Farmer Power is the Key to the Future - Final Part

Food sovereignty is not against trade and science. But it does argue for a fundamental shift away from "business as usual", emphasising the need to support domestic markets and small-scale agricultural production based on resilient farming systems rich in biological and cultural diversity.

Networks of local food systems are favoured because they reduce the distance between producers and consumers, limiting food miles and enhancing citizen control and democratic decision-making.

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The good news is that all this is not inevitable. The political choices made by governments and their corporate friends can still be decisively rejected and reversed.

But this depends on creating inclusive alliances between farmers, fisher-folk, indigenous peoples, scholars and other citizens to exert countervailing power - which is perhaps the biggest challenge facing the food sovereignty movement.

Farmer Power is the Key to the Future - Part 2

Towards sustainable agriculture

Combinations of indigenous and modern methods lead to more environmentally sustainable agriculture, as well as reducing dependence on expensive external inputs, reducing the cost-price squeeze and debt trap in which the world's farmers are increasingly caught.

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Scientists recently reported that a series of large-scale experimental projects around the world using agro-ecological methods such as crop rotation, intercropping, natural pest control, use of mulches and compost, terracing, nutrient concentration, water harvesting and management of micro-environments yielded spectacular results.

For example, in southern Brazil, the use of cover crops to increase soil fertility and water retention allowed 400,000 farmers to raise maize and soybean yields by more than 60%. Farmers earned more as beneficial soil biodiversity was regenerated.

Farmers boost corn production to meet ethanol demand

This article is the start of something big on the horizon for the U.S.

Food pricing, especially corn prices, are going up. And it's due, in HUGE part, to ethanol production. I think the whole thing speaks for itself...

Corn should be planted by mid-May for good yields and soybeans can be planted as late as June, which could be a fallback plan for farmers if corn doesn't get planted in time.

The move to plant corn is in large part due to a rush to produce corn-based ethanol, which is blended with gasoline. There are now 114 ethanol refineries nationwide and another 80 under construction.

The corn rush was sparked by President Bush's initiative to support flexible-fuel vehicles, which are capable of using gasoline and ethanol blends, and his administration's plan to cut gas consumption by 20 percent in 10 years.

Corn prices were already rising when Bush announced the initiative in Washington on Jan. 23 and there has been growing concern that the corn rush could hurt the poor in less-developed nations such as Mexico, where the crop is a staple used in tortillas.

On Thursday, Cuban leader Fidel Castro wrote in an editorial for the Communist Party daily newspaper that President Bush's ethanol plan could deplete corn and other food stocks in developing nations, putting the lives of 3 billion people at risk worldwide.

"You're in the middle of an emergence of a food versus fuel debate," said Lincoln Ellis, director of asset management for the Linn Group, a Chicago-based privately held financial trading business focusing on commodities and futures. "This is the pregame show. We haven't even hit the first quarter."

Unfortunately, I think the last comment may be WAY more true than I ever thought. I just heard the other day that milk prices are headed towards $5 / gallon. I already thought $4 was too high. I'm not sure If I'm going to be drinking too much more milk.


What do you think?

Al

Farmer Power and Sustainable Agriculture - the Keys to the Future

This is an interesting editorial comment article, presented by the BBC and a guest editor Michel Pimbert, (photos by AFP - Associated Free Press)

Basically, he pushes the concept that local farmers should have the say in the crops they grow. It's a concept called Food Sovereignty.

Food sovereignty is all about ensuring that farmers, rather than transnational corporations, are in control of what they farm and how they farm it; ensuring too that communities have the right to define their own agricultural, pastoral, labour, fishing, food and land policies to suit their own ecological, social, economic and cultural circumstances.

Why is it needed?

everyone has an unconditional human right to food,
and it is simply unacceptable to allow over 850 million people
go to bed hungry in a world that produces more than enough food for all.

More on the why... next time

Food prices driving up because of fuel pricing and shortfalls

NATE JENKINS, an Associated Press Writer, offers an intriguing look into the new fuel / food issues. (Photo by Reuters)

All of the sudden, this is becoming a HUGE problem. EThanol is driving a craze that turns our food into fuel, but at the same time, it's also driving our food prices ever higher. In this day and age, these are problems we are all going to have to address to make things work out right.

