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Re: China and Food (was Re: Ecological Economics and Entropy)



jmc@Steam.stanford.edu (John McCarthy) wrote:

>According to the FAO Web page, China grew 45 million tons of
>potatoes in 1995, which was the largest potato production in the
>world.  The Russian Federation was next with 39 million tons.  By the
>way, the Netherlands grew 7.3 million tons.
>
>The Chinese yield per hectare on potatoes was 1/2 that of the US and
>1/3 that of the UK, indicating that the Chinese can get a lot more
>potatoes if they treat their peasants better.

You have a knack for ignoring the point. Whatever they are growing,
they are not growing on US or UK cropland. Attempts to match these
yields are what is causing large areas of land to be rendered useless
by salinization due to over-irrigation and continuing depletion of
non-renewable aquifers, among other things. 

If the peasants had ownership of this land, and knew that they were
going to pass it on to their children, they would hopefully make every
effort to ensure that they passed it on in good shape - not to
increase yields whatever the cost. 

>     Huge increases in yields in the past and our belief that
>     they are neverending ...
>
>What's this phony "our"?  McGinnis clearly doesn't include himself.

This is kind of trivial isn't it? Since I believe in democracy, I
accept that beliefs are being put to practice on my behalf whether I
agree with them or not.


Jason McGinnis



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