With some large Companies buying out Farmers et.al. The Nations'/and Global farmers' food bowl is diminishing, not to mention the devastation that recent weather around the globe has caused. What can be done about this situation? I would be interested in OLO's opinions.
NSB

learn to grow food in your front yard

govts making ethonol subsidies..
to grow corn to run cars

so people starve
is just nutts

but the world has gone crazy
so learn how to grow your own

get some chickens

Dear Noisy,

Thanks for this thread.

I watched an interview on TV yesterday - where they
were telling us that the Chinese are buying up some
of our most fertile land and that in the future we
may well be buying our food from China. That is a
real concern. Why are foreigners allowed to buy and
own properties in Australia when they don't live here?
Seems to me that there should be legislation to
prevent that. Of what benefit is there to our country
if we keep selling off what we've got to overseas
investors. The government should be encouraging our
farmers to grow things - not sell their properties
to overseas owners.

Dear Noisy,

The following website may be of interest:

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/52706

*and that in the future we
may well be buying our food from China.*

Gawd Lexi, now they are scaring little old grandmothers
like yourself :)

Australia still exports two thirds of the food that it
produces, so you are not about to starve.

The global food problem? I've been going on about family
planning in the third world for about 30 years now but
the world seemingly doesen't care. Best you ring the
Vatican to cash in a few valuables and feed them.

Oh dear it looks like we will only have 50 cereals to choose for breakfast instead of 75. Might also help the massive obesity problem.

Dear Yabby,

It seems that they're not scaring old ignorant
farts though.

Yabby is right here China is buying land, but to continue to produce food.
Some country's do not allowed foreign ownership of land, some do.
The increasing world population, drought and effects of global warming are a threat.
Food shortages will get worse, are already very bad in Africa and India/ Pakistan.
OUG refreshing so very many will never consider the benefits of own grown.
Yet in my childhood it was an every day thing.
Dads grew the veggies mums the flowers.
My garden has grown from my working life ending and it is difficult to give, for free food away!
Had to put 20kgs of beetroot in the compost bin, no problems giving away half tonn of oranges and manderines.
40 KGS carrots are headed for compost after many feeds all free.
Pumpkins and cue cumbers will be given freely and much more .
My garden could feed tens .
We may See return to home grown.
Silver beat and young carrots are part of my tea tonight cost? not a thing gardening is rewarding.

Belly - excellent!

We did "fractions" today by cutting up potatoes. Then my son picked mint and spring onions from the garden and an egg from the chook house, and then made us a delicious potato salad. The only thing that wasn't home-produced was the mayonnaise.
All in all, a very productive maths/cooking lesson : )

Lexi, amazingly, when it comes to agriculture and producing food,
I am actually quite well informed, unlike the typical librarian :)

We could actually grow quite alot more food in Australia, but its
not done, as it doesent pay. That would soon change if it did pay.

Today the grower only lands up with a small % of what shoppers pay
for their food. That loaf of bread might only contain 25c worth
of wheat, yet they slug people up to 8$ for a gourmet loaf in Sydney.

As Belly points out, its not hard to grow food, but if we were to
pay him union award rates, double time and a half for Sundays and
the holiday leave loading, then pay him very little for the produce,
he might find it hard to do it as a business.

The point with land is this: My farm is in Australia and all that
I produce and what I do with it, is subject to Australian law.
It is no different for foreigners. It was in fact the British who
pioneered alot of the NT cattle country. And it was the Americans
who bankrolled farming in Esperance. Eventually they sold and moved
on.

Dear Yabby,

I grew up surrounded by farming country.
My father's best friend owned a nearby dairy.
We had chooks and ducks, and grew our own vegetables.
It was my job to mix the feed and feed the chooks
and collect the eggs. I had a pet duck that followed
me around like a puppy. And I still remember the taste
of milk from a freshly milked cow.

I don't share your optimism regarding China buying
our richest farming properties. I don't think we'll
benefit from that. And I believe that we're not as
well off feeding our current population, let alone
if it grows to the predicted huge size by 2050.
Somethings going to give.

Please don't patronise me with put-down references like -
"old grandmother," or that you know more than a "Librarian."
Possibly you do - but that's being rude and you can score
more brownie points by not stereotyping either grandmothers
or librarians.
Contrary to what you may believe - very few of us wear glasses
or have our hair in buns - and not all grandmothers are old.

Oops Lexi, you are sensitive about having become a grandmother.
That's just my sense of humour, deal with it as best you can.

I don't see why farmland should be treated any differently
then other foreign investment in Australia. In the end the
land stays here and anyone working it, has to comply with
Australian law. The Chinese clearly see it as a good investment
in the longer term and I don't blame them, I agree with them.