Even if you're not hit with rising fuel prices. You might be hit with rising food prices. And if you're not hit with either of those, then you'll still have to deal other economic hits because of the impact these things have on our lives.

The combination of rising energy prices and the demand for corn, which is used to produce ethanol, will continue to drive up commodity prices, he said.

Corn prices have already begun to soar. A rush to turn more acres into corn production could decrease supplies of other commodities, driving up prices of them as well.

The resulting higher market prices could then dampen the public's support for government subsidies that are designed to help farmers reap profits when markets are down.

We need to start sitting up, thinking about how these things will impact us, and then make some plans to counter-act the negative results in our lives.

What do you think? Just blowing smoke?

Poop - Did you ever think you'd be writing on it?

Well, although this isn't energy related specifically, I couldn't help but include this article from CNN.com, and the Associated Free Press picture.

There's a team of 40 pandas in China (Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base in Sichuan province), and they make about 2 tons of droppings a day. The base has devised a plan to make eco-friendly paper out of the poo.

They're not sure how much panda poop paper that'll be, but they think it should be enough to use for themselves, at the base, and then maybe sell some as well.

the idea came to them after a visit to Thailand last year where they found paper made from elephant dung. They thought panda poop would produce an even finer quality paper, he said.

The base is in talks with several paper mills on how to turn the droppings of Jing Jing, Ke Bi, Ya Ya and dozens of other pandas at the base into reams of office paper and rolls of wrapping paper, Liao said.

They hope to have a product line available by next year, he said.

"We are not interested in doing this for the profits but to recycle the waste," said Liao. "It's environmentally friendly. We can use the paper ourselves, and also we can sell whatever is left over."

Something smells fishy to me - but it's still a novel idea for a pretty smelly problem.

Ethanol's reliance on corn still a problem

This is a great article, (from the Associated Press / picture too) talking about the benefits and drawbacks of ethanol. I reported an article, just the other day, that said we are using about 25% of the U.S. supply of corn to produce ethanol - right now.

The problems and concerns are many - and this article points to one HUGE problem:
Corn is one of our main agricultural crops, and instead of eating it, we're using it to provide fuel for our vehicles.

Although it's renewable, we still need to have food for ourselves and for our animals we raise (chickens, cows, pigs, dogs, etc.)

So this article really is worth taking a look at and figuring out where we can go from here.

The problem is, ethanol really isn't ready for prime time. The only economical way to make ethanol right now is with corn, which means the burgeoning industry is literally eating America's lunch, not to mention its breakfast and dinner. And though ethanol from corn may have some minor benefits with regard to energy independence, most analysts conclude its environmental benefits are questionable at best.

Proponents acknowledge the drawbacks of corn-based ethanol, but they believe it can help wean America off imported oil the way methadone helps a junkie kick heroin. It may not be ideal, but ethanol could help the country make the necessary and difficult transition to an environmentally and economically sustainable future

All the best,
Al

U.S. struggles to build green homes

This is a pretty cool article, from Daniel Trotta at Reuters (photo as well), discussing some other options for energy efficiency besides just vehicles. In fact, the article points out that some of the really good, simple, and easy options for environmental help will come from better home efficiency.

"While gas-guzzling vehicles draw the most criticism, homes and businesses consume even more energy -- 40 percent of the U.S. total in 2005 versus 28 percent for transportation -- and provide the biggest potential for savings.

The U.S. Green Building Council says structures built to its standards can cut energy usage 20 to 80 percent using available technologies such as compact fluorescent lighting and high-efficiency building shells and water heating.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency, which advises rich governments, says more efficient use of energy can do far more to cut carbon dioxide emissions than either a shift to renewable energies or nuclear power in coming decades.

Advocates for efficiency call it "low-hanging fruit," so what keeps it from being picked? Woeful public awareness, timid policy-makers and resistance from the building industry to mandate greater standards, experts say."

