Doesn't the planet need grain to get by? Generally there is not enough Paleo food to go around, wont this propel the costs up? And so on: This thought is a general idiom in the Paleosphere. It can come in a lot of styles, from concern with regards to the future of human beings; the concept that the world needs grains to survive. Some Paleo eaters look at it via the personalized point and see the spread of Paleo Eating outside a very little niche to be unfortunate for their life because it will push the price ranges of real food through the roof. Know, this criticism, concern, question comes in numerous kinds, but at the fundamental level it all comes down to two basic questions: 1.Can the world pull through on a Paleo diet? 2.If so, just how do we shift from monocrop farming to sustainable, Paleo agriculture?
The response to the first question is, frankly, something I do not know. I may only hope. I believe the world can make it through without intensive monocrop farming because the current way of farming is NOT sustainable. Modern grain farming makes use of petroleum centered fertilisers to grow intensive crops on earth that has lost its vitality over the years thanks to overfarming. We cannot continue to really rely on grain farming. The issue is not whether the marketplace can live with out grains, its a question of when. As the price of oil increases exponentially and contest for this non renewable resource becomes hard to find the price of fertilisers extracted from oil will also increase. With them will go the cost of crops grown with those fertilisers, along with all the choices created from all those crops? Breads, pasta, processed food, vegetable oils, grain fed cattle. Further, all the present-day pillaging associated with our topsoil by monocrop farming sucks the nutrients coming from our most precious resource, the dirt, and finds us with barren wastelands. Time is running out. The more we grow grains the quicker we destroy our soil.
Thankfully, topsoil is renewable, however it usually takes time. Time we might not have as the actual world population expands and grain production proceeds to halt. Pasturisation of ruminants is the best way to repair our damaged topsoil, but it is not quick. We have to commence now if we are set to avert disaster. For more on this I urge you to watch this presentation on the Buckmininster Fuller Institute prize winner of 2010: http://challenge.bfi.org/winner_2010 Renewal of the soil may be done. But we now have to carry action now. We have to let the world know that there is an alternative to intensive agriculture, to a grain based diet, to obesity in one country and starvation in the next. Our hope, the worlds only real hope, is that enough non monocrop food, in various other words, Paleo foods, can be produced to feed the world. We know we can reverse the damage of grain farming, but even so, can we produce enough food without relying on grains and monocrops?
Were betting which we can. Most grain production is unnecessary, heavily subsidised, and grown mainly because of government encouragement, not demand. Cattle are needlessly feedlotted and forced to feed on grain, when that very exact land could be utilised to raise pastured cattle. Ethanol is grown; using oil derived fertiliser, and then considered an alternate energy resource however its really using up valuable agricultural land of which could be harnessed for food production. So, does ethanol truly help, or is another way for powerful lobby groups to use government backing to fleece the taxpayer and the consumer while ravaging the globe?. Consider that all the great the vast majority of farmed animals go to waste. Where one time we cooked in tallow and lard we these days cook in hydrogenated vegetable oils? Where once we ate organs, offal, fat we now fill up on bread, pasta and empty carbohydrates. The organs, the offal and the fat are now throw away products. Thrown carelessly away and thus creating an false demand for grain.
But bread is so cheap? Is it? What exactly is the real cost? Do you know? Does anybody know? We understand That the US government heavily subsidises monocrop production. While the taxpayer is funding your product then of course you can undercut your opposition. Add in to this production the environmental costs and the rate of monocrops begin to rise. Then people have to add in the phantom costs; the cost you pay for oil being artificially inflated by growing a crop the world doesnt need. And what of the other phantom costs? Grains cause obesity and ruin peoples wellbeing and then the taxpayer, you, again are subsidising the healthcare of these individuals who have their wellness, their lives, unwittingly ruined through grain consumption. So, is wheat cheaper? Who knows? May possibly a Paleo way of eating be cheaper? If we all take the measures outlined above and stop subsidising grain production, stop using petroleum based fertilisers, stop hearing to the govt (influenced by the grain lobby) who explains to you to ruin your wellbeing and buy into the con.
