Food Resources

Ayalech can no longer afford maize after a 600% rise in food prices in
Ethiopia. She cooks wild cabbage for her hungry and malnourished
children. http://www.theguardian.com/society/gallery/2009/mar/31/g20-food-prices-africa
Tue, July 29, 2008 AM220 Lecture 8
 Outline
● Dimensions of the Food Crisis
● Hunger, poverty, production, distribution
● Threats to Food Security: Present and Future
● Solutions to the Food Crisis
● Theoretical (Present) Solution
● Food Distribution
● Real Solutions
● Industrial Agriculture?
● Alternative Agriculture
● Vegetarianism
● What Can You Do?
 Forced to eat dirt!

Brittle, gritty and revolting, “mud cakes” have been consumed by

impoverished pregnant women seeking calcium, for years. But
now the cakes have become a staple for entire families in Haiti.
--The Hindu, Wed, Jul 30, 2008
 Food and Health in India
● India ranked 103rd in the 2018 Global Hunger
Index (GHI) Report.
● GHI went up from 22.9 to 23.7 between 1996 -2011.
●60% of India’s children below the age of three
were malnourished (2005 report)
●1 in 3 malnourished children in the world lives in
India.
●1.72 mi. children (<1 yr.) die each year before
turning one.
● Rampant diseases such as dengue, hepatitis,
tuberculosis, malaria and pneumonia.
 ~795 mi. people starving.

http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4674e.pdf
 World Food Production
● Actually the world is producing enough food to feed
everyone for now.
● Per capita food availability has risen:
● From ~2220 kcal/person/day in the early 1960s
● To 2790 kcal/person/day in 2006-08.
● Yet many people in the world still do not have sufficient
income to purchase (or land to grow) enough food.
● Besides, population is projected to grow from 7bi. to 9.6
bi. (2012-2050).
● >50% will occur in sub-Saharan Africa, where 25%
population is currently undernourished.
http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm
Per Capita Food Availability

http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/12/global-food-challenge-explained-18-graphics
 Inequality in Society
●Nearly 1/2 of the world’s population (> 3 bi.) live on
<$2.50/day.
●More than 1.3 bi. <$1.25 a day.
●80% of the world population lives on less than $10 a day.
●1 bi. children worldwide are living in poverty.
●22,000 children die each day due to poverty (UNICEF)
● 805 mi. worldwide do not have enough food to eat.
●The world's 358 billionaires have assets exceeding the
combined annual incomes of countries having 45 percent
of the world's people.
http://worldcentric.org/conscious-living/social-and-economic-injustice
 Spare Arms and Feed the Hungry
Is solving the hunger problem impossible?
….Perhaps not!
● For the price of one missile, a school full of

hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5

years
● 100 mi. child hunger deaths (over 1 decade:

1990-2000) could be prevented for:

● the price of 10 stealth bombers, or
● World military expenditure in 2 days!
Rising and Fluctuating Food Prices
Monthly FAO Price Indices for basic
food commodity groups (1998-2000=100) The poor
consumers and the
poor farmers are the
worst affected.

● Causes:
● Losses in yields due to adverse weather conditions
● Fluctuations in energy costs
● Increased demand due to rising population.
● Increased preference for meat and dairy products.
● Diversion of food crops and land for biofuel production
● Financial speculation and price fixing.ref
● Policy factors.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i1059e/i1059e00.pdf, http://www.helsinki.fi/taloustiede/Abs/DP35.pdf
India: 0.13 ha/capita
(2012)
http://wdi.worldbank.org/table/3.1
Agricultural Yields in India
● Roughly 60% of India’s land is under
agriculture.
● Indian agricultural yields are generally low
due to:
● Soil and land degradation.
● Low percentage of irrigated land (only 35% of
arable land).
● Low agricultural technology and know-how.

http://wdi.worldbank.org/table/3.2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_India
 Food Wastage and Spoilage

● 1/3rd of world’s food is wasted; while 0.8 bi.

people go hungry.
● Millions of tons of food grains rot in warehouses
● Cold-storage facilities are available for only
10% of India’s perishable food. 370 mi. tons of
perishables at risk.
● Large quantities of prepared food is wasted
world over.
 Outline
● Dimensions of the Food Crisis
● Hunger, poverty, production, distribution
● Threats to Food Security: Present and Future
● Solutions to the Food Crisis
● Theoretical (Present) Solution
● Food Distribution
● Real Solutions
● Industrial Agriculture?
● Alternative Agriculture
● Vegetarianism
● What Can You Do?
 Threats to Future Food Security
● Rising population
● Unequal distribution
● Diversion of foodgrains as livestock feed and biofuels.
● Reduced productivity of important agricultural regions world-wide
due to desertification, droughts, land degradation,
pollution…effects of industrial agriculture, deforestation,
industrialization and urbanization.
● Global climate change: droughts, famines, floods and severe
weather episodes, shifting temperature, rainfall and humidity
patterns
● Food Wastage and Spoilage
● Genetic pollution due to GMOs
● Loss of crop and wild biodiversity
Solutions???
● So, we must grow more food…drastically
improve productivity through technology—
● Industrial agriculture: mechanization,
chemical fertilizers…pesticides…
biotechnology …genetic engineering…
● Technology has solved so many problems
for us…surely this is no different!…
● Right????? ……………………OR NOT??
● When in doubt, lets look at our leaders
 What are our leaders doing?
● G8 Summit on Global
Food Crisis and Poverty
Alleviation in 2008.
● Leading industrialized
nations on the island of
Hokkaido, Japan
 Summit that's hard to swallow

World leaders enjoy an 18-course banquet as they discuss

how to solve
Global Food Crisis
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1032909/Summit-thats-hard-swallow--world-leaders-enjoy-18-course-banquet-discuss-solve-global-food-crisis.html
Just what the starving millions need!
 Outline
● Dimensions of the Food Crisis
● Hunger, poverty, production, distribution
● Threats to Food Security: Present and Future
● Solutions to the Food Crisis
● Theoretical (Present) Solution
● Food Distribution
● Real Solutions
● Industrial Agriculture?
● Alternative Agriculture
● Vegetarianism
● What Can You Do?
Theoretical Solution