There are many reasons why they might buy land here. For one
they want to learn more about the milk industry, for they
buy a great deal of milk powder from us. They tried buying
our best cattle but wern't too good at knowing how to feed
them correctly, so it was a bit of a disaster. It would
make sense for them to eventually buy or build their own
dairy here, using their own farms as a base for production
and buying the rest from other farmers. The Japanese did
exactly that with beef feedlots and meatworks, to supply
the Japanese market.

If Australians want to own the farms, then they should buy
them. There is plenty of superannuation money in Australia
to do exactly that.

I don't think it matters much, who owns it, it is for sure our younger generation is not bl00dy silly enough to want to farm it.

Farming in Oz today is a recipe for going broke, while working your guts out. I learnt years ago that you would be punished for doing anything useful. Once I stopped producing food, I did quite well growing advanced shrubs for Gold Coast housing estates.

The dairy farmers gave up milk, & grew turf for the same reason.

A few still grow lucerne, for the race horse mob, & green chop for the cattle feed lots, other wise, it is better to sell building lots.

Hell, even the strawberry farmers have given up around here.

Dear Yabby,

I don't have to "deal" with becoming a grandmother
for the first time. It's the best thing that's ever
happened to me and my grandson who's now eighteen
months old is the joy of my life. What I have to
deal with is your so called "sense of humour."
I notice that in your postings to men you don't
display that sort of "humour." Perhaps that does make me
"sensitive," but if someone continues to prod you -I
think you'd become senstive after a while. Ducks will
often try to nibble bits out of you - so I guess its
a human trait as well.

Hope I am not diverting but last night ACA had a story farmers got 40 cents a kg for pumpkins we paid near 3 bucks.
So yes why farm.
In a short stay from my sixth year to near 9th my dad took us to Sydney to live.
Different times and folks.
I still know the names of every family in that 40 house street.
Still know who gladly took dads veggies who gave us eggs.
easy to remember who did not.
We live now in social isolation.
It can be hard just to get a neighbor to say Gday.
Few want the free veggies, most need them but will not take them.
Arriving at a pensioners block, away from home see,s them taken with joy.
No not personality's its a wish to not know much about neighbors that is changing.
If one is in trouble? bowled over in the rush .
Shame you folks did not live closer the real joy in gardening is giving the stuff away.
Chipped spuds deep fried mine, and left over silver beet with free range egg from my bartering mate for breaky.

Dear Belly,

You're right about the joy to be found in
giving the excess of what you grow away.
I consistently take bags of my gorgeous
lemons - (every winter), to two aged-care
facilities. The chefs accept them with
great gusto and make all sorts of things
for the oldies out of them. The same goes
for my delicious tomatoes when in season.

Dear All,
I was rather surprised to realise that despite the heading of this post referring to the Global food bowl depleting, so far, apart from a mention of China, no thought has been apparently given to those folk in other countries cannot grow crops or food because of adverse climates.
Of course most of us grew up with home grown vegies and fruit, but a lot of areas around the World are lucky to receive water, let alone grow crops. I would like to see more of the roadside market gardeners in this Country, a lot of whom work on an honour basis, take the food and put the money in a box. But not all people around the world can do that. I am not concerned for myself, but future generations. Thankyou for your posts so far, I like to digest other peoples' points of view.
Enjoy your day,
NSB

NSB,

On the subject of feeding the world, there are many challenges, not least the industrialisation of agriculture. Monoculture verses biodiversity. In third world countries, women are responsible for growing most of the food and rely on the biodiversity of nature and knowledge handed down through generations to feed their families...globalisation is interrupting this flow.

http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/focus-on-hunger-interview-with-vandana-shiva/

Noisy Scrub Bird,
I agree with Yabby to some extent, I don't like to see foreigners buying our good farming land and as he said there is ample super funds being invested offshore that should be used here.

But on the global food shortage, we should be encouraging contraception, especially in those countries that are subject to famine, If Iran can dramaticly lower their birthrate by education then so can other countries. The vatican should come to grips with the world overpopulation.

Closer to home, I think the continued encrouchment of urban areas on our agricultural land as a big problem. All our major cities were founded near good land and it is being covered with concrete, bitumen and houses. Farmers are being forced onto more marginal land. We need to look closely at our population growth and cut our immigration rate.

I see there is some concern about various additives and chemicals being added to imported foods, especially from China. Maybe a good scare may get people buying Aus grown produce again. Frankly I wont buy imported veges or seafood, and it is difficult to buy local canned fruit now. You can forget about local ham or tuna in cans.