Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on July 17, 2014
How Can We Feed Billions More People?
One out of every eight people in the world goes hungry. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, which calculated this figure, has also reported that 852 million of these 870 million hungry people live in developing countries. Worse, the world population will likely balloon from its present 7.1 billion to 9.6 billion by 2050. Scientists say this will be coupled with a projected doubling in demand for crops by that same year.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment now argue in a Science paper, however, that it is possible to feed at least 3 billion more people—with existing cropland. These researchers claim that a “small set of regions, crops, and actions” could “provide strategic global opportunities to increase yields, reduce the environmental impact of agriculture, and deliver food more efficiently from what is already grown.” The researchers identify where these changes should be made for maximum impact, including ways of reducing agricultural impact on climate, water quality and consumption.
“It’s one thing to say ‘Make farms more efficient,'” James S. Gerber, an author of the study, tells Newsweek, but “we want to make sure that the improvements are implemented in the best possible place. We want people to get the biggest bang for their buck.”
This they do by identifying “leverage points”—specific places where farmers should start implementing efficiency-improving techniques. Their research focuses on 17 “key global crops” that cover 58 percent of global cropland and comprise 86 percent of the world’s crop calories, according to the study.
Some things that can significantly improve world hunger seem pretty obvious but have not been implemented on a wide scale. For example, much of the world’s farmland yields a lot less food than it could. If this “yield gap” could be filled by just 50 percent—that is, if all farmlands worldwide produced just half of what they could produce—it would provide “enough calories to meet the basic needs of [approximately] 850 million people,” according to the study and Gerber.
Diet can also play a key role in food supply. When crops are used to feed animals rather than for direct consumption by humans, there is a “substantial loss of calorie efficiency,” the researchers note. “If current crop production used for animal feed and other nonfood uses (including biofuels) were targeted for direct consumption,” they reason, approximately “70 more calories would become available, potentially providing enough calories to meet the basic needs of an additional 4 billion people.”
And then there’s the issue of food waste. The researchers cite “Global Food Losses and Food Waste: Extent, Causes and Prevention,” a study by Jenny Gustavsson, Christel, Cederberg, and Ulf Sonesson, all of the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology, that claims between some “30 to 50 percent of food production is wasted.” If this level of waste was reduced in the United States, China and India, this “alone could feed [some] 413 million people per year.”
If all of these inefficiencies were addressed, the researchers estimate that present cropland could feed an additional 5 billion people. Though the researchers recognize that this is the ideal outcome—and as such, unlikely—they approximate that present cropland could feed more than 3 billion if problems were addressed in key areas, such as the U.S. and China.
Explains Paul C. West, the study’s lead author: “It’s obvious that we have to figure out how to grow more food to feed all the people now and in the future. What we’ve really aimed to do here is create a roadmap—which areas in the world, what crops, and what types of action—could have the greatest impact…across the globe.”
54 Comments on "How Can We Feed Billions More People?"
noobtube on Thu, 17th Jul 2014 6:42 pm
It’s funny how arrogant and self-important the degenerate scum are in the United States and Europe.
They cause the world’s hunger and their leeching, parasitic populations act like they are doing the world a favor by stealing the food off their plates by stealing their resources.
Monsanto and the United States have been waging biological warfare in Africa, Central America, South America, and Southeast Asia.
I suppose if you want to commit wide-scale genocide, the best cover is to pretend like you are trying to help.
Isn’t that what you would expect the (American) devil to do… deceive.
Makati1 on Thu, 17th Jul 2014 8:34 pm
One billion beef cattle per year = 3 billion humans, so eating less beef would allow more humans to live.
Then again, there is the Western lifestyle.
“… of 22 industrialized countries, the U.S. has the highest obesity statistics. 2/3 of Americans, over age 20, are overweight (~70,000,000). Nearly 1/3 of Americans, over age 20, are obese (~ 70,000,000). …”
(Obesity definition: obese is a person with a body mass index (BMI) over 30
kg/m2.)
http://www.worldometers.info/obesity/
“…Globally, there are more than 1 billion overweight adults, at least 300 million of them clinically obese…”
US: 4% of the population. 25% of the obese.