● Since presently the world already produces

enough food, the hunger problem can be
solved theoretically, to a large extent by
better and more equitable distribution.
● …easier said than done!
 Food Distribution: Haves and
Have-nots
● Excess food production in developed countries (low
population densities); insufficient food production in
developing countries (high population densities).
● High food prices: unaffordable to the poor countries
and the poor people in a country.
● Developed countries must enable purchase of food by
poor countries at subsidized prices, while offering the
producers a fair price for their crop.
● The govts. and state depts of poor countries should
effectively distribute food to the poor masses at
subsidized rates.
Food Distribution and World Debt
● The poorest 52 countries (37 in Africa) $376 bi. debt.
● This forces the countries to use their land for growing
cash crops for export.
● This, prevents solving the hunger problem.
● Cancelling world debt would will allow them to
recover their economy, agriculture, and technology to
solve their food crisis.
● Will the present world economic order allow this to
happen?
 Food Distribution: Wars
● War, (esp. civil war) is one of the major causes for
persistent hunger in a country…often triggered by
resource control issues between govts. and dissenting
groups.
● Destroys or disrupts agriculture, economy, food
distribution systems, transportation etc. for extended
periods.
● Often prevents aid (food and medical aid) entering or
reaching those areas of need.
 Food Distribution: Wars
● Wars divert a nation’s resources to funding the war
process.
● There is little money to fund equipment, technology to
increase food supplies, or to afford imports of food from
abroad.
● Peace negotiations in hunger stricken areas help to allow
aid in and the country to focus its time and resources
onto solving their hunger problems.
● More tangible improvements in food
distribution…..
 Food Distribution: Market
Facilities and Management
● Public market facilities are inadequate or in a derelict
condition affecting the local economy, small traders, and
consumers.
● Many food traders occupy roads around markets.
● Traders are taxed by the govt. without providing market
facilities.
● Rat and pest-infested warehouses…unhygenic and
● Insufficient, ill-designed, ill-maintained and high-priced
cold storage.
● This leads to high spoilage of food and hygiene and
safety problems.
 Food Distribution: Market
Facilities and Management
● Poor transportation facilities and road infrastructure,
delays at octroi and other check posts, limited
refrigerated transportation facilities
● Regulation and Taxation: Fruit and vegetables
sometimes have to transported through a series of
wholesale markets, compulsory middlemen, and a series
of market and municipal taxes, leading to high prices.
● Corruption in the subsidized distribution system leads to
diversion of the subsidized food to the open market at a
high prices.
 Food Distribution: Food Miles
● “Food miles” - the total distance in miles the food item
is transported from field to plate
● A convenient indicator of sustainability
● Has led to a general movement towards local production
and local consumption in order to minimize food miles.
● It raises fundamental questions about the sustainability
of the globalised food trade and the increasing
concentration of the food supply chain and distribution
in the hands of fewer and fewer transnational
corporations.
 Food Distribution: Food Miles
● Sourcing food locally and preferring seasonal foods. (Avoid
foods with high food miles and out-of-season foods)
● Local, regional and national food self-sufficiency should be
encouraged.
● Internalising the social costs of transport to reflect the costs to
society of pollution, congestion, accidents, noise and so on, in
the prices paid by transport users.
● Preventing irrational food trade: identical produce is
simultaneously imported and exported between developed
countries in Europe and America.
● In the name of ‘free trade’, poor and populous countries
cultivate cash crops for export to advanced countries, and
import their own food supplies.
 Food Distribution: Food Miles
● This benefits supermarkets, corporations, traders,
middlemen, etc.
● But an even impoverish the farmer by forcing him into the
debt trap of industrial agriculture and undermining their own
food security.
● It leads to the lengthening of the supply chain, high spoilage
rates, high prices for the consumers, high GHG emissions
during transportation, refrigeration etc.
● Need to improve the wider sustainability of the food supply
chain e.g. ethical trading, improved energy efficiency in the
local food sector.
● Reducing transport impacts e.g. cleaner vehicles, improved
logistics, rail freight, etc.
 Outline
● Dimensions of the Food Crisis
● Hunger, poverty, production, distribution
● Threats to Food Security: Present and Future
● Solutions to the Food Crisis
● Theoretical (Present) Solution
● Food Distribution
● Real Solutions
● Industrial Agriculture?
● Alternative Agriculture
● Vegetarianism
● What Can You Do?
 Real Solutions to the Food Crisis

● A more fundamental, practical and sustainable

solution to the food crisis is complex.
● There are no simple solutions
● It requires a deep understanding of conventional
(industrial) agriculture, its economics, socio-
economic issues and sustainability
● It also requires a deeper understanding of
natural processes, ecology, biodiversity,
evolution etc.
● Can industrial agriculture solve the food
crisis?
Environmental Impacts of
Agriculture

http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/12/global-food-challenge-explained-18-graphics
 Conventional Farming
Activity Environmental Impact
Land Loss of biodiversity and habitats, topsoil loss, reduced
clearing water recharge, CO2 emissions.
Heavy Soil compaction, waterlogging, high cost, oil
Equipment dependence
Ploughing Loss of soil structure, porosity, moisture, moisture
carrying capacity, biomass/humus, biota; CO2 emissions
Fertilizers Fast plant growth & micronutrient deficiency, loss of
soil fertility, and biota, eutrophication, nitrates
pollution.
Pesticides, Toxicity to man & environment, POC, increased
Herbicides resistance in pests and weeds, ozone depletion (MeBr)
Irrigation Waterlogging, salination, evaporative losses, CH4
emissions
 Corporate Monopolization of
Agriculture
● By end of 2001 worldwide:
● Top 10 agrochemical corporations…84% of the $30 bi. market
● Top 10 veterinary pharmaceutical companies…60% of the $13.6
bi. world market.
● 10 pharmaceutical companies…48% of the $317 bi. world
market.
● Only 6 corporations controlled 98% of the world’s market
in GM crops.
● The same 6 firms also controlled 70% of the world’s
pesticide market.
● 94% of all GM crops grown worldwide were from 1
company’s germplasm: Monsanto’s.
http://www.greens.org/s-r/33/33-03.html
“…The agricultural sciences have over time
become increasingly subordinated to capital
and…this ongoing process has shaped both
the content of research and, necessarily, the
character of the products.”
–Jack Kloppenberg rural sociologist in First
the Seed.
 “What is profitable affects, or even
determines, what is ‘scientifically true.’

–Hugo de Vries (biologist)

 Impacts of Pesticide Use

● High preconsumer human health costs to

conventional agriculture, particularly in the
use of pesticides.
● It is estimated that 25 mi. agricultural
workers in developing countries are
poisoned each year by pesticides.

Conway, G. and Pretty, J. N., Unwelcome Harvest: Agriculture and Pollution, Earthscan Publications, London, 1991, p. 645.
Jeyaratnam, J., Acute pesticide poisoning: A major problem. World Health Stat. Q., 1990, 43, 139–144.
 Are We Violating the Constitution?

● Pesticide use violates the right to life enshrined in Article

21 in our Constitution
● Article 47 of the Constitution:

The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition

and the standard of living of its people and the
improvement of public health as among its primary
duties and in particular, the state shall endeavor to bring
about prohibition of the consumption except for
medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs,
which are injurious to health.
—Ravi Agarwal, Director, Srishti
More Impacts

● Devastation of natural ecosystems

● Desertification and loss of topsoil soil
● Unfair practices of fertilizer and pesticide
companies causing social injustice and
suicides
● Benefits large corporations and middle men
● Impoverishes the poor farmer and makes
the consumer unhealthy
Climate Change To Reduce Yields
 Impacts on Land

In the past 20 yrs.:

● Tropical forests lost to agriculture: 15 mi. ha/yr

● tremendous loss of genetic diversity.

