A potential new breakthrough in changing the genetics of many plants to allow a human gene to be added to greatly increase the amount of food produced per acre of land. One Lost Methyl Group = Huge Amounts of Food Production | In the Pipeline Now we are in never never land. Do we wish agriculture to be ever more efficient and to allow modern agro business to plant ever more efficient food that requires ever more proprietary seed, increased control of fertilizer and water, and the remote chance that it could evolve into a No Blade of Grass type situation as some unknown transfer to non modified seeds leads to plants that are not either viable or have substances in them that make them toxic. The results of the last "agricultural revolution" in the 1960's has transformed the world. While in the 1950's, using the old traditional crop production and seeds, much of the world was on the verge of starvation, using the new system, the population of most of the world is fed. But the new techniques required a much more organized and controlled agriculture than could be supplied by the traditional subsistence farmer. Thus we went from a system where a farmer grew food for his family and in a good year, enough extra to sell for some income and feed the urban areas. With the new modern agriculture we could and did feed many more people and the population promptly grew to use that resource. Then we figured out some way to supply the new urban people with a means to access that food. China and a lot of the other countries "industrialized", massive food aid systems were set up to feed the "poor". USAID being one way, buy the new excess output of agro business and "donate" it to feed the poor. 1950s vs 2020: Global Urban Population By Continent #Infographic - Visualistan Then of course there was the massive migration of people seeking not the traditional better life, but any way of surviving as it was no longer possible in the rural areas. The major effects we are facing with our borders and a massive influx of people is just a continuation of the massive influx to the urban areas world wide. Demographia World Urban Areas: 2019: Population, Land Area & Urban Densities | Newgeography.com While we are at the moment at least putting up dikes to keep the sea out and attempting to use ever more technology to feed the ever increasing population, some areas are now starting to lose out in the system, not because the food isn't available, but because they can not find anyone to "give it" to them. Much of the world now has urban areas with large populations that are totally dependent on a highly organized very technology advanced system of crop production. What is even more limiting in the long run, is it is not feasible to return to the old system if there is a failure of inputs to the new system. While questioning the system and its continued development to feed an ever larger population is considered at best an anti social act, one must remember that the first Luddites in England were indeed forced from their rural life into the sweat shops and disease ridden slums of England and that in retrospect some changes would have made the transition much more pleasant for many of those displaced. The famine in Ireland was 100 % a cultural and economic event, food was always available, those who needed just weren't able to have it "given" to them as the modern welfare system had not been created to handle the transfer. The can has been kicked down the street my whole life. In the early 1970's I got a Masters degree in Agriculture from Michigan State University and specialized in the area of small farming and smaller scale technology. Dead field other than teaching as the money is in selling the big tractors, high tech seeds, and large commercial farms that can both borrow the money to use the new tech and even more important, pay back the loans. Not my problem as the events leading up to some systematic or social collapse are going to occur after I die, but it is interesting to note that most of our black population in the US urban areas was derived from agricultural workers who migrated there. Cotton picking machines in the south created the workers who went to Detroit for jobs, sugar harvesting and general changes lead those from Puerto Rico and the islands as well as Brazil to the US and the massive influx of individuals from the rest of the world that we seeing world wide trying to "enter" the more advanced countries and to survive as their old way of making a living in their traditional world no longer exists. Many demand that they be fed and housed, even though there is no way that in the old sense they can "buy" the goods they need. This under culture of the poor, those on welfare and various other governmental programs, those in jail and in criminal activity, the unemployed and unemployable, just reflect the problems in supplying the existing and new possible "super foods" to those who need it that are excess to our needs for production and being part of our "economic system" at the present time. In the end, the conflict between the right and the left in the political world, world wide, is the question of how the needed resources are to be delivered. Universal income and a right to housing, education, medical care, etc, or let the "free market work" as it did in the past and let them die or limit their populations. We live in a system, as John Donne said in a poem about 1600, where " No man is an Island" and while he lived in a very different world, the religious wars at that time as well as rapid population growth created a period of conflict not all that different than today. But then they had the new world and a lot of other areas to migrate to and resources to effect the changes. We may no longer have that gift. Please bear with me, I tend to go into more detail than needed and overthink things, but I will not accept the simple answers being supplied by LX News and the other propaganda organizations and hope that some will at least try to see who or what is behind the curtain. I also think that in the long run it may be good for the individual to see and perhaps be able to prepare for some of the problems our society as a whole is facing. If it does become impossible to escape, think France or Poland in WW2, it may at least help in the short run to stay out of crowds, be gray, cache well, and be out of debt. Above all be at peace with something, I have chosen the Lord, your solution may vary.
As always was and is, the good quality go to the happy few, the good to the ones who can pay it,the less quality to the city lowers and the made from yucky and rejects to the poor.
