by Patricia Stewart

Created on: February 23, 2009

Worldwide food shortages have been growing for years. These are often the cause of war throughout history, as people struggle for control over diminishing resources, such as food or water. So what can be done?

Most of all, we need to empower people to grow their own food, and obtain their food locally. Increasingly industrialized nations have entered foreign economies with tempting crops that are more "effective," or "efficient." However, often there are proprietary rights associated with these introductions. Countries need to get all their seed stock from a particular agricultural corporation. This relieves citizens of their own power to protect their own resource and keep produce affordable.

One of the most grievous cases of this corporate influence was the "raid" on the Baghdad Museum, which held an extremely complete inventory of seeds from the beginning of civilization. Since Iraq was part of the region known as the "Fertile Crescent," more knowledge was available from these seeds as to genetic information, than from any other seed source in the world. However, the seeds were removed, probably destroyed, and Monsanto now has the contract to "resupply," Iraq, and Afghanistan, with their seed stock to grow from.

This requires that new farmers in those countries, like many others, are forced to use genetically manipulated "hybrid," seeds, which are supposedly sterile. If that were true, the crop will not reseed itself, and the farmer is forced to buy new seed every year. They are also forced to use chemical fertilizers, as these intensively managed crops require heavier concentrations of essential nutrients, such as Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorous.

Traditionally areas that had agriculture already present, by sheer definition, knew how to deal with their climate, their soil types and their diets. By "westernizing" appetites, push genetically modified crops and agricultural techniques that require heavy mechanical intervention we are centralizing the food supply in the hands of affluent land holders, not encouraging people to support themselves and their community.

We also need to try and find a way to abate global warming, or at least slow it down, so that people have the chance to adapt to the new climates. Ancestral soils may have been less acid than the new ones. Perhaps the water table has been corrupted and what used to be fresh water is now brackish, as sea levels rise and enter the rivers and streams that were fresh water in the past. Such changes in ecology require nature to adapt, which will not happen overnight. If we cannot find a way to slow the climate change, we need to find a way to make alternative growth plans available, such as desalinization units, greenhouses and other tools of agriculture.

As Zimbabwe has already shown, and other nations are witnessing, concentrating the control of the food supply into a small group of powerful hands leads to inflation, and corruption. The "profit motive," does not work in agriculture if the goal is to feed the population. The goal of business works counter to community welfare in most cases. By empowering people with tools, seeds and guidance, we allow people to make their own choices and control their own lives.

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