“…According to the National Institute of Health, $75-$125 billion is spent on indirect and direct costs due to obesity-related diseases (annually in the US)…”
$125,000,000,000.00 would buy a lot of food for the rest of the world. 50 pounds of rice for each of it’s 7,000,000,000 inhabitants.
clueless on Thu, 17th Jul 2014 9:45 pm
USA and Gluttony (greed). Shameful.
Satori on Thu, 17th Jul 2014 10:26 pm
why in the hell would we want to pack
another 5 billion people on the planet?
I don’t want a family of 10 living in my attic
sorry
I’m funny that way
and my county has already pulled so much water out of our aquifer
we’re having to switch to someone else’s
water bill has almost tripled
and a few counties over they just jacked property taxes up AGAIN by over 10%
because the schools are packed to the ceiling with kids
yeah
we need more people !!!
noobtube on Thu, 17th Jul 2014 11:49 pm
You poor, starving, scared people…
I know our jets just bombed you, and our aid workers just infected you with new cancers and infectious diseases, and our corporations just dumped a ton of garbage on your most pristine lands…
but hey…
We’re Americans, and we’re here to help.
Trust an American. What could possibly go wrong?
Mike in Calif. on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 12:26 am
Cattle are not equal to crops. Most US cattle are ranged in desert, semi-desert and hilly country. The High Desert, West Texas and the California mountains are not suited to agriculture. Shutting down a northern Nevada ranch will not produce a single grain of rice or wheat. As it is, US cattle operations are shrinking. Head count is the lowest it’s been in 50 years.
Most Third World countries are in severe overshoot. This is fact, get used to it. The West didn’t get your women repeatedly pregnant – you did. When the crunch comes, the Third World will suffer much more loss of life than the West (where birth rates have been falling for a hundred years).
But you can relish this: the US will suffer too, but for different reasons. America has a surplus of food. Its vulnerability is structural/political/demographic. At 90+% urbanization, it depends on a system that will break.
noobtube on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 1:15 am
Well, maybe if Americans didn’t have so many babies, their entire system wouldn’t be so brittle.
It’s funny how Americans are experts on everyone else’s problems but their own.
High unemployment, high rates of poverty, poor education, deteriorating health care, failed banks, vanished manufacturing, high wealth inequality, and an almost total service economy that means nothing but servants or soldiers.
But, Americans are always experts on who has too many people (of course, that never includes themselves).
meld on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 1:37 am
capital crates food and space time. problem sorted
Norm on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 1:50 am
Feed ’em to each other. Problem solved.
Richard Ralph Roehl on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 3:36 am
The Anarchist Society endorses the Pope’s edict to stop all birth control on the planet.
peakyeast on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 3:52 am
It might be that we can. But should we?
It seems insane to wish for a situation where if a bowl of rice is lost – then a person will starve somewhere. If a crop fails a 1000 people will die.
Why do we wish to stretch everything to its breaking point and then think nothing will break – when even the tiniest fluctuation will collapse everything?
Sentience is not present. Intelligence is not present.