The closing point can be the initial cost of introducing much more citizens to eating Paleo. Economically that comes down to supply and demand. In the short term prices will rise as additional people embrace a food plan of meat and vegetables. In the long term, as demand dictates more pastured cattle, extra healthy vegetables the value will probably come down as farms shift from monocrop to Paleo. Further, the improved demand will encourage farmers to use underutilised land to grow more grass fed cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry and so on. Further, it will not take long for thinkers ahead of the curve to start reinvigorating desolate, grain destroyed land with pasturised beef, thus supplying consumer demand and supporting this environment.
The response to the first question is, frankly, something I do not know. I may only hope. I believe the world can make it through without intensive monocrop farming because the current way of farming is NOT sustainable. Modern grain farming makes use of petroleum centered fertilisers to grow intensive crops on earth that has lost its vitality over the years thanks to overfarming. We cannot continue to really rely on grain farming. The issue is not whether the marketplace can live with out grains, its a question of when. As the price of oil increases exponentially and contest for this non renewable resource becomes hard to find the price of fertilisers extracted from oil will also increase. With them will go the cost of crops grown with those fertilisers, along with all the choices created from all those crops? Breads, pasta, processed food, vegetable oils, grain fed cattle. Further, all the present-day pillaging associated with our topsoil by monocrop farming sucks the nutrients coming from our most precious resource, the dirt, and finds us with barren wastelands. Time is running out. The more we grow grains the quicker we destroy our soil.
Thankfully, topsoil is renewable, however it usually takes time. Time we might not have as the actual world population expands and grain production proceeds to halt. Pasturisation of ruminants is the best way to repair our damaged topsoil, but it is not quick. We have to commence now if we are set to avert disaster. For more on this I urge you to watch this presentation on the Buckmininster Fuller Institute prize winner of 2010: http://challenge.bfi.org/winner_2010 Renewal of the soil may be done. But we now have to carry action now. We have to let the world know that there is an alternative to intensive agriculture, to a grain based diet, to obesity in one country and starvation in the next. Our hope, the worlds only real hope, is that enough non monocrop food, in various other words, Paleo foods, can be produced to feed the world. We know we can reverse the damage of grain farming, but even so, can we produce enough food without relying on grains and monocrops?
Were betting which we can. Most grain production is unnecessary, heavily subsidised, and grown mainly because of government encouragement, not demand. Cattle are needlessly feedlotted and forced to feed on grain, when that very exact land could be utilised to raise pastured cattle. Ethanol is grown; using oil derived fertiliser, and then considered an alternate energy resource however its really using up valuable agricultural land of which could be harnessed for food production. So, does ethanol truly help, or is another way for powerful lobby groups to use government backing to fleece the taxpayer and the consumer while ravaging the globe?. Consider that all the great the vast majority of farmed animals go to waste. Where one time we cooked in tallow and lard we these days cook in hydrogenated vegetable oils? Where once we ate organs, offal, fat we now fill up on bread, pasta and empty carbohydrates. The organs, the offal and the fat are now throw away products. Thrown carelessly away and thus creating an false demand for grain.
But bread is so cheap? Is it? What exactly is the real cost? Do you know? Does anybody know? We understand That the US government heavily subsidises monocrop production. While the taxpayer is funding your product then of course you can undercut your opposition. Add in to this production the environmental costs and the rate of monocrops begin to rise. Then people have to add in the phantom costs; the cost you pay for oil being artificially inflated by growing a crop the world doesnt need. And what of the other phantom costs? Grains cause obesity and ruin peoples wellbeing and then the taxpayer, you, again are subsidising the healthcare of these individuals who have their wellness, their lives, unwittingly ruined through grain consumption. So, is wheat cheaper? Who knows? May possibly a Paleo way of eating be cheaper? If we all take the measures outlined above and stop subsidising grain production, stop using petroleum based fertilisers, stop hearing to the govt (influenced by the grain lobby) who explains to you to ruin your wellbeing and buy into the con.
The closing point can be the initial cost of introducing much more citizens to eating Paleo. Economically that comes down to supply and demand. In the short term prices will rise as additional people embrace a food plan of meat and vegetables. In the long term, as demand dictates more pastured cattle, extra healthy vegetables the value will probably come down as farms shift from monocrop to Paleo. Further, the improved demand will encourage farmers to use underutilised land to grow more grass fed cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry and so on. Further, it will not take long for thinkers ahead of the curve to start reinvigorating desolate, grain destroyed land with pasturised beef, thus supplying consumer demand and supporting this environment.
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