global warming at all for 17 years 8 months. This remarkable 212-month period, enduring from August 1996 to March 2014, represents half of the entire 423-month satellite record since it began in January 1979." wattsupwiththat.com...

It would seem that tptb want to cash in on both sides of the situation .One thing seems to be clear as I look out my window at 4 feet of snow is that AGW is a hoax ....peace