Davy on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 5:50 am
Mike, I am glad you concur with my thoughts. Cattle have an important place in the BAU AG and they will have an even more important place post BAU AG. The problem is not with cattle it is with lifestyle. We have to quit finishing out cattle with grains. It will stop because we will not have the resources for grains post BAU AG nor the water. The transport to feedlots will not be feasible like today. Anyone here listening to Short on this board can plainly see diminishing returns of the whole energy gradient is occurring. Food is energy so the cost of this marbled meat lifestyle is effectively over soon. Plain and simple “too expensive”. Mak, is ignorant of food issues. He mentions cattle in the context of the issue of the west raising too many and that effort could instead be used to support the overpopulated east with rice. Well, Mak, I would like to see you grow rice on range land (insane thinking). Mak, there is something called the economics of food with the proper production environment and the issues of distribution, storage, and preparations. In reality post BAU AG will need animals as elements of a return to pre BAU industrial AG. Look no further than the 19th century. Forage, manure, fallow fields, and rotational management all these practices need herbivores. Animal power will return and with it oxen and horses needing forage. That is going to be a problem for all that rice you claim to need Mak to feed your 4BIL plus Asians. Nothing against Asians it is fair of them to choose their lifestyle but don’t throw it in my face as a westerner by telling me I eat too much when you Asians screw too much. Simplistic well sometimes we need simple street talk. Can you understand that talk Mak?
herrmeier on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 6:03 am
I never understood why 1B more people need 50% more grain.
But there should be big sign posted at the shores of africe “DON’T FEED”.
Similar to what’s posted at the local duck ponds.
Davy on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 6:57 am
Herr, there should be a sign at all western countries don’t supply excess resources for a excessive way of life. Just trying to be fair.
John D on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 7:53 am
Seems to me we’re chasing our tail. Scientists feel they must create new agricultural technology in order to meet the projected increase in population. Then, the increase in food production they create leads to more people, rinse and repeat. All species procreate to the maximum level of resources available, it’s what we do.
markh on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 7:56 am
The biggest problem with future food supplies will be a shortage of good soil. Monoculture is destroying what we have, and it takes time to create more. Davy is right that grazing herbivores is an important part of the mix when it comes to soil care and restoration.
I think a big part of the problem stems from our industrial economy and lifestyle. In order to keep that ball rolling requires a tremendous diversity of occupations, most of which are divorced from the land. This creates the need for monoculture, transport and distribution of food. And it’s the monoculture that has the worst effect on our soil.
Most of us live so far removed from the things that really means something in our lives- the land and the food it provides with a little work. Take a walk around the grocery store and add up the miles that the fruits and vegetables have been shipped before you can buy them. It’s clear to me, at least, that the whole food system is unsustainable in the long run.
Kenz300 on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 8:05 am
If you can not provide for yourself you can not provide for a child.
The worlds poorest people are having the most children. They have not figured out the connection between their poverty ad family size.
Family planning services needs to be available to all that want it.
bobinget on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 8:29 am
Mike, While agreeing with your basic argument, most western cattle are range fed. Operative word in Climate Change is ‘change’. Our West in it’s forth drought year with a 40% chance of this coming winter being as dry as last. At some point it becomes too expensive to feed. As you know Mike, many ranchers lost most of their herds to unseasonable, unexpected freezes.
Today with little or terrible pasture ranchers are selling
off pitiful remains of what once were great herds.
There’s no substitute for precipitation. Current
desalination tech may be suitable for cities, its too expensive for most agriculture.
Farmers will turn to growing only high value crops.
One non irrigated acre in Nevada, Eastern Oregon, Washington, can grow one skinny cow in good times.
To get decent prices that animal needs to be finished
off on rich grains or alfalfa hay. (rich by definition is any horse owner)
We never even touched on dairy cows. Where will their feed come from?
paulo1 on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 8:54 am
The market will decide and I would prefer that do-gooders and agencies do not decide what my family eats. We do not need billions of more people when so many are already suffering.
While we grow and harvest much of our food, personally, I enjoy a good steak once in awhile. When the price is too high, it will take that enjoyment away and I won’t buy them.
It is a red-herring argument to cite US obesity levels and the evils of meat eating. Most of that obesity comes from high carb diets and poor choices….slushies, chips, processed food, low activity rates, (tv, cell phones and video games). Those slobs on scooters at Walmart are not buying roast beef for a Sunday family dinner. They are buying chips and pop. Lots of bulk candy. Pop and juice. Crap.