Something no one ever considers about the modern seed is the HUGE input cost that is required to produce those Huge per acre yields. That cost keeps going up every year as the seed gets *Better*. It might produce a lot of food but it is not sustainable and then there is the moral and ethical question of just how weird the genetic engineering of things should go. 10-20-30 years from now if we stay the current course there are going to be a lot more billions of hungry mouths to feed, and that is just not a bright long term outlook.
My thoughts are great bit more dire, I think the world is fighting back against an infestation and people are the pests. Disease, famine, and war are traditional means of controlling populations of a species, the law of nature is that only the strongest survive. This law is a biological and evolutionarily imperative and cannot be ignored even with Blue parking spaces and welfare. Modern medicines, and science have helped us bend that curve beyond reproach and simply put, now we pay the piper. God Bless.
Only a couple of neighbors here try to grow anything to eat, The rest will probably have to eat each other?
It truly is only a matter of time before they start recycling human wastes into usable proteins. Kill off the e-coli, add some artificial preservatives and food coloring and packages of instant "Shit-burgers" go right onto the shelves.
LOL Some folks are investing in plastic. Me? The future is in algae...n Already posted a bunch here on anther thread....
If there was a market for dandelions, moss and slugs, I'd be rich. Wait!! Maybe I've discovered a new food source. If you are in a situation where you depend upon food from the local supermarket chain, you're lost. One may have preps that can last six to eight months, but once that is exhausted you will have to seek other resources. Having the advantage to raise and grow, then preserve your own food will be paramount. The only obstacle to survival after that will be protecting what you have.
With the project population world wide going to 9+ billions people by 2050 up from the current 6+ billion I don't see our current food production meeting the demand for feeding the masses. Algae and bugs will be the source of processed protein. If the pop continues to grow the Charlton Heston movie Solent Green may be the only answer. So keep your neighbor well feed -----you may be eating him tomorrow HA HA
Currently, the world's population is 7.6 Billion. Life will get real dicey at the 10 Billion mark. Many people think the world's population is the cause that's forcing many world leaders to open their border to avoid bloodshed by over population in other parts of the world. Others think, the Covid hysteria is in reality a means to kill off a major portion of the population, making it look like natural causes. Me? I have no idea but I know that population is the catalyst for most of the world's problems, historically and currently. And, if anything kills mankind off this will be the underlying cause. And, we cannot control it, even China with strict laws and unlimited authoritarian powers couldn't do it. So, yeah, I could see some world leaders deciding that a major portion of the world has to die for the good of mankind...just not them.
Square Roots - factory greens in a box. I suppose if you r brother is going to Mars, you'll to take along some Chow.... One of many startups looking at the urban market/
Microfarms - <1 acre Urban farms Rooftop gardens Given the real problems with allotments/so called community gardens with produce theft, rooftops make more sense....
Something to consider is you can grow a lot of salad on a rooftop, but not calories. Look at most of what is there. A rabbit would do great on it, but not a human IF that was all there was.
Exact-a-mundo. My view on food storage is you better have a couple years worth. One year bare minimum to get thru a complete growing cycle, and a second at backup in case the first year turns to crap for whatever reason. That obstacle should decrease as the months roll by, and those who would live by taking starve out. My guess is by 90-120 days, anyone still alive is prepped or one really dangerous SOB.
I agree. These are for-profit mini-farms and microgreen are fast turnaround, high $$ food for local eateries. When you start putting enough soil for potatoes, and other root crops, the load on the roof could well be unsustainable. I do see a lot of vids on 'urban gardens' that are actually tiny truck farms and claim to pull six-figure profits each year using the French intensive method. (shrug) I could get an allotment locally, but the bums/homeless/crackheads steal the food as fast as it gets ready for harvest. Few people bother, the bums sure as heck don't - too easy to steal someone else's hard work..... We now plant very little. Next season will likely be just potato tubs and a couple of zukes. BTW, the allotments locally are good sized yes, volunteers used grant money (for the lumber) for build these. this was an old eyesore of a RV park and fleabag hotel. Torn down by the Muni over unpaid taxes, it is now garden spaces. It is also no longer on the tax rolls. ( see Real Estate - Anchorage Community Land Trust) even the schools have some good sized garden spaces this is the front end of the garden, it is almost 2 acres owing to nearby wetlands which makes building 'difficult'. This is an old photo, we converted the structures over to hold potatoes a couple years back. flowers are nice, spuds make for Chow.
Food Armageddon has already happened. In the early 1990's in Cuba. When the Soviet Union collapsed the subsidy pipeline into Cuba collapsed and thrust the nation into the 1800's. No diesel for the farm tractors or for the trucks to bring it to market. People planted food crops everywhere- front lawns, back yards, medians on divided highways, parks and playgrounds. They have a 12 month growing season down there, but the average Cuban lost 20 pounds or more. And health improved. If it all goes to heck here in the US we will find a way.
