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Feeding the world needs to be looked at as a sustainability problem, not an "immediate response," problem. By definition, people used to know how to feed themselves, or people wouldn't live in certain areas of the world. It's when we started looking at "nations," instead of "communities," that we ran into problems. People adapted by being nomadic in certain parts of the world, following the seasons, water availability and potential to find food. Entire diets were based upon the feasability of finding food at certain times. Then we decided to "nationalize" everyone on the planet. Everyone must be a "citizen" of some place, and only one country at a time, in most cases.
Governments quardened off their borders based upon "saleable products," such as oil, water, etc, instead of "sustainability of populations." This left some countries of the world petroleum rich but nutrient poor. It also made it possible for areas with highly tillable soil and favorable climates to be able to concentrate on developing their agricultural resources for sale, rather than thinking about how to feed their citizens. Often times the people in those "decision making seats," were highly educated in the ways of business and finance and completely ignorant in the "ways of the land." They looked at the possibility of selling to the nutrient poor nations, and didn't consider the possibility of "what if they can't afford it?" This is where sustainability becomes a problem.
So how do go forward? National borders are not going to disappear. The chances of people voluntarily sharing their food resources are unlikely, and increasingly the knowledge of how to live from the land is disappearing. Government intervention and encouragement of corporate farming has made it increasingly difficult to find affordable, arable land, and gain the knowledge to use it wisely, sustainably, and develop local business connections. But this is changing, slowly.
Governments and the UN need to start looking at agriculture as something other than a commodity. Their focus has been, and continues to be, on exporting and raising sufficient quantities of food to make commodity sales a reality for their nation. The decision are either made, or are advocated for, by industrial agri-giants, who do not live on the land they control, nor would they know what to do with it if they had to.
We need to nurture independent, sustainable farming. Those with the knowledge to either teach or support local farming should be encouraged to
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Feeding the poor today and everyone on the planet tomorrow: What are the issues, and what can be done to avert a global food crisis?
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