Many US haters on this site confuse Politicians and their power hungry minions with the US people. Us people might be ill-informed about world events, they might see the world through the myths they have been indoctrinated with, (democracy and liberty etc), but on the whole I believe they are generous and good people. Their Govt. might do evil things and invoke those myths as justifications, but people are people.
Some of you US haters need to give it a break.
Paulo (Canadian)
ronpatterson on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 9:00 am
This is a stupid article about how we should squeeze more human food from an already degraded earth.
But what I find even more absurd is the silly replies to the article. Blame, blame, blame and then blame some more. Blame the Americans, blame the Africans, blame the agricultural companies, blame anyone but especially blame that group of people or that nation you hate.
The truth is no one is to blame, it is just the nature of Homo sapiens to expand their population to the very limit of their existence… and then some. The population exploded because it could.
Fossil fuels brought on the industrial evolution, then the medical revolution and the green revolution. And so the population, all over the world, just naturally exploded.
And it will stop when there is not enough food, and/or means to acquire food, by the people of the earth. Then the population will cease to grow and start to decline, and likely decline pretty fast.
Davy on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 9:22 am
Thanks Paulo, I could not have said it better!
Ron, if the blame game continues there is no chance of a plan B of significance so game will be over.
Bob, agree to a point but we have a whole other half of the country. We have a huge corn belt that will have to migrate away from monocultures and toward 19th century diversified AG. I was going to bring up dairy too. We have a rude awakening ahead for dairy products. Many folks need to get their own milk cow.
Northwest Resident on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 9:27 am
Davy — I hate to disagree with you, but this time I have no choice. Dude, there is no such thing as screwing “too much”. It isn’t too much sex which leads to high birth rates because there are ways to limit conception. It is more the primitive and “macho” drive of men in those countries to impregnate their women and keep them pregnant. But screwing “too much”. Impossible!!
Davy on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 9:45 am
NR, you got a point. I just wish at my age the standards you are recommending I could meet.
noobtube on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 10:18 am
It’s simple.
Population rates are crashing in the West because the West cannot afford to have more babies. Therefore, the West is poor, not rich.
Simple.
Population is still going in the rest of the world because the rest of the world can afford more babies. The so-called poor are rich.
Simple.
And, when you consider the genocidal scum in the West are waging perpetual war against the rest of the world (military bases everywhere, drone bombs, wars on terror and drugs, biological and chemical warfare, trash dumping, invasion of other countries’ waters, resource and energy exploitation, nuclear waste dumping)… the rest of the world needs all the babies it can to replace the ones the West are murdering on a daily basis.
ghung on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 10:43 am
As with energy security, the only viable solution to the food security conundrum I can see is to produce your own as much as is possible. Surround yourself with like-minded people/community knowing that the rest of the world will thrive or starve, with or without you.
My latest experiment with raised beds filled with sawdust and sand, with a good dose of homemade compost, is proving to be a winner and allowing the big garden to enjoy a season or two of rest. I’ve never had better tomatoes, especially the heirlooms. Peppers, herbs, potatoes, all producing amazing quantities in small spaces. Pests are virtually non-existent, perhaps due to my inter-planting with marigolds.
Expecting/hoping for centralized, top-down solutions is a fool’s game. Sorry, y’all…
Davy on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 10:53 am
Thanks for info G pests are killing some of my stuff. Next year will try some raised beds.
Welcome back G you have been away for a while.
Northwest Resident on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 10:55 am
ghung — Great see you posting here again. I’ve been wondering where you went. Maybe you’ve been posting but I just haven’t notice? Or, more likely, you’ve been busy doing your raised planter bed experiment…
I finally finished digging up and prepping my 1000 or so square feet of raised planter beds, and got the last of my intended crops in. Now I’m just taking a break, kicking back and watching it all grow. This is my first year as a “mini farmer”, so I don’t really have a frame of reference to determine whether my crops are kicking butt or just doing “okay”. I can see that in my hurry to get the soil prepped, I didn’t mix it equally in a number of the planters which is resulting in different growth rates for the corn and wheat that I planted. And I can see now with hindsight that I didn’t do a few other things as well as could be done. But overall, my crops are looking very good and I can’t wait to see what the final harvest totals will be. Tomorrow I get to harvest my first batch of semi-sweet onions which grew very well — can’t wait to see what they taste like!
