tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post4400984555031886980..comments2024-03-28T19:45:08.560-05:00Comments on TYWKIWDBI ("Tai-Wiki-Widbee"): Precision agricultureMinnesotastanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382888179579245181noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-9802554467876897962014-05-24T03:39:30.836-05:002014-05-24T03:39:30.836-05:00I seem to recall my father, with a degree in Agron...I seem to recall my father, with a degree in Agronomy, doing a study by himself back in the late 1960's or early 1970's where he basically proved that there was one full acre of land PER HUMAN BEING within the State of TEXAS, and that the real causes of starvation were not "lack of food" per say, but economic and distribution. Now, even if you have to add Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, and states to the west of those to Texas to get sufficient land for the current population, that's still leaves plenty of arable and farmable land (arable land -- that land which could be in theory be put to "the plow", being of the right climatic conditions; farmable land -- that arable land which is not taken out of production to be used for roads, buildings and the like) around the world to support our population.<br /><br />Another reason why food is so expensive is because farmers will sometimes charge what the market will bear, and will sometimes produce for short term gain, and not long term benefits. Farmers in the Desert Southwest (including California) seem to this midwestern boy to have the tendency to grow water thirsty crops in a part of the country lacking in water. As a case in point, milk cows drink lots of water, but there is a high demand for liquid milk over in Asia, and so Californian farmers have a lot of dairy cows and ship in feed from the midwest. Midwestern farmers though either have far fewer cows on the same acreage of land, or have the same number of cows, but far larger farms, acreage wise.DaBrisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-43887552716938338522014-05-23T16:27:12.307-05:002014-05-23T16:27:12.307-05:00"It wasn't that long ago that the additio..."It wasn't that long ago that the addition of a plastic "cab" to a tractor to protect the farmer from the elements was an innovation. Then a radio. And air-conditioning. And a cell phone. Now satellite linkage and computers. It's a whole new world - within one human generation. It boggles the mind."<br /><br />No. What boggles the mind is why, when our capacity to feed humanity is today so much advanced per acre of farmland over just a generation ago, that (a) there should be any left hungry at all (b) the food produced be so nearly prohibitively expensive and (c) the farmers themselves are barely scraping by, many forced to closure at the least set-back in production. That's what boggles the mind.teledynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15387640373550962501noreply@blogger.com