It's Not a Matter of "If" but "When"

It's going to hurt. It's going to hurt more than when the housing bubble burst in 2007. It's going to hurt us more than we can ever imagine. The food bubble is going to burst soon. We've ramped up food production but there comes a point when we will not be able to produce anymore food. And yet population growth isn't slowing down.

I don't like to be a conspiracy theorist. I really don't consider myself one. But I remember back in 2005 telling a coworker that the housing bubble was going to burst. At the time though I wasn't quite aware of what that meant. Now I do. And it wasn't not pretty. But take food. We all need food to survive. Without it people will become desperate. It's an entirely different ballgame.

Monsanto tells us they can help. They tell farmers to use their genetically modified seeds because they will increase yields. And yet the don't. They don't produce anymore more than conventional crops. In fact it's been found that they produce 10% less than conventional crops. But let's forget that all. We've reached peak oil. Even conventional crops which rely heavily on petroleum for their production (fertilizers, pesticides, equipment, transportation, etc.) are now going to raise in price. GM crops also rely heavily on petroleum.

But that's not where it stops. We've also greatly depleted our topsoil and water resources, which plants must have to grow. Through heavy cultivation and poor management we have lost one third of our topsoil. Industrial agriculture is running our aquifers dry because there isn't enough rain to water crops. With climate change comes unpredictable weather that can easily destroy crops.

Food prices are set to rise for 2011. According to the USDA "For all food, prices are expected to rise two to three percent, which is double the levels of 2010. Meat prices are expected to rise up to 3.5 percent, and dairy 5.5 percent." - CNBC

So what can we do about it? It's time to seriously start thinking about growing your own food. Grow it wherever you are. Get window farms if you have to. Become a guerrilla gardener and grow food on empty lots. Join a CSA. Shop at the farmers' market. Join a community garden. Join a yardshare.  Just don't rely on industrial agriculture to save us.