What we may be eating when farmland gets scarce

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
This is a very interesting article about the crops that some futurist food policy thinkers predict the farming world may turn to in order to feed the existing and future billions of people on the planet.

This may seem like an esoteric subject for ZooChat, but if we don't want all of the world's wildlife habitat converted to farmland then these issues are worth thinking about.

Food security: What crops will feed the world if we run out of farmland? - Slate Magazine
 
Very interesting and makes me more glad than ever that I gave up beef many years ago. THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE BEEF EATERS NEED TO READ THIS ARTICLE!
 
Eventually price will dictate what we eat. At the moment food is incredibly cheap.
I grew almost 2,000 tones of rice this year and got about $400,000 for it. That is 20 cents per kg. At 60% whole grain yield, thats 20 cents for 600 grams whole grain, and for 300 grams per meal, 10 cents per meal, actual grain cost. By that conservative estimate I grew 4,000,000 meals of rice and did not make much from it.
Wheat converted into flour is even cheaper.
While fertilizers and chemical costs are rising and grain prices are low these crops are not very profitable. If things keep going the way they are it may become more profitable to run cattle which have much lower input costs. I will feed less people, but probably make more money.
Economics will decide what is produced as farmers can not produce anything without making a profit.
 
Monty said:
Eventually price will dictate what we eat. At the moment food is incredibly cheap.
I grew almost 2,000 tones of rice this year and got about $400,000 for it. That is 20 cents per kg. At 60% whole grain yield, thats 20 cents for 600 grams whole grain, and for 300 grams per meal, 10 cents per meal, actual grain cost. By that conservative estimate I grew 4,000,000 meals of rice and did not make much from it.
Wheat converted into flour is even cheaper.
While fertilizers and chemical costs are rising and grain prices are low these crops are not very profitable. If things keep going the way they are it may become more profitable to run cattle which have much lower input costs. I will feed less people, but probably make more money.
Economics will decide what is produced as farmers can not produce anything without making a profit.
Click to expand...

Hey Monty. Right now you are an anonymous guy, so I don't feel too bad to ask: what was your profit on the rice? I mean after paying all your bills, how much did you put in your pocket?

I do feel sympathy for farmers, because it seems like a lot of work for not much money. But, the fact is that I don't have an idea of how profitable (or not) farming is. Indeed, I suspect that most people are clueless.
 
Monty said:
We needed around 7 tones/ha to cover costs and got over 9t/ha
Click to expand...

That's not a bad payday at all then. Well done!

I suppose that there are boom and bust years that are dependent on the vagaries of weather, pests, and prices etc. I lived for a couple years on a farm, and man, was that hard work. So I respect you guys that are feeding us.
 
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