Davy on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 10:59 am
N/R, I have enough tomatoes to feed this board! Making tomato juice today.
Northwest Resident on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 11:12 am
Davy — How are you planning to preserve those tomatoes? Tomato juice I imagine can be pressure cooked for long term preservation??? We have a lot of tomatoes on the way and are thinking we’ll make our own brand of BBQ sauce, or ketchup, or salsa, or homemade spaghetti sauce — anything to preserve the tomatoes for later use. Of course, we’ll have a few fresh salads and BLT sandwiches too.
How’s your corn doing? I know you planted a few varieties. With the hot temperatures we’ve been having here for a week or more, my two varieties of corn are growing like crazy but consuming a lot of water. I built a heavy-duty table out of Douglas Fir and mounted my grain grinder on it — that sucker is NOT going to wiggle around as I grind my grain. Can’t wait to try it out on my homegrown wheat and corn — bread and cornbread, fresh baked from homemade produce — yummy and very healthy!!
JuanP on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 11:43 am
NWR, I now only have four tomato plants that have around 60 tomatoes on my 8′ by 4′ Square Foot Garden, so I don’t have enough to preserve, but at least in Florida I can eat them fresh year round.
As a kid I planted a lot more and made tomato sauce and canned it and the sauce lasted my family the rest of the year till the next crop. We used to eat a lot of fresh pasta with sauce back then.
paulo1 on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 12:04 pm
NW Resi,
Make sure you simply freeze some tomatos in plastic freezer bags. In the winter we take 4-6 out and put them in a microwave for 10 minutes or so. Water comes out so don’t be too rough with them. We pour the water off…maybe nuke for a few more minutes and pour some more water off until you see some juice. Then, it is into the sauce pan with whatever spices called for. Done like this the tomatos have the exact same sweet flavour as fresh ones. The sauce is almost reduced and quite thick. It is way easier than canning. Try both ways and then decide which is best for you. Plus, if you don’t like skins this process removes the skins. However, we always leave them in whatever we cook. With an energy star freezer the power used to freeze and keep frozen is minimal. I suspect we use far less energy than what the canning process calls for although I haven’t figured it out. Yet.
We have Rosevelt elk here on the Island and this year I was successful in obtaining a limited entry lottery for one. They can top 900 lbs. Since we have a herd on our property it should be fairly straight forward to fill the freezer with meat. Brother-in-law is a butcher and tasked to help out with the prep and wrapping. I have done moose a few times, and lots of deer, but the elk is a new one for me. We are just finishing up growing out 30 broilers. The final cost per bird, including chick purchase and all food will be around $3.30 per bird. They run around outside during the day so they are a little tougher than store bought, but they actually live like normal chickens. I made a plucker so my wife and I process our own. Layers are doing well. Garden is doing better than ever with the latest heat wave. Garlic to be harvested soon. Tomatos are still green being in a colder area than most of you. Everything else doing awesome.
regards….Paulo
ghung on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 12:04 pm
Thanks, Davy and NR. It’s the time of year when I have much better things to do than sit in front of the computer, and must admit that I get frustrated with the repetitive negative/blaming comments here, not to mention the trolls. While my outlook for the human collective and the biosphere as a whole is quite negative, I see no point in dwelling on it too much. Positive responses on a very local level seem to be the best way to spend whatever time one has.
NR – Most tomato varieties are acid enough to be canned using a boiling water bath – about 20 minutes for quart/liter jars; no pressure canner needed. When in doubt, add a little lemon juice or vinegar.
The same applies to things canned/pickled in vinegar. I’m quite proud of my Tabasco kosher dills. Growing our own cukes, dill, garlic and Tabasco peppers, and staying set up for small batches while things are fresh is the key.
