Producing food is a very big business. It is expected to become a seriously troubled business, too. However, if you like to eat on a regular basis and are interested in investment possibilities, read on.
If you”™ve seen the films “Food, Inc.” and “Supersize Me!” you know that the question “What”™s for dinner?” has many answers. Unless you are buying food that is raised near your home, however, you really don”™t know what went into your dinner. Does it contain pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals, designed to boost production and prolong shelf-life? Or was the meat portion of your meal recently standing in its own excrement, shot with antibiotics, slaughtered and then shipped off?
Massive changes are happening to our food system and most of the public is unaware of how profound they might be. The most visible clues are the proliferation of farmers”™ markets, now in about the 15th year in this region, and the exponential growth of interest in organic farming.
But let”™s put the microscope on agribusiness, still the core of our current food source no matter our fascination with healthier options.
Tracing ”˜green”™ roots
The so-called “green revolution” (launched in the 1960s and titled well before the ecological connotations of the word “green”), was initiated by scientists hired by corporations to increase the output of any given crop, but particularly wheat, corn and soy.
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High-yield rice was developed in Japan. Dr. Norman Borlaug, an Iowa-born plant scientist who developed the high-yielding wheat varieties and received the Nobel Prize in 1970, apparently had in the mind an altruistic goal ”“ the alleviation of world hunger. But other interests had other goals ”“ increasing and controlling the output of the U.S. farmer.
Corporations like Monsanto developed two strategies to accomplish this. The first was to develop seeds resistant to blight, disease and other crop killers. Secondly, these newly developed seeds, in order to reach their full potential, required heavy additions of pesticides, herbicides and nutrients ”“ largely dependent on petroleum products, as it turns out ”“ and copious amounts of water. And the real kicker ”“ you cannot save your seeds, as farmers have traditionally done. The farmer has to buy new seeds every year. This new way of farming has gone on for several decades but the price for manipulating Mother Nature is now coming due.
Global food chaos
Since 1990 the growth rate of food production has fallen below the population growth. What apparently was not anticipated was that oil and water would not be quite as plentiful as required by genetically modified seeds. But the real snag in the agenda of agribusiness interests is the drought that has overtaken, not just the southern part of this country, but vast swaths of the globe as well. As of this past spring the countries that make up two thirds of the world”™s agricultural output are experiencing drought conditions. Food for the U.S. citizenry has been globalized and therefore your dinner could well be impacted by what happens in Chile. Closer to home, California, a major supplier of fruits and vegetables in the East, is facing its worst drought in recorded history. The snowpack in the Northern Sierras, the source of much of southern California”™s water, is only 49 percent of normal, and La Nina, a weather pattern that generally results in dry weather, is expected to hang around until next spring.
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In subsistence farming worldwide crops that can withstand the vagaries of the weather, excessive cold, heat, drought or monsoon, are used. There is also a wide variety of plants to choose from. For example, indigenous farmers in Peru cultivate more than 3,000 different types of potato, while in Papua New Guinea more than 5,000 varieties of sweet potato are cultivated. In monoculture farming (the Monsanto paradigm) a crop can be extremely vulnerable to unusual diseases, weather or other so-called anomalies. The bugs, supposedly controlled by the use of pesticides, can develop immunity over time.
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Another serious byproduct of dependence on genetically modified seeds ”“ the use of chemical fertilizers degrades the soil which loses humus, becomes cracked and loses its water-retention capacity. The pollution of waterways because of the chemical runoff is another serious negative byproduct.
Lest we despair, a new “green revolution” is emerging. The food chaos provides numerous opportunities for entrepreneurial types. Vertical gardening in cities, hydroponic gardening and community gardens in the villages must be encouraged at every opportunity. Garden centers that recognize this trend can begin to hold seminars on how to raise food instead of flowers. Nothing against flowers, of course.
What better way for all to begin to recognize a common purpose in our lives ”“ to grow our own food and to actually enjoy the process. You might even enjoy eating what appears on your table.
