Farmer In Chief - Michael Pollan's Open Letter To The Next President (NPR radio)

[Dover]

How to reform the way we grow, prepare, transport, buy and sell food -

In a open letter to the next president, author Michael Pollan writes about the waning health of America's food systems — and warns that "the era of cheap and abundant food appears to be drawing to a close."

The future president's food policies, says Pollan, will have a large impact on a wide range of issues, including national security, climate change, energy independence and health care.

Pollan is the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History Of Four Meals and In Defense OF Food: An Eater's Manifesto.

Pollan Interview on NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95896389

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Open Letter To The Next President (NYTimes Sunday Magazine, Oct. 9th Issue)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. He is a brilliant writer. and his books are quite scary.

[hippywife]

2. Love Pollan and all of his books!

I think I've read every single one of them or close to it. :hi:

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Pollan was on Bill Moyers' show last week. Brilliant man.

[Morpheal]

4. Food Crisis and Economic Crisis

I recommended four major steps to China.

1). Aquaculture.

2). Hydroponics.

3). Battling desertification. Reclamation of desert for growing grain.
There are success stories from other arid areas.

4). Livestock. Re-emphasis on raising livestock and improving methods.
Management of pasture and development of pasture. A year ago some
smaller farm operations were told to eat their animals. A tragic situation.

China is ideally poised for labour and technology intensive forms of agriculture.
They can choose to put into effect the latest methods, and build state of the art
facilities, far beyond what tends to happen in the capitalist, cost / profit margin
economics of American agriculture. The equations there are more favorable
when it comes to cost and benefit studies.

America led China like a devil leading a nation directly to Hell.

They unbalanced all of China's yin and yang. They pushed massive factories
producing things for mass market amusement, at the expense of real human
needs. China followed the bad lead and we nearly did reach a point where
the two sides would end up in a mess that only leads to deep and lasting hatred.

Getting the yin and yang in balance there is easier than in America.

American agriculture suffers from ideological narrowness. There is a lot that
China can do, outside of the Capitalist free enterprise model of economics, to
save itself and to alleviate the world food crisis. It is now poised in an incredibly
favorable situation as to being able to manufacture the material means for
improve agricultural production. It is also in an excellent position for pursuing
agricultural research with cooperation from leading European nations and Canada.
America can suck its agricultural thumb and do a capitalist pout, if it wants to,
or it can join in the creating the solution rather than being the problem.

No need for the world to starve, once America is no longer in the leading role.

The world has better ways than the American way to feed itself.

Cheers.

Robert Morpheal

[EmeraldCityGrl]

5. Time to vote for the White House Farmer

http://whitehousefarmer.com/

[newfie11]

6. I like what Pollan says however

in my area the irrigation has been cut over the years for people irrigating out deep wells. Just a few years ago they were allowed 14 inches/acre for the summer. They have been cut back year after year and now there is talk of cutting to 3 inches/acre total.

In this area that pretty much lets any crops out that require irrigation. What is left is winter wheat and if rain doesn't come in time to sprout before winter then it is a lost crop. I am not sure growing crops in the desert is a wise idea with the irrigation problems. We do not live in the desert but it is turning into one.

We do irrigate but our water comes from snow runoff in the Wyoming mountains. That also has also been affected by global warming and we have been limited on water usage.

As far as planting a green cover crop in the fall, we have done that using wheat however the drought and wind blew away the seed, nothing came up. Tis a very expensive loss.