● Soil erosion and other forms of land degradation:
5-7 mi. ha of farming land/yr.
● Waterlogging and salination: 1.5 mi. ha/yr.
● Other damaged land: 30 mi. ha

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/FAOPromotesOrganicAgriculture.php
 Impacts on Land: Irreversible Land
Degradation
● South Asia: ~ 50% land degraded and
useless for food production.
● China: 27% irreversible loss of land for
agriculture, loss rate (2,500 sq. km /year).
● Madagascar: 30% of the arable land
irreversibly barren.

●^ a b c Ron Nielsen, The Little Green Handbook, Picador, New York (2006) ISBN 0-312-42581-3
●^ UNEP, Global Environmental Outlook 2000, Earthscan Publications, London, UK (1999) which may also be viewed at

http://www.unep.org/geo2000/ov-e/index.htm, including an optional PDF download

 World Soil Degradation
About 2 bi. ha of soil, (~15% of Earth's land area), an area larger
than the United States and Mexico combined, have been degraded
through human activities.

http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/earth/food-and-soil.php
http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/earth/food-and-soil.php
 Soil Carbon Sink
● Soils contain ~1,395 gigatons of C; Vegetation ~650
gigatons, atmosphere ~750 gigatons…(United Nations
Food & Agriculture Organisation)
● "Soil organic carbon is the largest [terrestrial C] reservoir
in interaction with the atmosphere."
● It includes plant litter, burnt char, other biomass and
humus (organic carbon polymers, lignin, aliphatic
compounds, waxes and terpenoids)
● More organic matter tends to accumulate in the litter and
soils of colder regions boreal forests and Taiga.
 Loss of Soil Carbon
● Agricultural practices such as tilling, exposing soil to the sun
and burning lead to high soil temperatures, disruption of
plant root systems, destruction of soil microflora and
fauna…leading to oxidation of humus—C-emissions.
● Deforestation and burning leads to huge emissions of
carbon.
● Water logging/submergence of forests and soils (esp. peat
bogs) releases huge amounts of carbon in the form of CO2
and CH4.
● C-sink capacity of the world's agricultural and degraded
soils is 50 to 66% of the total historic carbon loss of 42 to 78
gigatons C
 Loss of Crop and Wild Biodiversity
● Monopolization of agriculture by seed and
agrochemical MNCs
● Extensive crop monocultures
● Loss of highly adapted and diverse indigenous
crops and landraces
● Reduced resilience to changing climate
● More susceptible to MNCs power politics
● Reduced independence for farmer.
● Debt trap
http://g.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/codesign/imagecache/inline-large/post-inline/food-variety-tree-754.jpg
● “Genetic engineering is not merely causing
genetic pollution of biodiversity and creating
bio-imperialism, monopolies over life itself. It is
also causing knowledge pollution—by
undermining independent science, and
promoting pseudo science. It is leading to
monopolies over knowledge and information.”
–Dr Vandana Shiva |
Author, Activist, Pioneer, Scientific Advisor, Mother
Navdanya www.navdanya.org/
External Costs of Industrial Agriculture
● Industrial agriculture and the green revolution has masked
significant externalities, affecting natural resources and
human health as well as agriculture itself.
● Environmental and health problems associated with
agriculture have been increasingly well documented
● External costs of agriculture in the UK alone have been
estimated as 1.1–3.9 bi. pounds/yr.
● As the external costs of farming are not internalized in the
price of food, tax payers (or more likely the future
generations) will have to pay the bill that is getting bigger
every day.

Subba Rao, I. V., Soil and environmental pollution – A threat to sustainable agriculture. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci., 1999, 47, 611–633.
Pretty, J., The real costs of modern farming. Agric. Syst., 2000, 65, 113–136
Summing Up Corporate Agriculture
● Agriculture related firms form a nexus: Seed firms;
agrochemical concerns; agroforestry; veterinary services and
medicine; food industry; biotechnology; pharmaceuticals;
nanotech, bioinformatics.
● Capitalized market valued between $2.5–4 trillion.
● Approximately 12 firms control 75% of this market.
● These corporations are not committed to humanitarian ends—
i.e., feeding and curing people, or tackling hunger or disease.
● Instead, they are committed to feeding themselves and their
shareholders increasing profits, making well people better, and
fomenting simultaneously social sickness and corporate wealth.
● The name of the game is, privatize benefits and socialize costs.
http://www.greens.org/s-r/33/33-03.html
 Death Trap of Industrial Agriculture
● 70% of all Indians are small marginal farmers with land
holdings of a few acres or less.
● Giant seed and agrochemical MNCs market expensive
seeds to them promising extraordinary yields, quality
and profits.
● However, the crops are addicted to high water use and
agrochemical inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides
…often marketed by the same MNCs.
● Majority of introduced commercial crops (esp. hybrids
and GMOs) are not adapted to local conditions.
 Death Trap of Industrial Agriculture
● These crops are more vulnerable to climatic changes,
disease and pest attack.
● Farmers are urged to turn traditional diverse farms into
cash crop monocultures.
● MNCs also aggressively market farm machinery in the
name of higher productivity and profits.
● Forces farmers to borrow; oft. at unreasonably high
interest rates (30-60% p.a.) from private moneylenders.
● Produce is sold by farmers in a market controlled by
traders and MNCs, and which is subject to price-fixing
and the vagaries of government policies.
Death Trap of Industrial Agriculture
● Farmers cannot indulge in "unauthorized seed-saving”.
Patent violation…lawsuits.
● F1 hybrids, Terminator Technology (sterile seeds).
● Must purchase seed for the next season from the seed
corporation…at ever-increasing prices.
● Newer seeds need higher and higher inputs of newer
and deadlier pesticides and fertilizers…purchased from
the same MNCs.
● Repeated borrowing becomes necessary
● Crop failures or inability to sell crops at a suitable price
causes the debt to spiral out of control…farmer suicides.
Death Trap of Industrial Agriculture
● The excessive fertilizers lay waste the
land…depleted soil carbon, deficiency of
micronutrients, loss of soil biota, eutrophication
and pollution of waterways.
● Excessive irrigation: water logging, salinization
of soils, groundwater depletion.
● Excessive pesticides, herbicides: pollution of
air, land and water,
● Heavy farm machinery: soil compaction (plough
pan) water logging.
Indian Farming: Cost Breakup
S. Item %Cost
No.
1. Seed 20
2. Chemicals 32
3. Diesel (groundwater 10
pumping)
4. Labor 38
TOTAL INPUT COST 100

● Avg. potato and onion farming in Northern India

● http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=3204
 Indian Farming: Cost Breakup
● Assuming 4.4 metric tonnes/acre each of potato and
onion
● 5 yr-avg. ex-farm prices is about Rs. 200/quintal for
potato and Rs. 250/quintal for onion.
● Does not include post-harvest wastage: 10 to 40% on
account of drying, rotting, and losses in transit (various
government estimates).
● Once in ~3 yrs. prices crash by as much as 30-50%,
largely engineered by traders, leaving farmers deeply in
debt.
 Indian Farming: Cost Breakup
Input Output Interest Profit Remarks
Rs./acre Rs./acre owed Rs./acr
e
38,000 44,500 0 6,500 Self-financed, Hired Labor
23,560 44,500 0 20,900 Self-financed, Family Labor
38,000 44,500 6,840 -340 50% inputs financed @36% p.a.,
Hired Labor

23,560 44,500 6,840 14,100 50% inputs financed @36% p.a.,

Family Labor

38,000 31,150 6,840 - 50% inputs financed @36% p.a.

