Food Politics - What Everyone Needs to Know

Robert Paarberg 2010 Bvtn 338.19 PAA

Amazing. A rational book by a political science professor at Wellesley. One more prejudice shattered

• p008 Malthus Not yet, maybe not ever.

• p015 Africa: 4% irrigated, 10% fertilized, little scientific input. African governments spend 5% on agriculture, though 60% of citizens depend on farming. What an opportunity!

• p018 African drylands, only foodsource is grass fed animals, vegetarian not an option (yet?)

• p018 Livestock responsible for 18% of emissions. Livestock's Long Shadow FAO 2996

• p020 Food prices - price fluctuations usually panic buying and hoarding, little effect on impoverished countryside
• p022 2008 price spike in spite of production increases
• p026 not biofuel caused, 5% of (mostly corn) production, corn prices stable. in 2009, ethanol plants idle
• p027 Egypt price spike reduced urban food subsidies, caused riots but people still getting fat
• p036 most starvation in Africa, often war-disrupted food production
• p036 Underweight children: Asia 45% 1985, 25% 2005 Latin.Am 12.5% to 5.5% Africa 24% to 25%, doubled population

• p046 Famine France 100Y War population down 2/3, Ireland 1845-49 1M starved, 1M emigrated. China Taiping, 45M. India 1876-78, 6 to 10M people. Great Leap Forward <30M, worst all time. North Korea 1996-9, 0.2 to 3.5M

• p049 Amartya Sen 1981 Poverty and Famines, starvation less with democracy or free markets.

• p056 Green Revolution benefitted rural Asia, increased stratification in Latin America

• p061 The Violence of the Green Revolution polemic by Vandana Shiva

  • BS; <1 hectare farms adopted new seeds faster than >3 hectare farms

• p064 Africa failed, because aid agencies ignored local conditions
• p071 US food aid political, pays farmers and US shippers and hinders local production
• p073 Bush attempted reform, thwarted by Congress (Bill Clinton praised Bush)
• p087 Obesity: largest driver sweetened beverages; 20 oz drink per person per day accounts for obesity
• p095 Farm subsidies in industrialized countries because labor prices rise

• p110 Ch 10: Agriculture, the Environment, and Farm Animals

• p113 Low Impact Sustainable Agriculture USDA 1985

• p115 Ag. chemical use peaked in 1973, No-till reduced erosion in 1970s

• p115 precision farming: Drip irrigation, laser-levelled fields minimize runoff, GPS/GIS tractors with sensors, fertilizer inserted in small quantities at depth

• p116 OECD between 1990 to 2004, production increased 5% while land use decreased 4%, water 9%, emissions 3%, pesticide 5%, fertilizer 17%, diversity increased

• p118 poor communities with local common property resource systems avoid environmental tragedies

• p120 farm subsidies encourage inputs, overuse and environmental damage

• p130 Monsanto genes: 96% of cotton, 90% traits of 90% engineered soybeans, 90% traits of 60% corn
• p131 2005 four companies 80% of beef, 60% of pork, 50% of ckicken.

• p132 poor farmers in Africa disconnected from world markets. < 2% of African ag research by private companies

• p133 Bruce Gardiner: 2% of consumer cost pays for monopoly "excess profits"
• p134 200,000 food firms in US
• p134 supermarkets in developing country cities. China 1991 0%, 2991 48%. Mexico Walmart 30% of food spending.

• p137 95% China McDonalds food locally sourced.

• p138 McDonalds India: veggie burgers and chicken Maharaja Macs.

• p143 Organic Center 2008 study claims organic more nutritious, "rebutted by conventional nutritionists" (no cite?)
• p145 FDA 2003 0.4% domestic 0.5% foreign detectable chem residues exceeding regulatory tolerance levels.
  • ADI (Acceptable Daily Intake) 1% of level that causing no detectable lab animal toxicity
  • FDA test 4/38 chemicals less than 5% of ADI level, 34/38 less than 1% of ADI
• p147 to replace synthetic fertilizer with manure, cattle from 1.3 billion to 8 billion, 2 billion acres of forage crops
• p151 global food shipping has small carbon footprint, local delivery and individual shopping much higher
• p153 one less serving of meat per week is same reduction as 100% local diet
• p153 clover pastured New Zealand lamb to Britain 25% of carbon emissions of grain-fed (fossil fuel produced) British lamb
• rest of the book interesting, but chapter 10 is the gem. I must learn more about precision farming, and how server sky can broadcast information to African farms to optimize productivity