This is a good article - worth the read.

All the best,
Al

Meat Prices going up because of Demand for corn

Ethanol's insatiable demand for corn is driving the price of meat - ALL KINDS - higher.

That includes chicken, cattle, and pork.

Because most of the meat products above are fed a large portion of their diet on corn, and that corn is now being used to power the thriving ethanol industry, the cost to feed and produce all of our meat is going up.

You'll see higher meat prices at the grocery store because of this spike in demand. This is a 'must read' from Associated Press' Food and Farm Writer - LIBBY QUAID.

Strong demand for corn from ethanol plants is driving up the cost of livestock and will raise prices for beef, pork and chicken, the Agriculture Department said Friday.

Meat and poultry production will fall as producers face higher feed costs, the department said in its monthly crop report. Ethanol fuel, which is blended with gasoline, is consuming 20 percent of last year's corn crop and is expected to gobble up more than 25 percent of this year's crop.

The price of corn, the main feed for livestock, has driven the cost of feeding chickens up 40 percent, according to the National Chicken Council. The council says that chicken, the most popular meat with consumers, will soon cost more at the grocery store.

Maybe it's time to start that small, home garden and farm you've been thinking about for a while. If you're interested in keeping backyard chickens, here's a site you might check out:
www.ChickenCoopPlan.com

All the best,
Al

GM targets 2010 production for electric car

GM revisits its plans to produce an electric car - with a strong statement about producing it within the next couple years. This is a really cool article, from Reuters (picture from Reuters as well), describing where the electric car market could be in only a couple of years.

GM scrapped an earlier experiment with an electric car marketed in California as the EV1, an unpopular decision that made it the target of criticism and the 2006 documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

But GM billed the Volt as a return to the once-failed idea of a mass-market electric car. The Volt is intended to draw its power exclusively from a next-generation battery pack capable of being recharged by a small onboard engine or a normal electric outlet.

GM has said it is aiming for the Volt to be able to run for 40 miles on pure electric power, meaning many commuters would be able to get through a day without using gasoline.

Let's hope GM gets their ideas and their production right this time. It could be a good thing for a lot of commuters.

Al

e-waste causing tech firms to go green

As our ever growing hunger for technological advances continues, one thing is certain...

there is more waste from aging e-products - computers, batteries, tv's, cellphones, etc. And dealing with this growing mountain of high-tech waste is something that tech companies are starting

e-waste is a growing environmental and public health concern as the world becomes more wired and companies introduce new products at a faster pace.

Discarded computers, televisions, radios, batteries, cell phones, cameras and other gadgets contain a stew of toxic metals and chemicals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, brominated flame retardants and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.

The U.S. 'Environmental Protection Agency' says American consumers generated nearly 2 million tons of electronic waste in 2005. Gartner estimates that 133,000 PCs are discarded by U.S. homes and businesses each day.

Only 10 to 15 percent of electronics are currently recycled, industry analysts say. The rest collects dust in people's homes or gets dumped into municipal landfills, where environmentalists worry toxic chemicals can leak out.

I can definitely see a LOT of this stuff ending up in landfills.

Mostly an FYI article, from TERENCE CHEA, an Associated Press Writer.
Photo also from the AP.

Al Speer

Toyota developing and researching plug-in electric car hybrid

Toyota is leading the charge - still again - in an attempt to develop better, more efficient electric powered cars. Taking the lead from the Toyota Prius, they are looking for partners to help in the process.

Toyota, which leads the market in hybdrid sales, has not detailed plans to build a plug-in, although some environmental groups have modified its top-selling Prius hybrid so that it can be recharged with an electrical outlet.

"We are doing consumer research right now as well as product development," Toyota North America President Jim Press told Reuters in an interview, when asked about plug-in hybrid development.

(great article from Reuters, and Toyota picture from the Associated Free Press)

They might actually have a shot of getting the electric car done right - since their's is about the only market viable alternative out there (as far as mass market cost). GM actually killed their electric car option a couple years ago, and is just this year announcing they plan to enter the commercial market in 2010.

Sounds like a good idea.

Al