13,690 30% crash in market price
23,560 31,150 6,840 750 50% inputs financed @36% p.a.
30% crash in market price, Family
Labor
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=3204
 Indian Farming: Cost Breakup
● Small and marginal farmers cannot store the
produce or afford warehouse charges.
● Distress sale further erodes a farmer’s financial
viability.
● Those who store their surplus end up losing 10-
20% stock due to spoilage and drying shrinkage.
● This neutralizes any gains through seasonal
price fluctuation.
 Ineffective Government Policies
“The talk of helping farmers with greater access to
market, a promise that has been repeated by
every politician and every Agriculture Minister
since 1947, is unlikely to resolve the problem of
assured minimum income. Small and marginal
farmers can’t benefit from market access; rather
the market left to its own devices works against
their interest.”
—Arun Shrivastava, Global Research, 2006
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=3204
Indian Farming: Winners and Losers
Income from… USD / acre/yr
Seeds 168.89
Diesel 84.45
Corporations
Fertilizers and 270.23
pesticides
Total to 523.57
corporations
Net income USD /acre/ yr
With hired labor 144.00 Farmers
With family labor 464.00 70% of Indians
[excluding cost of
capital]
Industrial Agriculture Leads to Food
Insecurity
● Unsustainable yields.
● Yields decline due to soil degradation, pest attack (pesticide
resistance)
● Increased agrochemical use becomes necessary…expensive
● Needs excessive irrigation…resource depletion and
land degradation.
● Leads to crop monocultures: inherently unstable
● Degradation of prime agricultural lands, loss of
topsoil—a permanent loss.
● Poor resilience to changing abiotic and biotic
factors…global climate change.
Industrial Agriculture Leads to
Food Insecurity
● Serious and widespread preconsumer and
consumer health effects of pesticides,
nitrate contaminants.
● Eutrophication and toxification of precious
and scarce water resources.
● Inequitable food distribution inspite of
surplus production due to MNC domination,
politics and govt. policies.
 Outline
● Dimensions of the Food Crisis
● Hunger, poverty, production, distribution
● Threats to Food Security: Present and Future
● Solutions to the Food Crisis
● Theoretical (Present) Solution
● Food Distribution
● Real Solutions
● Industrial Agriculture?
● Alternative Agriculture
● Vegetarianism
● What Can You Do?
Human System vs Ecosystem
Anthroposystem Ecosystem
● Very simple ecosystem; ● Often highly complex
max. 3 trophic levels food webs
● Open system; minimal ● Often closed systems
recycling with significant recycling
● High efficiency of ● Low efficiency of
transfer of biomass to transfer of biomass to
higher trophic level higher trophic level
● Monoculture; high ● High biodiversity
density ● Natural balance in
● Few favored species species populations
encouraged; weeds achieved adapted to
destroyed conditions
● Static, highly unstable ● Robust, stable, dynamic,
● Few people feed the rest- adaptable, evolving
agriculture
Problems with Human Systems
● Dependent on very few species
● 80% of world food from 15 species.
● Human consume only 150 out of the estimated 50,000
edibles.
● Out of 10,000 cereals, not one new has been cultivated
in the past 2000 yrs.
● Inherently unstable
● Irish Great potato famine (1845-47) wind-borne potato
blight fungus; near total crop failure
● 1 million dead due to starvation, typhoid and cholera
● Require constant inputs; pesticides, fertilizers, etc.
● Prone to pest attacks and failures
● Pollute soil, air, water
● Soil degradation and topsoil loss
Alternative to Industrial Agriculture
● Adopt low input sustainable/organic farming
methods
● Use indigenous or traditional crops
● Improve farm diversity
● Use organic, biological pest management
methods.
Alternative Farming—Different
Preoccupations
● Sustainability—Sustainable farming
● Ecological—Ecological agriculture
● Mimicking nature—Natural
● Chemical free—Organic
● Avoiding tillage—No till, Zero tillage,
minimal tillage
● Biodynamic, Rishi Krishi
 Alternative Farming

Characteristics Environmental Benefit

No-till, minimal Retains soil structure, porosity, organic matter,
tillage biota, high percolation, C-sequestration.
Minimal Minimize habitat and topsoil loss, C-
earthmoving sequestration.
Minimal Reduced capital costs, compaction, and oil
Equipment dependence
Ground Mulch, Reduced cost, evaporation. Improved pest
Manures, residue resistance, better product and keeping quality,
balanced fertilization, C-sequestration.
Interplant More crop diversity, resilience to pest attack,
maintenance of soil fertility
 Alternative Farming

Characteristics Environmental Benefit

Natural Pesticides/ Low or no toxicity to humans, preserves and
predators improves biodiversity
Beneficial Better fertilization, pollination, yields,
Organisms, supplementary income
earthworms, Bees
Local crops Excellent adaptation to local conditions, natural
pest resistance, Not addicted to fertilizers and
pesticides, increased crop diversity…resilience
Minimal irrigation Low salinization, low depletion of water
resources, low CH4 emissions due to
waterlogging
 Farm Diversity
● High farm diversity ( in crops and enterprises) reduces
economic risk.
● Plant a variety of crops
● Intercrop with nitrogen fixing crops
● Follow crop rotation with nitrogen fixing crops or pasture
grasses.
● Keep livestock
● Start value-added enterprises
● Farms become more self-sufficient in terms of nutrients,
livestock feed, soil organic matter and energy.

