Subject: Re: food shortages & Trees

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 1995 20:49:50 -0500

Read with interest discussion on food distribution vs. actual food shortage -
for an excellent, in depth book, STRONGLY suggest "FOOD FIRST, Beyond the
Myth of Scarcity"  By Frances Moore Lappe and Joseph Collins - although the
info is a little old by now, it'll make you so made you'll want to track down
Earl Butz (Nixon's Sec of Ag) and hang him - if he's dead, you'll want to dig
him up and hang him to make sure.  I'm no conspiracy nut, but the way various
administration in this country have used food as a carrot/stick against our
friends and enemies at the expense of our farmers, consumers and taxpayers is
just incredible.  It also explains how the world bank was (is?) used as a
tool of foreign aid allowing the executive branch or our government to do
what it damn well pleased w/o checking with congress.  Both authors also
wrote "(9?) or (15?) myths about world hunger" (can't remember the number),
which was much shorter, but had more up to date info.  Based on their two
books, there's a "Food First Institute" in Oakland CA which keeps track of
big brother in this area - if you TRUELY want to eliminate world hunger -
support these people.  Even when our government is trying to do the right
thing for the right reason, its still amazing how bad we "blow it", and only
make the problem worse.  (Good example - earthquake in Central American
country - we send in food aid, which ends up fueling a black market
undermining the government we're trying to help, while at the same time,
driving farmers from that same country (in a part of the country not affected
by the quake) out of business, as it's very hard to compete with free govt.
give aways & make a profit.  Other (better know example)  during famine in
Ethiopia, while we were exporting basic foods thethem, the country was
exporting green beans to England in order to service the interest on their
World Bank loans.  Read the books & get angry!!

As for the idea of planting trees for retirement - not bad, but....remember
dutch elm disease?  or what happened to the American Chesnut tree?  How about
gypsy moths?  Sounds like a good idea, but only planting one or two different
species would seem to bring with it all the problems of running a
mono-culture farm - maybe no problems, but you pray you can get the crop in
before Mother Nature sends that particular pest, weather, fungus, whatever
that can wipe out a whole crop - but with trees, you don't worry about a
year's crop at a time, would think "condition sweat" would be the norm for
the whole 30 yrs.  (and what about payback - although delayed & large if
successful, what's paying the taxes on the land in the meantime?  Isn't there
a permaculture idea of interplanting different species of trees, harvesting
the fast growing ones just as the more valuable, longer growing trees need
the extra room?  What about growing poplar (or some other fast growing
"cheap" hardwood - better yet Neem trees if warm enough) and harvesting when
they are mature, but before the walnut/cherry/big ticket crop gets crowded?
 Believe it's called "stacking"  multiple use of the same land at the same
time.  There's also smaller payouts prior to the "big payday" and
diversification  helps if the "podunk basswood beetle" or some other
nonindigenous critter shows up (w/no nature predators in your area), and
starts chowing down.

Sandpeep