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Hello, Food is my worry!
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Author:  malthus99 [ Tue Oct 23, 2012 12:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Hello, Food is my worry!

Hello Everyone,

I am an arable farmer from East Yorkshire in England. We grow winter wheat, oilseed rape and peas for freezing.
I have long been worried about climate change causing extreme weather events that reduce crop yields.
This year, while America and other regions have had drought, we had a spring drought followed by a very wet summer.
Yields are down by about 30% due to lack of sunshine and extra fungal disease pressure.
World food stocks are at very low levels and if we get another bad world harvest we are in real trouble.
I expect this has been well debated on here in the past.
The other worry is how to power farming when oil inevitably becomes scarce. If my diesel storage tank goes dry, I can do nothing.
I have my own ideas about using renewable energy and will write a post about it some time.

Author:  Iowanic [ Wed Oct 24, 2012 5:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hello, Food is my worry!

Welcome and well met!

This is a interesting subject: I'm following the methods of less- ecologolical damaging farming methods so I'll be interested in your views therein.

Author:  Ann Vole [ Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Hello, Food is my worry!

welcome. Watch what is done in Saskatchewan because of all the farmers of the world, Saskatchewan farmers get the lowest income per acre for their crops after shipping costs. Bad weather is a given sometime within each handful of years so drought and flood and hail and extreme winds and frost and pests... all are expected and prepared for but not with insurance or chemicals or government bailouts. Look at zero-til farming for not disturbing the soil... it prevents moisture loss but with a layer of organic materials building up, it also is able to absorb more water to prevent flood damage. Microorganisms and their microecology can thrive in these situations and prevent many pest problems and weeds are much less a problem so pesticides are used less. Another technology making big changes is GPS. The tractors can be equipped with computers and controls to grow crops strategically and only spray chemicals or add fertilizer in the specific parts of the field that need it. Even crops are planted at different times in the same field based on soil humidity so they all ripen at the same time and can be harvested in a single pass (instead of swathing first) which again avoids a lot of potential weather problems. I could write a thick book on special new farming technology that was developed in the Canadian prairies or used most often there due to it's advantages for lowering weather risks and expenses. For an example of price disparity, Saskatchewan farmers on average (several years ago) made $67/acre per year but at the coasts (east and west) in the same country, farmers averaged a little over $1000/acre per year.

Author:  knightofalbion [ Thu Oct 25, 2012 10:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hello, Food is my worry!

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, over here in the West Country we had the wettest summer in living memory.

The poor harvest of wheat and other cereal/vegetable/fruit crops is going to have a big impact on food prices next year....

Author:  Johhny Electriglide [ Fri Oct 26, 2012 6:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Hello, Food is my worry!

" Hello, Food is my worry!"
Well in time, it will be most people's worry, too!!

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