Global Food Shortages

The alarming news I’ve been reading lately about global food shortages reiterates for me the vital importance of sustaining our productive American farms.

Riots caused by food shortages in Haiti and protests in Mexico have been the most conspicuous, but this kind of unrest has also been occurring in the Philippines, Indonesia, and parts of Africa. The World Bank estimates that 33 countries are facing these problems as prices for rice have risen 75% and for wheat 120% within the last year. Closer to home, we’ve all felt the pinch at the grocery store these past months. Food inflation in 2007 was the worst in 17 years.

Climate change could be one cause of global food shortages. Increased energy costs certainly are, as are the use of food crops for bio-fuels and the sky-rocketing demand for food by the vast populations of India and China. The point is the results--human tragedy and political destabilization.

Let’s bring this context to our thinking about Borrego. Granted, not all farms in Borrego grow food, but they all could if the demand and market were there. Most of the anti-farming schemes I’ve heard, touted ostensibly to save water, would undermine or destroy that productive capacity. Converting farms to four acre “mini-estates,” imposing prohibitive pumping charges, or using “cap and trade” mechanisms that would outlaw farming would all do their part to whittle away at our agricultural resources.

A better approach would conserve agricultural water over the long run, but keep water ownership in the hands of farmers so it would always be available practically and economically for agricultural use. More on this later.

American Farming and Safe Products

In spite of recent safety scares in the media, Americans enjoy the safest, most abundant and most affordable food supply in the world, due in large part to the productivity and responsibility of American farmers. Recent stories about disturbingly inadequate safety and purity standards for food and other consumable products originating in other countries should remind us how important it is to maintain vigorous and competitive agricultural operations here at home where quality and safety can be better monitored.

Food is only part of the story. Many non-food products we use in our everyday lives come from plant and animal products produced by American Farmers. Health care products like many pharmaceuticals, surgical sutures, latex gloves, even x-ray film include farm-produced materials. The same is true for personal care products like shampoo, soap, cosmetics, and toothpaste. The ink in many newspapers, perhaps this one, most likely originated on a farm. Schools could not operate as they do without farm-produced materials in crayons, textbooks, chalk, pencils, and paper. Manufacturing depends on adhesives, lubricants, solvents, and detergents based on farm-produced crops.

Yes, even the palm trees that shade our homes and do their part to reduce greenhouse gases in our neighborhoods are grown on farms, several here in Borrego.

We rightly associate American farms with outstanding and abundant food. But food is only part of the story. Farming is simply too important to “outsource” to other countries.