http://www.cog.ca/documents/Economics%20of%20organic%20farming.pdf
 Indigenous Crops with Diversity
● Traditional and indigenous crops are highly adapted and
resilient to local conditions (including microclimate, soil,
pests etc.) over hundreds or even thousands of yrs.
● Require minimal inputs. Can be very successfully grown
using organic methods and without mechanization.
● Reduce the farmer’s need to borrow: own seed, own manure,
no pesticide etc…beats the debt-trap.
● Premium market price…due to better quality and organic
certification.
● Increasing crop diversity on farm, improves resilience to
weather fluctuations in rainfall, weather conditions, pest
attack etc; prevents a total crop failure—inherent insurance
policy
 Indigenous Crops with Diversity
● Improve farmers’ diets.
● Occupy an ecological niche and minimizes environmental
impacts incl. soil degradation, water wastage, habitat
destruction, pollution, etc.
● Encourage seed saving: dynamic seed banks—diverse gene
pool of successful adaptations to local conditions.
● Encourage local agribusiness such as processing and
preservation of traditional foods.
● This provides local food security (during off season),
community income and reduces dependence on large
commercial agricultural companies that can be exploitative to
small farmers.
 Questions About Alternative/
Organic Farming
● Can alternative farming produce enough food for
everybody?
● Is it economically feasible?
● Is it possible to meet the nutrient requirements of crops
entirely from organic sources?
● Are there any significant environmental benefits of
alternative farming?
● Is the food produced by organic/alternative farming
superior in quality?
● Is it possible to manage, weeds, pests and diseases in
alternative farming?
Viable Option for Future Food Security
● Neither conventional, nor organic/alternative agriculture
might be sufficient to provide for future food needs due
to enormous projected growth in population.
● Yet, modeling studies indicate that large-scale
conversion to organic agriculture would neither result in
drastic reduction in world food supplies nor necessitate
conversion of undisturbed lands to agriculture.
● In fact, widespread conversion to organic agriculture
would result in crop yield increases as a result of
increased investment in research and extension.
Avery, D. T., Saving the planet with pesticides and plastic: The environmental triumph of high-yield farming. Hudson Institute, Indianapolis,
1995, p. 432.
Trewavas, A. J., The population/biodiversity paradox. Agricultural efficiency to save wilderness. Plant Physiol., 2001, 125, 174–179.
Lampkin, N. H., Estimating the impact of widespread conversion to organic farming on land use and physical output in the United Kindom. In
Economics of Organic Farming (eds Lampkin, N. H. and Padel, S.), CAB, Wallingford, UK, 1994, pp. 353–359.
Viable Option for Future Food Security
● Limiting population drastically is a matter of necessity
● Equitable food distribution is also required.
● Prevention of diversion of foodgrains towards livestock
feed must be prevented…a case for vegetarianism.
● Prevention of conversion of agricultural lands (or
produce) into fuel farms must be prevented.
● If the above critical issues are successfully addressed,
organic agriculture is an economically viable,
environmentally friendly and socially nurturing option.
 Organic Farming Yields
● Avg. yield increases due to organic farming—A survey of 208
projects in developing tropical countries:
● 5–10% in irrigated crops and
● 50–100% in rainfed crops
● Significantly higher yields than conventional when under stress
caused by drought, heat, excessive rain or unseasonably cold
weather, disease or pest attack.
● 30% reduced yields in transitional phase (1-4 yrs.) depending upon
intensity of mechanization and chemical use prior to switchover.
Yields recover after transitional period.
● Premium prices after transitional phase.
● Steady annual growth in demand (20-25% ) for organic food in
developed and developing countries.
Pretty, J. and Hine, R., Reducing food poverty with sustainable agriculture: A summary of new evidence. SAFE Research Project,
University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, UK, 2001, p. 136. http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/feb252005/561.pdf
http://www.cog.ca/documents/Economics%20of%20organic%20farming.pdf
Do Polycultures Overyield
Monocultures?
● Overyield in polycultures is common.
● The traditional corn/beans/squash polyculture of Mexico
produces overyields as high as 50 %
● Some studies found overyields as high as 150 %
● Another study: consistent 5-15% increase in yields due to
intercropping
● Perennial polyculture: The Land Institute
● 19% overyield with a mixture of eastern gamagrass and Illinois
bundleflower,
● 26% overyield with 3-species mixture (eastern gamagrass,
Illinois bundleflower, and the cool season (C3) mammoth wild
rye.
Low Inputs and Sustainable Productivity
● Organic farm production costs < conventional farms, with
low purchased inputs.
● Inputs eliminated or drastically reduced are: fertilizers,
pesticides, purchased feed, veterinary bills, and replacement
livestock
● Organic farmers have lower fixed (overhead) costs for
depreciation and interest charges attached to capital inputs,
such as machinery and equipment.
● Enrichment of soil ensures future (sustainable) productivity.
● No increase in tillage needs for weed control upon following
good management practices and improving soil structure.
 Economic Feasibility of Organic
Agriculture
Organic Farming is certainly economically feasible
due to the following reasons:
● High or ‘at par’ yields
● Low inputs
● Better storage quality of products
● Premium prices and growing demand
● Farm self-sufficiency
● Increased resilience and high productivity under adverse
conditions
● Sustainable use of local resources
● Empowerment of farmers and local communities.
 Economic Feasibility of Organic
Agriculture
Good returns due Low inputs. Local
to premium prices inputs of manure
High Profits!! and comparable etc.
yields

Profit = (total returns) - (total costs or inputs)

Economic Feasibility: Testimony from
Cotton Farming

The economic study of organic cotton

cultivation compared to conventional cotton
cultivation in India, over a period of 6 yrs.:
● Reduction in cost of cultivation

● Increased gross and net returns

Rajendran, T. P., Venugopalan, M. V. and Tarhalkar, P. P., Organic cotton farming in India. Central Institute of Cotton
Research, Technical Bulletin No. 1/2000, Nagpur, 2000, p. 39.
 Organic Foods Retain Quality Better

● Organic products retain post-storage quality

better than conventional products.
● Can fetch a better market price after storage
● Reduced spoilage during storage.

Reganold, J. P., Glover, J. D., Andrews, P. K. and Hinman, H. R., Sustainability of three apple production systems.
Nature, 2001,410, 926–930.
Benge, J. R., Banks, N. H., Tillman, R. and De Silva, H. N., Pairwise comparison of the storage potential of kiwi fruit
from organic and conventional production systems. N. Z. J. Crop Hortic. Sci., 2000, 28, 147–152.
Organic food: Safe and Healthful
● Studies reject the claim that organic foods
increase exposure to microbiological
contaminants
● Organic foods are proved superior in terms of
health and safety

Pell, A. N., Manure and microbes: Public and animal health problem? J. Dairy Sci., 1997, 80, 2673–2681.
Burros, M., Anti-organic and flawed. New York Times, 17 February 1999.
Jones, D. L., Potential health risks associated with the persistence of Escherichia coli O157 in agricultural environments.
Soil Use Manage., 1999, 15, 76–83.
Rutenberg, J., Report on organic foods challenged. New York Times, 31 July 2000, p. C 11.
 Organic food: Safe and Healthful
● Higher levels of vitamin C and essential minerals such as
calcium, magnesium, iron, and chromium—The UK Soil
Association..
● An independent study found higher levels of all 21 nutrients
in organic crops, particularly potatoes, cabbage, spinach and
lettuce.
● Higher micronutrient content that contributes to better health
● Consumers have lower incidence of non-communicable
diseases and boosts plant and animal immunity against
disease
● Up to 50% fewer mycotoxins (toxins produced by fungi)
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/FAOPromotesOrganicAgriculture.php
 Organic food: Safe and Healthful
● Organic products have significantly lower
pesticide residues than conventional products.
● Significantly lower nitrates in organic foods
(nitrates are associated with intensive use of
nitrogen fertilizers) are significant food
contaminants

