There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from a grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.
Food Security is threatened all across the Earth as climate change is ramping up in extreme heat, consequent drought, fires and flooding, and in rising costs to farmers. In some parts of the world, new crops may need to be considered. For decades now, groups across the world have been working to create new genetic seed varieties that can thrive under adverse conditions.
In the eastern United States, once the breadbasket of a new democracy, farmers are facing daily threats to crops. Changing seasonal patterns, drought, loss of pollinators and other synergistic insects; rising costs of diesel fuel and fertilizer, and saltwater inundation from sea level rise challenge crop production.
Out west in the breadbaskets of America where water is the limiting factor, a historic long-term drought has resulted in Federal oversight of the states sharing the Colorado River system to stem a catastrophe where 40 million people live in major cities of our nation: Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.
This is an impending health crisis. Water is the limiting factor of human life. Water is first and a healthy, stable food supply is second. These major growing areas (the Imperial Valley in California, Arizona farms and orchards, and to some extent the northern Mexico food production supported by the Colorado River valley are all threatened by the drought on the once mighty Colorado River – caused by historic overuse of the river.
When the Colorado River Pact formed in 1922 among seven states (Upper Basin and Lower Basin states), the allocations were made using average annual flow data that was based on historic high volume. Later, after the Colorado River system was dammed and redirected to flow to agriculture and cities, scientists discovered that 100-year droughts were common in the geological record. In spite of John Wesley Powell’s historic expedition to the West and navigation of the wild Colorado River (paid for by Congress) to assess whether America’s western lands could be developed by harnessing the Colorado, he reported back to Congress that the lands were water restricted to 1-10” of rainfall per year. He cautioned Congress that big construction schemes should not be developed in deserts. Congress ignored his report. And here we are.
America’s Once Historic Breadbasket of the World is in Crisis
Let us be sober for once and look with a clear eye at our country’s situation. Farmers are sending signals that weather and climate are making it harder to bring their crops to harvest and economics are hindering it, too. Also, our long-held pride in small farmers at the center of production is giving away to corporate farms. Those small family farms that grace so much of the Southeast may soon be a relic of the past.
Our country is focused internationally, spending our wealth on unwarranted wars when we have a catastrophe brewing at home: loss of food security.
We see it now as millions of American families are priced out of the healthier foods due to rising costs caused by worldwide tariffs and consequent downstream price forcing. (I’ve watched the price of even the humble sweet potato rise from $0.69 to $1.29 per pound in just a year.)
Access to fertilizer and affordable diesel and climate impacts are chasing each other for front runner position with threats to water supply leading the race. Another runner nipping at their heels is saltwater inundation and drought-caused salination of soils from rapid evaporation. All these factors are combining to potentially reduce food security.
What do we mean by food security?
While there are a variety of ways to understand food security, it contains systems that intersect and combine to create access to a stable healthy food supply. American Agriculture and food industry have striven a century to create what we enjoy today.
- access to healthy food (affordability, quality and reasonable proximity);
- stable agricultural production season to season (predictable costs to farmers for production both nationally and internationally with oversight to assure farmers are supported in creating market demand for high quality food production);
- predictable seasons and growth conditions);
- land use (should water-loving crops like cotton or corn for ethanol be grown or crops grown for meat production be carved back when water supply is limited?)
- land management for stable freshwater supply and healthy soil;
- scientific innovations for seed production, pest control, deep soil health;
- fair and stable markets and
- nonpolluting, affordable sources of power for food production/transportation..
For centuries, American farmers and international partners have created a robust and dependable food supply for the nation and many other countries around the world. For a century at least, the U.S.A. has supplied emergency food wherever famine develops.
Our national supermarkets are a wonder to international visitors. At least up to now. Dangers lurk that currently threaten our national and international food security.
Stay tuned for the next post on food production from our oceans, lakes and rivers. Please comment on this post so that we can all benefit from our collective wisdom on this critical matter.
Additional Resources:
Small Planet Institute: Diet for a Small Planet
How SNAP Fights Poverty:
- Resource Relief: Buying food with electronic benefit cards lets low-income families use their own limited cash for rent, utilities, and medicine. [https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/the-supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap]
- Reaching the Poorest: More than half of all benefits go to households living at or below half of the federal poverty line. [Ibid]
- Protecting Children: The program has a strong positive effect on kids, lowering both the count and the hardship levels of child poverty. [usda.gov/about-usda/news/bl]
- Economic Boost: Every dollar spent through SNAP creates about $1.50 to $1.80 in local economic activity by supporting grocery stores and farms. [https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/social-policy/explainer-understanding-snap-program-and-what-cuts]
Susan Feathers 