GO! Smell your food for thought.
March 9th, 2008 by BO
Bo here,first post for a while,so i’ve chosen a topic close to my heart - tractors!
“Nothing runs like a Deere!”
John Deere have recently announced they will increase production of their monster, high horse powered tractors by 25%. The reason for this is quite simple - there is a huge demand in the world today for grain, consumption has exceeded production in seven out of the last eight years and an increase in the demand for bio-fuels,which is more and more the farmers choice of crop as it yields huge profits. Basic food costs are on the up.
The shortage of grain and food is now becoming evident,with over 30 countries worldwide claiming they have a food crisis,why are we choosing to grow food for fuel and not for people?
Please read this article and offer your comments on a deepening farming crisis worldwide.
Thanks for this Bo - we had no idea that 2008 was the food crisis year or that grain was such a large source of fuel.
Madness.
A great choice of song by the way - the memories came flooding back.
What is the answer though? A re-think of what is farmed and for what purpose? More radical than even daylight savings, right?
There’s a global rush to grow bio-fuels to stem the climate change,so what a good idea it is to hack down tropical rainforests to make way for crops that are used for fuel. A sure sign that the world is overpopulated,not enough food for everyone to go round. It’s going to be a biggy for 2008,food shortages will force the price up,famine will get worse.
We have a grain, food (veges and fruit) Milk etc all in short supply thanks to the drought… it has been so bad that fruit farmers have been digging up their orchards because it is cheaper than keeping them.. the government was even payiing farmers a get out payment of up to $150,000…. to walk away…. stock feed is hugly expensive and our food prices have gone up more than any country in to world…
a litre of milk will cost you $2.40 a loaf of bread is $3.60 a side of lamb is running out at $45.00… 2 years ago milk was $1.40 litre, bread $2.50 and a side of lamb $24.00….. my food busget has gone from $110 per week for the basic groceries to $180 per week and I get less……. not very good… it hadnt rained in some parts of OZ for 10 years or more….
Part of the problem down here is in the top end of Queensland they are growing Cotton and Rice the two most thristy you can have in the driest contenent on earth right at the top of the country which feeds the river systems down stream to the crop farmers… the government has been telling us it is not their fault…. but they have dams which hold more water then 10 sydney harbours and want to built more meanwhile the farmers are loosing crops…. Go figure perhaps the new government will do something but it is states that approved it ….
Sucks
John Deere is down here too and seriouly doubt they will selling any new tractors soon….. we are hopefully in a drought breaking system with rains falling like now one has ever seen… 68 MM in 30 minutes, 600mm in 6 hours it is just amazing..
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AC,i didn’t realise the situation was like that in Australia,i’ve noticed the weekly shop go up here over the last 12 months,it’s going up because of the demand,i just watched a programme on fish markets,in the U.K. a lot of good fish gets shipped abroad for large amounts of money,it was like an auction and some restauranteurs we’re bidding on catches to serve up in plush places,Turbot were going for ?170 each!!
Fish prices are skyrocketing! Not a surprise though, since I’ve heard that it’s getting harder than ever for some countries to bring in good catches.
Our food prices have gone up in the past couple of weeks too. At least ten to twenty cents per item in the grocery store and milk is getting to be more exspensive than gas per gallon, which is really saying something.
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G’Day Funky
It is rediculous… on average in this town we pay 30 -80 cents per item more than the mainland….. and people dont realise… Tasmanian produce costs more in Tasmania than on mainland Australia even buying direct from the factory…. King Island Cheese for example is 5.60 here for a wedge about 250grams… on the mainland 3.20 for the same product…..
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Hi Bo.
Em here
Interesting topic. I was talking to my friend whose parent farm in Canada and have been growing corn for three generations now. Sadly, the corn is sold for fuel as it is a cheaper resource. We were talking about the irony of spending hours a day growing something only for it to be burnt!
The farming system sounds totally messed up. We go from mountains of food that go to waste in the EU because farmers are subsidised to grow it, but cannot sell it to shortages because they then burn it rather than eat it and all the time, people are starving in Africa and other places because the governments are too messed up or too corrupt to care.
Also, if you are conspiracy theory believer, an alternative fuel has already been discovered but it is being kept under cover by the oil industry so that they don’t go out of business.
It looks like the problem lies with governments rather than the farmers.
Hi Em,totally agree,a slight oversight by most governments,too busy fiddling the expenses over here!! I read some crazy statistic that since 1998, 150,000 Indian Farmers have killed themselves because of poor crops. Overlooked problem that i think we’ll here more about this year.
India’s been hit pretty hard in the past several years by difficult and violent weather conditions. It must be nearly impossible to keep yourself going after the third or forth earthquake or tsunami hits in as many years.
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It seems that the problem is with the people, but also aided by the governments. These are all ‘cash’ crops that we’re talking about. Corn for bio-fuel. Wheat and hay for feed. Even Cotton, Rice and Tobacco. A farmer devotes more time and effort growing a crop for sale in another country when all he needs to do is grow enough food for himself and his local town right on his own land!
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I feel a song by the wurzels coming on - oh go on look it up on you tube yourselves!
Farming’s a funny old game at the best of times. My dad worked on a farm for 40 years nearly, he rembered pulling ploughs by horse!
First they take the hedges out to make the fields bigger to cope with bigger machinery, then the soil blows away so they put the hedges back but make larger openings for the larger machinery, then they have to leave ground fallow and to rest, then the goverment waves money at them to grow the ‘right crop’ and all the fallow fields get used again.
My dad was worried that the soil would end up grey sludge as they’d stopped ploughing and were literally just raking the surface with cultivators.
Madness I tell you!
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Jonathan,i already covered the Wurzels,click on tractors to see! Spot on with your description,growing the ‘right crop’ for the ‘right money’ Too many farmers too hasty to grow ‘maize’ to produce bio-fuels and forgetting about the grain man.
Heh Tractor Man!
I used to work for a company called Flexible Lamps that made Rubbolite lights for John Deere tractors! Used to do all the Physics in the R&D there on colour of light, intensity etc blah blah technical stuff …
Cool eh?
I only ask you Bo as most people will not think that’s cool !
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Oh you tractor boys eh!
Pass the straw!
Mike,that is cool,i’m blown away,i’ve polished many a rubbolite lamp on many a John Deere!
One question, round cab or square cab? Or have I just ruined your next post?
Round cab,John Deere were the first tractor manufacturer to take heed of the decibel levels in a tractor cab,hence the pioneering roundcab with tinted safety glass in the mid 80’s.
But by the same token Bo, we are also being told that poverty is slowly being erradicated which in turn is bringing other sets of problems.
Perhaps the two will wipe themselves out.
Bo book for you:
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
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Cheers Mike,i’ll finish ” The Big Book of John Deere Tractors” and i’ll have a look,i’ve got a business trip to Poland soon,i might write about my tractor sightings over there,be quite similar to Ukraine i reckon.