FAO, Food safety and quality as affected by organic farming. Agenda item 10.1. In Twenty-Second FAO Regional Conference for Europe,
Porto, Portugal, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 24–28 July 2000.
Woese, K., Lange, D., Boess, C. and Bogl, K. W., A comparison of organically and conventionally grown foods – Results of a review of the
relevant literature. J. Sci. Food Agric., 1997, 74, 281–293.
Benbrook, C. and Baker, B., Placing pesticide residues and risk in perspective: Data-driven approaches for comparative analyses of organic,
conventional and IPM-grown food. In Ecological Farming Conference, Monterey, CA, 24–27 January 2001, www.eco-farm.org.
 Successful Pest Management
● Preventative pest and disease management strategies are
successful
● Involves selection of hardy crops and varieties.
● Improving soil and plant nutrients to grow healthy plants
that are resistant to disease and pests.
● Use of ‘organic’ pesticides e.g. neem products.
● Biological pest control: encourage natural predators like
spiders, wasps, frogs, lizards, birds by providing suitable
habitats.
● Timing planting, harvest and watering, etc.
● Pest and disease incidence is less severe in organic farms.
 Organic: Environment Friendly
● Organic farming systems (compared to
conventional farming) performed significantly
better on 18 environmental impact indicators and
worse in none.
● A review of over 300 published reports
● Environmental impact indicators (floral diversity, faunal
diversity, habitat diversity, landscape, soil organic matter, soil
biological activity, soil structure, soil erosion, nitrate leaching,
pesticide residues, CO2, N2O, CH4, NH3, nutrient use, water use
and energy use), organic farming systems performed
significantly better in 12 and performed worse in none.
Stolze, M., Piorr, A., Haring, A. and Dabbert, S., The environmental impact of organic farming in Europe. In Organic Farming in
Europe: Economics and Policy, University of Hohenheim, Hohenheim, Germany, 2000.
 Organic Input Availability
● Application of organic manure is the only option to improve the
soil organic carbon for sustenance of soil quality and future
agricultural productivity.
● Theoretically 700 mt of agricultural waste in India/yr. for
conversion to manure.
Theoretical Estimated Actual
Availability Availability
Manure basis 5 1.5
tonnes /ha arable
land/yr
NPK basis 100 33
Kg/ha arable land/yr
Katyal, J. C., Organic matter maintenance: Mainstay of soil quality. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci., 2000, 48, 704–716.
72. Tandon, H. L. S., In Plant Nutrient Needs, Efficiency and Policy Issues: 2000–2025, National Academy of
Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi, 1997, pp. 15–28.
Sequestering Carbon Benefits
Agriculture
● Adding 1 ton C/ha to degraded soil can increase crop
yield by 20-40 kg/ha for wheat, 10-20 kg/ha for maize,
and 0.5-1 kg/ha for cowpeas.
● Can offset fossil fuel emissions by 0.4-1.2 gigatons
C/yr…5-15% of the global fossil-fuel emissions.
● Soil C can be improved by afforestation, agroforestry,
no-till farming, cover crops, manuring and sludge
application, improved grazing, water conservation and
harvesting, efficient irrigation, avoiding water logging.
● Soils under conservation tillage contain 30–50% more
C than soils under traditional tillage (Nelson, 1999).
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/304/5677/1623
 Sequestering Carbon Benefits
Agriculture
● Regenerative agriculture (no-till, mulching, cover cropping,
manuring, biochar) if practiced on the planet’s 3.5 bi. tillable
acres, could sequester up to 40% of current CO2 emissions—
agricultural carbon sequestration.
● At a C-sequestration rate of 2,000 lb/ac/year (over
1,760,000 km2) of USA’s cropland could sequester 25 % (1.6
bi. tons) of USA’s total fossil C-emissions (6.5 bi. tons)
● The same practices can dramatically enhance yields (by 50-
100%) on rain-fed or drought prone lands.
● Organically managed soils can thus convert CO2 from a
greenhouse gas into a food-producing asset.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sink
^ A report recently released by Rodale Institute and based on nearly 30 years of research in its side-by-side studies of organic and conventional
agriculture. ^ Lappé, Anna (9 May 2008). "Timothy LaSalle of Rodale on the surprising climate benefits of organic farming". Grist.
http://www.grist.org/feature/2008/05/09/index.html?source=rss.
Organic Agriculture: Human Friendly
● Organic agriculture, can integrate tradition, new
knowledge and innovation
● It can lead to an increased engagement in farming
● It can trigger greater opportunities for rural
employment and socio-economic upliftment.
● Positive health impacts
● Local food security and nutrition
● Empowerment of farmers and local communities.
Agriculture: The Natural Paradigm
●Natural ecosystems are self-supporting.
●They do not require external inputs other than
rainwater, sunlight etc.
●They lead to an improvement in fertility and
productivity over time.
●Can we design agricultural systems on the lines of
natural ecosystems?
●Nearly, self-supporting...requiring minimal
inputs...and yet highly productive
Superiority of the Natural Paradigm
Very High ● High yields.
Efficiency!! ● Overyielding polycultures

Efficiency = Output

Inputs
Low inputs of:
● manure
● labor
● machinery
● irrigation, etc.
Meet The Grandfather of Natural Farming...
Masanobu Fukuoka
● Agricultural scientist, farmer, philosopher, admirer of
Gandhi.
● Awards: Ramon Magsaysay Award, Desikottam Award,
Earth Council Award
● Author of: “ The One-Straw Revolution” By Masanobu
Fukuoka (and 3 other titles)
● No-till, no fertilizer, no pesticide, ground mulch and green cover, direct
seeding (seed balls)

Masanobu Fukuoka
(1913-2008)
 http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/- cXAANZ7iSY/T7Z2rDYPYyI/AAAAAAAAB2c/8nyRgLeBVAc/s16
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http://www.ekoideas.es/
blog/wp-
content/uploads/ecd48b
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45b942.jpg
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XSKSxLHMv9k/maxresdefault.jpg cXAANZ7iSY/T7Z2rDYPYyI/AAAAAA
AAB2c/8nyRgLeBVAc/s1600/masanob http://www.vidaenlatierra.com/images/latest-projects/Masanobu-Fukuoka.jpg
u-fukuoka.jpg
 Outline
● Dimensions of the Food Crisis
● Hunger, poverty, production, distribution
● Threats to Food Security: Present and Future
● Solutions to the Food Crisis
● Theoretical (Present) Solution
● Food Distribution
● Real Solutions
● Industrial Agriculture?
● Alternative Agriculture
● Vegetarianism
● What Can You Do?
Vegetarianism and Sustainability
Dr R. K. Pachauri, Chairman of IPCC: “We
didn’t say it before, but we are saying it now.
One of the best ways to fight global warming is
to adopt a vegetarian diet”. Speech in Geneva,
January 15, 2008
 A Crowded Earth

● World meat production has surged nearly 5-fold

between 1950—1997 (44 → 211 million tons)
● The world fish harvest surged 6-fold between 1950-
2000 (21 → 120 mi. tons)…per capita consumption
tripled.
● Per capita meat production stands at 36 kg (> 2x of
1950 level)
● ~6 bi. humans share the Earth's natural resources with
nearly 1 bi. pigs, 1.3 bi. cows, 1.8 bi. sheep and goats,
and 13.5 bi. chickens. (~ 3 heads of livestock/ person)
World's Livestock Population Growth

