https://techsomogro.com/agriculture-part-1-setting-our-future-food-table-in-the-21st-century/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=agriculture-part-1-setting-our-future-food-table-in-the-21st-century Science, Technology and the Future Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:45:13 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 https://techsomogro.com/agriculture-part-1-setting-our-future-food-table-in-the-21st-century/#comment-41 Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:45:13 +0000 http://21stcentech.wordpress.com/?p=412#comment-41 A few comments.
“Industrial” farms are actually using less fuel and labor to produce the same amount as produced in developing countries, usually over 4 times as much. Yes, they use more fuel, but they produce so much more for what is used.
Saturating the soil with herbicides, fungicides and insecticides? Get real. These products have never been used to “saturate” anything. The only thing that comes close is the use of certain “organic” pesticides that change the color of the plants they are used on. In modern agriculture these products are used at the lowest rate possible to effectively control the pest. Farmers use less pesticides, fungicides and insecticides every year, partly because of bio-engineered plants, but mostly because of newer products that do not need to be used so heavily to get the job done.
The best hope for fewer people on our planet is education of women. As more and more women are getting a good education they are having fewer children. It is projected that China, Europe and North America will actually decline in population in the coming years. Even those areas with the highest birth rates now are declining as women there are better educated.
Farmers have been, but have not for many years now, been paid not to grow crops. The surplus is gone. But the dent corn that was in surplus was never grown for human consumption. It was always grown for animal feed and industrial use. Huge crop surpluses are responsible for the migration of people away from the farm. Now that farmers are making money, maybe we can keep some of our children on the farm. With the average age of farmers at 58 years, we need young people on the farm to feed the world. Us old folks want to retire.

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