A warming planet struggles to feed itself

[Barrett808]

The dun wheat field spreading out at Ravi P. Singh’s feet offered a possible clue to human destiny. Baked by a desert sun and deliberately starved of water, the plants were parched and nearly dead.

Dr. Singh, a wheat breeder, grabbed seed heads that should have been plump with the staff of life. His practiced fingers found empty husks.

“You’re not going to feed the people with that,” he said. …

Consumption of the four staples that supply most human calories — wheat, rice, corn and soybeans — has outstripped production for much of the past decade, drawing once-large stockpiles down to worrisome levels. The imbalance between supply and demand has resulted in two huge spikes in international grain prices since 2007, with some grains more than doubling in cost. ...

A warming planet struggles to feed itself

[villager]

1. well, we're going to have to stop squandering those staples fattening up "meat products"

...for consumption. People will need to start eating more and more grains directly...

[sloughtermark]

2. I agree

I agree...you could feed a lot more people with all the grains
consumed by steaks.

[phantom power]

3. The new USDA "food plate" works nicely with that idea:

They avoid the mention of animal products in favor of "protein" -- you can get it without meat just as easily. For that matter, more easily, in terms of energy or monetary cost. And they de-emphasize dairy too.

http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/food_plate_and_not_pyramid

[PSPS]

4. And one SUV tank of ethanol = one year's worth of food for one person.

[guardian]

5. So let make a bad problem worse

by burning our food. Good going DOOMERs: you got your ethanol fuel; starved millions of people; and didn't help the climate one iota.



http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=biofuels-bad-for-people-and-climate

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2011/04/throwing-corn-off-the-green-bus

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/03/05/the-reverse-of-uns-disasterous-oil-for-food-program-ethanol-uses-40-of-global-corn-crop/