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Billions face food shortages, study warns
Ian Sample, Guardian
Half of the world’s population could face severe food shortages by the end of the century as rising temperatures take their toll on farmers’ crops, scientists have warned.
Harvests of staple food crops such as rice and maize could fall by between 20% and 40% as a result of higher temperatures during the growing season in the tropics and subtropics. Warmer temperatures in the region are also expected to increase the risk of drought, cutting crop losses further, according to a new study.
The worst of the food shortages are expected to hit the poor, densely inhabited regions of the equatorial belt, where demand for food is already soaring because of a rapid growth in population.
A study in the US journal Science found there was a 90% chance that by the end of the century, the coolest temperatures in the tropics during the crop growing season would exceed the hottest temperatures recorded between 1900 and 2006.
(9 January 2009)
Related at athe Guardian by Jayati Ghosh: The outcry is muted, but the food crisis is getting worse
Global warming will be a killer for agriculture, UW scientists say
Sandi Doughton, Seattle Times
When searing heat waves blasted Western Europe in 2003, more than 50,000 people perished and harvests of corn, wheat and fruit fell by up to a third.
Imagine those temperatures being the norm over much of the world, and you’ll have an idea of what the future is likely to hold for agriculture — and humanity, says a new report from scientists at the University of Washington and Stanford University.
“I’m not worried about Greenland sliding into the sea. I’m not worried about sea levels going up,” said UW atmospheric-sciences professor David Battisti. Those changes will take several hundred years to unfold, he said, but the effects on agriculture will begin showing up within the next several decades.
“This is probably the most compelling reason why we need to deal with global warming.”
(9 January 2009)
Land Sharing is a New Trend
Bonnie Alter, TreeHugger
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a national treasure–a writer, organic farmer, chef, t.v. personality and passionate believer in local communities. His latest venture is “Landshare”–a scheme which puts people with large unused gardens in touch with gardeners wanting space. He calls it a “food revolution destined to be the next great thing.” With more people wanting to grow their own food and allotments being harder and harder to come by, he just may be right.
It is a simple and optimistic idea. People register their interest as a grower, a spotter –someone who has seen land in their area that may be suitable for growing–or an owner. The register, once it is up and running, will put these people in touch with each other.
(1 January 2009)
Suggested by Big Gav.
The Role of Home Gardens in Feeding the World & Sequestering
Carbon (PDF)
Michael Pilarski, Friends of the Trees Society
This article explores the role of home gardens in world food production. The thesis of the article is that home gardens have the potential to become the dominant food supply for humanity. A case is made that home gardens could grow 50% of humanity’s food supply on less then 10% of the world’s arable farmland. Home gardens are one of the most reliable, efficient and democratic ways of producing food ever invented. Agriculture has repeatedly degraded its natural resource base and collapsed many societies in the past. Modern, industrial agriculture is not suited to these changing times and is liable to increasing breakdown within the next decade
Who is this article written for? It is written for gardeners, would-be gardeners, garden educators, hunger activists and people interested in local food security. Organic gardeners will be familiar with much of the material. Permaculturists already know most of the techniques and principles outlined here. Most of it is just good, practical common-sense gardening that gardeners everywhere can relate to.
PART I looks at home-gardens’ role in feeding people as compared to agriculture and hunter-gathering.
PART II introduces tools, techniques and strategies to maximize home-garden production, while being ecologically-sound, cost- and labor-effective, and with minimal reliance on outside inputs and fossil-fuel.
This is a permaculture approach to gardening.
Everyone will find things to disagree with. Everyone will find some useful ideas. Pick and choose what is
useful to you.
(2 January 2009)
Suggested by Nicola in Italy.
About Michale Pilarski:
Michael Pilarski is a farmer, educator and author who has devoted his life to studying and teaching how people can live sustainably on this Earth. He has extensive experience in organic farming, seed collecting, wildcrafting medicinal herbs, plant propagation, horticulture, teaching, and international networking. Michael has personally worked with over 1,000 species of plants. He founded Friends of the Trees Society in 1978 and has authored many books on forestry, agriculture, agroforestry and ethnobotany. Michael has been involved in the permaculture movement since 1981 as a writer, teacher and networker. He has taught over 20 full Permaculture Design Courses in the USA and abroad.
