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SASKATOON, Sask.-Today, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its first projections of world grain supply and demand for the coming crop year: 2007/08. USDA predicts supplies will plunge to a 53-day equivalent-their lowest level in the 47-year period for which data exists.

"The USDA projects global grain supplies will drop to their lowest levels on record. Further, it is likely that, outside of wartime, global grain supplies have not been this low in a century, perhaps longer," said NFU Director of Research Darrin Qualman.

Most important, 2007/08 will mark the seventh year out of the past eight in which global grain production has fallen short of demand.

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Could you imagine a world where the average north american can't eat 4500 calories a day?

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"Every six years, we're adding to the world the equivalent of a North American population. We're trying to feed those extra people, feed a growing livestock herd, and now, feed our cars, all from a static farmland base. No one should be surprised that food production can't keep up," said Qualman.

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Don't get me wrong, unsustainable agriculture is the worlds quietest ticking time bomb at the moment.

Sorry to nitpick. Unsustainable agriculture is a topic that simply isn't being talked about at all by anyone - even progressives - and I would rate that issue a close 2nd to the most critical one my generation (that being X) will face in our lifetime. Between the perverse economics, collapsing fish stocks...

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In addition to falling grain supplies, global fisheries are faltering. Reports in respected journals Science and Nature state that 1/3 of ocean fisheries are in collapse, 2/3 will be in collapse by 2025, and our ocean fisheries may be virtually gone by 2048. "Aquatic food systems are collapsing, and terrestrial food systems are under tremendous stress," said Qualman.

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... increased demand for food - which actually isn't THAT difficult to remedy - it takes a whole lot more energy to raise meat than grain and vegetable ...

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Demand for food is rising rapidly. There is a worldwide push to proliferate a North American-style meat-based diet based on intensive livestock production-turning feedgrains into meat in this way means exchanging 3 to 7 kilos of grain protein for one kilo of meat protein. Population is rising-2.5 billion people will join the global population in the coming decades.

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... the proliferation of monoculture and GMOs - huge threats to biodiversity, diminishing watertables. Colony collapse disorder (that bee epidemic you've been hearing about) should serve as a canary in the coal mine.

Damn. That's alot of problems. All fixable though, or at least a little less overwhelming than solving our fossil fuel dependency.

[ 15 June 2007: Message edited by: West Coast Greeny ]