The Ball ‘Blue Book’ is the go-to technical reference for such things.
Canning tomato juice is about as easy as it gets; we do a lot, especially using sweet, over-ripe tomatoes. Best Bloody Mary anywhere. Still working on the vodka thing….
Davy on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 12:22 pm
N/R new to canning so I am listening to G. At the moment I am eating out of the garden and giving stuff away. My girlfriend is doing some canning. I am buying up canning supplies and equipment as part of my prep work. Guys I have 400 acres that is the limit of my abilities. This limits my gardening. I already spend significant time doing the gardening basics. I know I am on this board allot but it offers me a break through the many hours of farm work and being alone. I wish I had 7 kids sometimes and a stay at home wife.
energyskeptic on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 1:04 pm
I just finished the book “Refrigeration Nation”, a lot less food is wasted because of refrigerators, but these consume the most power of home appliances, and as the electric grid is up and down from outages due to lack of coal, natural gas, or sheer falling apart because deregulation led to the infrastructure not being maintained properly, refrigeration will lessen and eventually go away, leading to a LOT of food waste. Peak oil also means that food won’t be able to be distributed. 80% of food calories are grown in the Midwest, 80% of people are near the coasts. Food is going to rot in the fields when there’s no oil to deliver it with, or oil shocks hit just before planting, or just before harvest. Even now massive amounts of food are destroyed every step of the way – pests and disease eat crops before harvest, after harvest, etc. Climate change means that successful crops are going to become less frequent as drought, floods,hail, tornadoes, and hurricanes not only become more common, but more severe.
What annoys me the most about these stupid articles is the lack of any mention of birth control or abortion. At this point, feeding more people is risking the extinction of all of us and the other millions of species on the planet. Strip-mining our remaining resources for another 3 billion people ought to be a crime. The energy to grow more food ought to be going into burying nuclear waste so future generations aren’t poisoned.
JuanP on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 1:28 pm
I back Ghung’s comment and I also recommend the “Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving” available for $13 at Amazon.com. Ball books are the bible of canning and preserves.
http://www.amazon.com/Ball-Complete-Book-Home-Preserving/dp/0778801314/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1405707669&sr=8-3&keywords=Ball+Blue+book
Northwest Resident on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 1:30 pm
energyskeptic — You are correct of course about refrigeration, or lack thereof. Anyone who is seriously planning to take on the brave new world that is headed our way needs to add root cellaring, fermentation, canning and other food-preservation techniques to their skillset — the same ones our forefathers used for millennia with excellent success. Or in Davy’s case, smoking and dehydrating, because he’s going to have to make a LOT of beef jerky to preserve that meat once he slaughters one of his grass-fed specimens. Have you put any thought or planning into that, Davy?
Davy on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 1:31 pm
Energy S, the whole refrigeration issue is going to bite us in the ass. It is the end use of food and the appliances that consume the most energy. This is why we have to start traditional food preservation. How many people can jerk beef, can veggies, or properly store grain. Dairy will need to be done differently. Sausages preserving meat must come back. I am not sure how unstable the grid will become, when this will happen, and finally how long there will be a widespread grid for all. I am sure anything from high prices to brown outs are going to play havoc on refrigeration. We have to get back to seasonal, local, and preserved foods soon.
noobtube on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 2:26 pm
I love it.
The degenerate American scum gets knocked on their asses when the truth train comes rolling through.
SO, they go back into denial and start talking about being peasants.
Get used to it, because that’s where the American idiot is headed… into the fields and then out of existence.
The Earth, its peoples and its lands will breathe a sigh of relief.
HARM on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 2:55 pm
Yes, noobtube, if only those American and European “devils” could be wiped off the face of the earth, then all the world’s problems would be solved. Because Asian, African and Middle Eastern nations are so well governed and so much better great at managing their populations and natural resources!
