Dramatic decline in industrial agriculture could herald 'peak food'

[Paul Mobbs]

A few years ago (roughly 2008-2010) I used to do a talk called 'Energy
and Food' where I looked at the phenomena of 'peak food'...

This interesting paper has just emerged in Nature Communications --

'Distinguishing between yield advances and yield plateaus in historical
crop production trends', Patricio Grassini, Kent M. Eskridge & Kenneth
G. Cassman, Nature Communications vol.4 article 2918, 17th December 2013
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2013/131217/ncomms3918/full/ncomms3918.html

Nafeez Ahmed has a good write-up in The Graunad --
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/dec/19/industrial-agriculture-limits-peak-food

8-(


Of course, this paper doesn't take a in-depth look at the practical
alternatives to conventional monocrop/intensive agriculture which might
help ameliorate these problems; as outlined by practitioners in various
fields (!) in many different reports, from permaculture to the IAASTD --
http://www.fraw.org.uk/files/food/iaastd_syn_2009.pdf

See also --
http://www.fraw.org.uk/files/food/cgiar_2011.pdf
http://www.fraw.org.uk/files/food/ucs_fty_brief_2009.pdf
http://www.fraw.org.uk/files/limits/pup_foodsecurity_2012.pdf


P.



-- 

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(Edward Burrough, 1659 - from 'Quaker Faith and Practice')

Paul Mobbs, Mobbs' Environmental Investigations
3 Grosvenor Road, Banbury OX16 5HN, England
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