Food and Cheap Oil

Hey - Jeff Rubin has a blog about, of all things, how weaning our economy off oil means some fundamental changes in the way we live, and other things.  (He is the former chief economist at CIBC.)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/jeff-rubins-smaller-world/

From a post entitled "How much longger will our Chinese food be delivered?"

Behind the green facade of the farm gate lies one of the most energy-intensive industries in the world. From fertilizer to farm machinery, most modern agriculture is really about making hydrocarbons edible. No matter what the crop, the most important input is always energy — and it’s getting to be more so every day. Driven by ever greater fertilizer use and farm mechanization, energy represents half the cost of growing wheat (up from 30 per cent only a decade ago), and over 40 per cent of the cost of growing corn or sorghum.

Mr Rubin recommends getting used to local produce as the days of cheap energy are almost over.  I predict that not only will we be eating local food,  industrial agri business will not survive peak oil.   As small farms are more productive, we will probably be tending small farms by hand - without fertilizers made from and with light sweet crude.  We may even be keeping chickens in our back yard as Vancouverites are premitted to do!

Another Traditional Method

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/strategy-to-save-big-cats-teaches-old-dogs-new-tricks/article1469331/

In a vast wilderness of thorn trees and grasslands on the edge of the Kalahari desert, Peter Knipe farms a menagerie of thousands of animals, from goats and cattle to impalas and giraffes. His most exotic import, however, is a friendly looking dog named Neeake.  Raised with a herd of goats since he was a puppy, Neeake has bonded with the goats so loyally that he guards them with his life. He scans the horizon constantly, searching for predators, keeping the cheetahs and leopards at bay.

Isn't this another old fashioned labour intensive method?  One that happens to work  very successfully  though .... The cheetahs and the goats are both safe using the dog to safeguard the goats.   Perhaps we, as a culture should be considering reviving more of these old farming methods.   Expecially since small holdings are the most productive farms.