Livestock 1960 1997 Increase

(billion) (billion) (percent)
Cattle 0.94 1.33 42
Sheep and
1.34 1.77 32
Goats
Pigs 0.41 0.94 131
Chickens 3.90 13.41 244

Humans 3.08 5.85 90

Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAOStats, 21

June 1998.
Country-wise Meat Consumption
Country (kg meat/person/yr) Beef Pork Poultry Mutton Total
United States 44 31 48 1 123
Germany 16 54 15 1 86
Italy 26 35 19 2 82
United Kingdom 16 25 27 6 74
Brazil 36 9 24 - 70
New Zealand 37 - - 29 66
China 5 35 11 2 53
Russia 19 13 13 1 46
Japan 12 17 12 1 40
Egypt 8 - 6 1 16
India 1 - 1 1 3
Indonesia - - 2 - 2
All Industrial Nations 21 25 24 2 72
All Developing Nations 5 11 7 1 24
Per Capita Protein Intake: Sources

● "10 kcalories (kilogram-calories or 'large calories') of exosomatic

energy are spent in the U.S. food system per calorie of food eaten
by the consumer. Put another way, the (US) food system consumes
ten times more energy than it provides to society in food energy."
 Meat Eating and Health Problems
● The avg. American consumes nearly twice his or
her weight in meat each year.
● High growth in consumption of meat (esp. high-
fat meat), dairy products and eggs—more
cholesterol, saturated fat, and protein.
● Global epidemic of lifestyle diseases: heart
attacks, strokes and cancers.
● Chinese government to limit the country's meat
consumption: to avoid massive health care costs
(100s of bi. of USD)
https://www.worldwatch.org/node/1626
In China a recent shift to meat-heavy diets
has been linked to increases in obesity,
cardiovascular disease, breast cancer and
colorectal cancer.
 Superiority of Plant Protein

● Professor Colin Campbell: “There is a mountain

of compelling evidence that so called “low
quality” plant protein which allows for slow but
steady synthesis of new proteins is the healthiest
type of protein”
 “Heart Attack Proof” Diet

● Diets of Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Caldwell

Esselstyn keep cholesterol levels below 150, the
level below which no one has ever suffered a
heart attack.
At the turn of the century, heart disease and
cancer used to cause 8% and 4% of deaths.

Now they cause 36% and 22% of deaths.

"The vast majority, perhaps 80 percent to 90
percent, of all cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and
other forms of degenerative illness can be
prevented, at least until very old age, simply by
adopting a plant-based diet.“

Dr. T. Colin Campbell

Cornel University
 Healthy Human Diet

● For infants: mother’s milk.

● For adults: fruits, vegetables and whole grains,
pulses, nuts .

Barry A. Popkin, Scientific American, June, 2008

Meat Eating—A Net Drain on
Economy?

● Conservative estimate: excessive meat

consumption linked to health care costs of $60—
120 bi./yr in USA.
● Domestic cash receipts for the meat industry
totaled roughly $100 billion in 1997.
● It is possible that this industry is a net drain on the
American economy.

…Dr. Colin Campbell of Cornell University

 Starvation Deaths

● 1 person dies every second directly or indirectly due to

hunger…4000/hr…100,000/day…36 mi. /yr
● 58 % of all deaths are due to hunger (2001-2004
estimates)
● 1 child dies every 5 seconds directly or indirectly due to
hunger…700/hr…16,000/day…6 mi./yr.
● 60% of all child deaths are due to hunger (2002-2008
estimates)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starvation
 Saving Grain for the Hungry
● The world already produces enough food for the
present 7 billion people; could even support double —
12 billion people.
● But 36 % of world's grain (21% in developing countries
and 70% in industrial nations) feeds livestock, poultry,
and fish farms…inefficient converters of grain
● 1 kg meat ➔ ~7 kg of grain (corn or wheat)…human
food!
● 670 mi. tons of the world's grain used for feed could
feed 800 mi. people.
● In 2007, 923 mi. undernourished.
Saving Grain for the Hungry

● 10% of this feed (67 mi. tons of grain) could

sustain 225 mi. people or keep up with
world population growth for the next three
years.
● If each American reduced his meat
consumption by only 5 %, (1 dish
less/week); the 7.5 mi. tons of grain saved,
could feed all the 25 mi. people going
hungry in the US each day.
 Inefficiency of Protein Production
USA:
● 7 bi. livestock heads consume 5x grain consumed

by the entire American population.

● 41 mi. tons/yr of plant protein is fed to U.S.

livestock to produce 7 mi. tons of animal protein

for human consumption.
● 26 mi. tons of the livestock feed comes from

grains and 15 mi. tons from forage crops.

● 1 kg of high-quality animal protein produced,

consumes 6 kg of plant protein.

 Energy
● In the USA, 20 times as much energy is required
to produce one calorie of animal food as is
required to produce one calorie of vegetable
food
 Energy Consumption

(Fuel input): (Fossil Fuel input

(Protein produced) Kcal): Protein
Chicken 4:1 produced Kcal)
Beef 54:1
Lamb 50:1
Turkey 13:1
Pork 17:1
Eggs 26:1
Milk 14:1 * Figure pertains to grain farming
by conventional methods. This can
Grains 3.3:1* be made drastically more efficient
by using natural farming methods.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Aug97/livestock.hrs.html
Contribution to Global Climate
Change

● World’s livestock production is the largest

source of anthropogenic methane
emissions…EPA
● Livestock herds account for ~ 25 % of
anthropogenic emissions of
methane…climate change.
● Stagnant waste lagoons of factory-farm
operations emit an additional 5 % percent of
human-induced methane.
 Water Use
● U.S. agriculture accounts
Gallons of water to
for 87 % of all the fresh
produce 1 lb of various
water consumed each year.
foods (236)
● Livestock direct use 1.3 %
● Livestock total use ~ 50 %
( incl. forage and grain
production for livestock)
● 1 kg beef takes 100 tons of
water
● 1kg wheat takes 0.9 tons
of water
● 1 kg potatoes 0.5 tons of
water
 Water

● To produce 1 lb. of feedlot beef requires 7 lbs.

of feed grain, which takes 7,000 lbs. of water
to grow.
One half of all US water resources
are used to grow meat.
Pass up one hamburger, and you'll save as
much water as you save by taking 40
showers with a low-flow nozzle.