I mean, just look at Mumbai, or Lagos, or Jakarta, or Beijing. 21st century ecological and egalitarian paradise, those places. Not to mention models of population and resource consumption “restraint”.
noobtube on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 3:44 pm
That’s like asking, “Would the world be better off without genocidal, mass murdering, Earth destroying scum?”
Would the world be better off without Europeans and Americans leeching off eveyrone else?
Would the world be better off without Wars of Terror, Wars on Drugs, Wars on Poverty, Wars on Everything?
I think most of the world would say yes.
So, Americans, you are voted off the island. A reward you so richly deserve.
ghung on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 4:41 pm
Ignoring those who are apparently without sin and busy casting stones and dispersions – a really crappy way to spend one’s life, IMO, as if it’s going to accomplish anything – on the subject of preserving meat;
Leaner cuts of meat preserve very well via pressure canning. Indeed, tougher parts of venison, goat or beef can benefit greatly from being pressure-canned in a light brine with some spices. One of my favorites is canned beef round or flank in a light salt brine with garlic and pepper; very tender and tasty, especially after a few months in the jar. Back to my pickling….
Note – be sure to can meats a long time. About 80 minutes for a liter jar at 15 psi.
Davy on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 6:47 pm
Thanks G, my new prep effort is to develop canning skills.
Makati1 on Fri, 18th Jul 2014 9:35 pm
Whew! If anyone gets to this point, I felt that this bears repeating:
Anyone paying attention to TOTAL world events from the viewpoints of many sides, you should see that it (the current world) cannot exist for many more years. If you are not preparing to ease your suffering, you should be. No one commenting here is so poor that they cannot do some preparation after rational thinking the situation out. We all have to work with what we have since there is no chance of improvement in our situation in the near future.
The US is going to have their war one way or another. They may have to destroy most of the world to ignite it but then, isn’t that what has been happening for the last decade or so? Time is getting short and they know it. The dollar is now in the cross-hairs of many countries of the world. It is the easiest way to destroy the American Empire. Add in peak resources and climate change and the end/cliff/wall becomes more clear. Prepare now. Next year may be too late.
Davy on Sat, 19th Jul 2014 7:51 am
Mak, prepare, Asia is in massive population overshoot coupled with the inability to feed its teeming masses without the North & South American food imports. The dollar is in decline but so is the Asian Tiger growth meme so vital to stability of the entire region. You have a mistaken attitude that Asia can decouple from the west. You fantasize Asia can do a “breakout” and quickly take over the world stage as the new super power region. Not only is Asia in a massive population overshoot and environmental destruction it is political, military, and social time bomb ready to explode in conflict and massive demonstrations for multiple reasons. At least in North America we have food production capabilities and lebensraum.
steve on Sat, 19th Jul 2014 10:04 am
sheep and goats are a better why to feed large populations than cows…do the math it is why the Irish have done it for centuries…and one coat from a sheep can make two adult coats
steve on Sat, 19th Jul 2014 10:07 am
Lebensraum? Where did that come from? Do you know what that word means?
steve on Sat, 19th Jul 2014 10:12 am
noobtube I can’t help reading your comments and picturing a pimpled faced 20 year old kid….am I right? If the U.S was not the world power someone would be…It would be Jevons paradox but with power control….Do you know anything about history? Was there a time of Utopian order? Maybe all my history is wrong..please enlighten me…Maybe the world would have been a better place if Germany and Japan had won WW2
rollin on Sat, 19th Jul 2014 11:04 am
Why worry about feeding more people? We grow enough food to feed twice the number of people on the planet now.
Davy on Sat, 19th Jul 2014 11:04 am
Steve, it is a term used by the Germans in WWII. In my case I applied it to the idea there is much open spaces in the US that the large urban areas can depopulate into.
Davy on Sat, 19th Jul 2014 11:06 am
Funny Steve, I picture noob the same way. Not yet matured but with lots of hormones doing mental masterbation.