April 2008 Archives

This is the headline for a story in The Guardian today. It seems that panic buying of rice, after stories of more price rises and shortages, has prompted some wholesale stores to limit the amount each customer can buy. So, the World food crisis has got to the US. Will Europe be next? When will governments take this issue seriously and start to really encourage more local food?

According to The Guardian today the credit crunch is responsible for yet further increases in vegetable seed sales as cash strapped people start to grow their own food. Yes, it does save money and for not that much work. I hope that once the newcomers experience the taste of real, fresh food they never go back to buying the over priced, limp, nutritionally dubious stuff that masquerades as fresh vegetables in supermarkets.

In The Guardian today George Monbiot widens the debate about what is causing the global food crisis. In his article called "Credit crunch? The real crisis is global hunger. And if you care, eat less meat" he argues for deceasing meat consumption. 

You can always tell when something becomes 'cool' as lots of magazines appear on the subject. Growing your own food has suddenly become the thing to do or, more importantly, to be seen to be doing. Recent news about the increase in vegetable seed sales confirms the extra interest. Nothing at all wrong with that and I am all for people growing food but do we need so many magazines repeating articles telling us how to do it?

There are also an increasing number of stories about people waiting ages for an allotment, having a first flush of excitement, realising it is hard work and giving up. That is a pity as there are ways to make things easier. One thing I would always suggest is starting small with say a Square Foot ^TM bed and increasing the size of the garden as experience grows. There are also ways to reduce the work, particularly the tyranny of autumn digging, by using no-dig raised beds. It takes a while to get thing settled but it really does work well.

My advice to newcomers is to take it slow, learn from your mistakes and find what works for your garden. Don't listen to all the advice you will get, some will be good and some will be the oft repeated myths that circulate around allotments and gardening clubs. Ask questions, find out for yourself what works in YOUR and above all enjoy learning a very valuable new skill and eating fresh, nutritious produce!

Yet more evidence that the race to produce more biofuels is seriously affecting the food supply in developing nations.

"It doesn't get madder than this. Swaziland is in the grip of a famine and receiving emergency food aid. Forty percent of its people are facing acute food shortages. So what has the government decided to export? Biofuel made from one of its staple crops, cassava. (1) The government has allocated several thousand hectares of farmland to ethanol production in the county of Lavumisa, which happens to be the place worst hit by drought."

Source: https://www.conbio.org/CIP/think10881.cfm

This madness has to stop now. People are starving and will soon die just because of some political whim in the so called 'developed world'.

The Observer today has some alarming news about the biofuel led food crisis.

"Hunger. Strikes. Riots. The food crisis bites

Across the world a crisis is unfolding at alarming speed. Climate change, China's increasing consumption and the dash for biofuels are causing food shortages and rocketing prices - sparking riots in cities from the Caribbean to the Far East. Robin McKie and Heather Stewart report on the millions facing starvation - and the growing threat to global security.

There is also a front page article about the UK governments's response. The big question is whether the US will cease its ridiculous push to biofuels and stop subsidising farming to switch from food to fuel.

It really is time that government finally realised we need to grow food not fuel.

Recently I was asked how I could justify remineralising soil as it was not sustainable. I am all for sustainability but it seems some people take it so literally that they are almost paralysed. The only solution seems to be a Lemming like rush to the nearest cliff top!

The rock dust I use to remineralise my garden is a commercial product. It comes from basalt quarries. It is a waste product, the dust that is left from the quarrying and grading process. If it were not sold for garden use then it would be dumped somewhere. If gardeners did not buy it would still exist, quarries would not shut down!

The other things to consider are the effects of remineralisation. There is good evidence to show that the mineral levels in fruit and vegetables have fallen by up to 70% over the last 60 years. Some would argue that this is entirely the result of intensive agriculture. Others will say it is part of a natural cycle. I am not that worried why it has happened but I am concerned to do something about it.

There is also ample evidence to show that putting back the lost minerals produces better plants. I am also sure that it also increases the nutrients available in the food we eat and am starting some trials this year to prove that.

There are short and long views of sustainability. The short view sees a product, or process, and says "that uses energy therefore it is unsustainable and should stop." Sometimes that is right and at other times it is not. The long view says that even though it uses energy the net overall gain is higher than the initial energy used. I would argue that this is the way to look at soil remineralisation. There is no denying that it requires energy to pack and distribute the product but the overall effect on improved plant health, greater yields and improved human health far outweighs those energy costs.

That brings me to another point. When talking about sustainability the human aspect is often totally ignored. It is as if we have no right to be here. Poor human health uses huge amounts of resources and anything that improves the overall health of a nation has to contribute to sustainability. I strongly believe that human beings do have a right to be here but also have huge responsibility to protect our environment for the next generation. Yes, that means being careful about how we use natural resources but it also means taking care of ourselves to reduce the resources required for our good health. That is why I remineralise my soil.

Some parts of the media are reporting an increasing number of food riots in various parts of the world. The rapid rise in food prices is causing real hardship to many people. How long before this happens in Europe? Or the US?

Scaremongering? The UN does not think so. This is from The Guardian on 09 April 2008.

"Sir John Holmes, undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and the UN's emergency relief coordinator, told a conference in Dubai that escalating prices would trigger protests and riots in vulnerable nations. He said food scarcity and soaring fuel prices would compound the damaging effects of global warming. Prices have risen 40% on average globally since last summer."

At last people are waking up to the fact that food security is a real issue. The ready availability of cheap food is over and we need to think deeply about how to feed ourselves in the future.

For many years I have been preaching the gospel of 'grow your own'. OK, I accept that most people can't be self sufficient but everybody can grow some food. A few years back Coventry Organic Gardeners gave out recycled containers, compost and seeds to anybody who wanted them. The result was a huge variety of food being grown on balconies of high rise blocks, back doorsteps of inner city houses with no garden and many other places where people could find space for a pot.

I am really pleased to see that others are doing similar projects e.g. Middlesbrough. See this article from The Guardian. Some might laugh and say that we are never going to feed the population from food grown in containers.  I've heard it all before but with the effects of climate change, rising food prices and ongoing economic problems means there is no better time to start growing at least some of your own food.