1 = 40
Meat eaters require 14 times as much
water for their diets as do vegetarians.
 Water Pollution
● For example, shifting from pork to chicken requires
half the grain, and hence half as much water.
● The massive quantities of waste produced by
livestock and poultry threaten rivers, lakes and
other waterways with pollution, toxic algal blooms
and massive fishkills.
● US livestock waste is 130 times that produced by
humans. ,
● Livestock farms are getting larger throughout the
world.
 Water Pollution

● According to the Environmental Protection

Agency, factory farming pollutes U.S.
waterways more than all industrial sources
combined.
In the U.S., livestock now produce 130 times as much
waste as people do. Just one 50,000 acre hog farm in Utah,
for example, produces more sewage than the city of Los
Angeles!!
 Land
Number of people whose caloric
● According to
needs can be met on 2.5 acres of
scientists at the land for the following foods (294)
Smithsonian
Institute, the
equivalent of seven
football fields of
land is bulldozed
every minute, much
of it to create more
room for farmed
animals.
80% of all US agricultural is used in some way
to raise animals—that's roughly half of the total
land mass of the U.S.
 Diet and Land Requirement
S. Diet Area (sq. Population that can be
No. yards)/ca supported by Earth.
pita (multiples of 1985 population
of ~5 bi.)
1. Grains 200 60
2. Potatoes 600 20
3. Milk 1500 8
4. Pork 4000 3
5. Beef 10000 1

Masanabu Fukuoka (translated by Frederic P. Metreaud) “The Natural Way of Farming – The Theory and
Practice of Green Philosophy” 1985 Japan Publications Inc. ISBN 0-87040-613-2.
 Forest

● Of the Amazonian rain forest

cleared in South America, more
than 38 percent has been used
for ranching.
More than 260 million acres of U.S. forest
have been cleared to create cropland to
grow grain to feed farmed animals.
 Soil

● “85% of topsoil erosion (wind and water) in USA is due

to raising animals for food” …Howard Lyman
(American Mad Cow Activist)…
● This is 13 times above the sustainable rate.
● >302 mi. ha devoted to producing feed for the U.S.
livestock population (272 mi. ha pasture and 30 mi. ha.
cultivated feed grains)
● Iowa: Topsoil loss at 30x soil formation rate. Lost 50%
of topsoil in just 150 years of farming—soil that took
thousands of years to form.
 Animal Slaughter and Torture
Before Being Killed
● Every year, nearly 9 billion animals are killed for
food in the United States alone!!
● Whether animals are raised in factory farms, or in
open farms, the slaughter, the pain, the suffering and
death are common and inevitable.
 Food, Spirituality and Humanity

● When plentiful vegetarian food is available.

● Yet, humans insist on consuming non-
vegetarian food.
● It is simply for the sake of one’s tongue.
● This is needless “himsa” (unjustified violence).
● The highest Dharma (righteousness) is
refraining from unjustified violence (ahimsa).
● Do we not have any sympathy for the sorrow
and suffering of other living beings?
 Vegetarianism and Spirituality
● The dying animal says “As this person (sah) is killing
and consuming me (mam) in this lifetime, so shall I
kill and consume him in my next lifetime.” This is
real meaning of the word ‘mamsah’ (meat) as
explained by the wise ones. --Shastras
● The butcher kills for the sake of those who buy and
consume the meat.
● All are fellow-conspirators in the killing.
● As per the law of karma, every action has an equal
and opposite reaction. It is inevitable.
● So all of them face the same end in their next birth.
 Reducing Meat: Win-Win
Situation
● Massive reductions in meat consumption in industrial
nations will ease the healthcare burden while improving
public health
● Declining livestock herds will take pressure off of
rangelands and grainlands, allowing the agricultural
resource base to rejuvenate.
● Lowering meat consumption worldwide will allow more
efficient use of land and water resources. Relevant for
increasing population.
● Make grain more affordable to the world's chronically
hungry.
● Humanity becomes more human!
 Food Crisis: What can you do?
● Avoid MNC-marketed hybridized/GM crops and
products.
● Eat home-cooked, fresh food; avoid preserved,
processed or junk food.
● Be vegetarian: Spare the grain for hungry humans. Have
a heart! “Don’t turn your stomach into a graveyard for
unfortunate dead animals!”—Lokmanya Tilak
● Farmer microfinancing options
● Local community-operated warehousing, cold storage
and food processing/preservation industry for farmers to
survive unfair price-fixing, and market crashes.
 Reducing Meat: Win-Win
Situation
● Massive reductions in meat consumption in industrial
nations will ease the health care burden while improving
public health
● Declining livestock herds will take pressure off of
rangelands and grainlands, allowing the agricultural
resource base to rejuvenate.
● Lowering meat consumption worldwide will allow more
efficient use of land and water resources. Relevant for
increasing population.
● Make grain more affordable to the world's chronically
hungry.
“When human beings come to understand
that animals also experience pleasure and
pain they will acquire a new dimension of
wisdom. It is because of our human sense of
duty and our higher understanding that we
should be sympathetic to all living beings.”

P.R. Sarkar
 Outline
● Dimensions of the Food Crisis
● Hunger, poverty, production, distribution
● Threats to Food Security: Present and Future
● Solutions to the Food Crisis
● Theoretical (Present) Solution
● Food Distribution
● Real Solutions
● Industrial Agriculture?
● Alternative Agriculture
● Vegetarianism
● What Can You Do?
 Food Crisis: What can you do?
● Support local produce: local farmers, retailers
● Grow your own food: urban gardens, community
gardens/farms, terrace gardens.
● Adopt low input, small-scale, biodiverse,
organic/natural farming methods integrated with
sustainable land and watershed management.
● Both farmers and consumers should support crop
diversity. Plant and purchase delicious and
nutritious minor millets, pulses and vegetables.
 Food Crisis: What can you do?
● Avoid MNC-marketed hybridized/GM crops and
products.
● Eat home-cooked, fresh food; avoid preserved,
processed or junk food.
● Be vegetarian: Spare the grain for hungry humans. Have
a heart! “Don’t turn your stomach into a graveyard for
unfortunate dead animals!”—Lokmanya Tilak
● Farmer microfinancing options
● Local community-operated warehousing, cold storage
and food processing/preservation industry for farmers to
survive unfair price-fixing, and market crashes.
 Food Crisis: What can you do?
● Ensure dignity of farmers and workers
● Ensure living wages
● Work for a profound rural change:
● Land reforms, education, health, infrastructure
● Provide restitution for the injustices of the past
and present
● Developed countries to avoid exploitative
practices and policies by their govts and MNCs
towards poor countries.
● Cancel debts of poorer countries.
 Food Crisis: What can you do?
● Enable distribution of surplus food to poor
countries
● Fuel plantations must be restricted to marginal
lands. Other alternative energy/fuel sources
should be researched and promoted.
● Stop war: Promote peace negotiations; resolve
issues reg. sharing of scarce resources, religious
intolerance and hatred.
● Limit global warming and pollution, land
degradation, deforestation, etc.
 Reading and Video Resources
● “ The One-Straw Revolution” By Masanobu Fukuoka (and
3 other titles)
● No-till, no fertilizer, no pesticide, ground mulch and green cover, direct
seeding (seed balls)
● “Rishi Krishi” By Mohan Shankar Deshpande
● Angara, earthworms, amritapani, natural pesticides
● “Permaculture” By Bill Mollison
● Sustainable community, planned designs, natural patterns
● Food Forests in 7 minutes (7 min) with Geoff Lawton.
● 300 Year Old Food Forest in Vietnam (6 min) with Geoff Lawton
● Farming - The Gandhian Way - A Tribute to Shri.
BHASKAR SAVE
● Nero's Guests by P. Sainath.
Learning is not compulsory…neither is survival.

--W. Edwards Deming