[wisconsin_cur]

Disclosure: I knew was likely to like this book before I ever opened it for two reasons: A) Sharon is the first person I ever emailed on the issue of peak oil and preparation on a yahoo group years ago and B) As many of you know, I find the food issue the most interesting and pressing.
----------------
That being said, it is great. A good articulation of the basis and problems our food system faces and how this ties into resource depletion. There is also a positive vision put forward for what the culture could be come while a realistic undertone that take into account the difference between what could be done and what is likely.

Humerous and helpful, a good mix of facts, personal narritive and reference to other works on the issue of food, farming, cooking and eating. Well worth checking out from your local library, purchasing or giving as a gift to a friend. I felt encouraged and re-energized having read it.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Official Description', 'O')nce we could fill our grocery carts with cheap and plentiful food, but not anymore. Cheap food has gone the way of cheap oil. Climate change is already reducing crop yields worldwide. The cost of flying in food from far away and shipping it across the country in refrigerated trucks is rapidly becoming unviable. Cars and cows increasingly devour grain harvests, sending prices skyrocketing. More Americans than ever before require food stamps and food pantries just to get by, and a worldwide food crisis is unfolding, overseas and in our kitchens.

We can keep hunger from stalking our families, but doing so will require a fundamental shift in our approach to field and table. A Nation of Farmers examines the limits and dangers of the globalized food system and shows how returning to the basics is our best hope. The book includes in-depth guidelines for:

Creating resilient local food systems Growing, cooking, and eating sustainably and naturally Becoming part of the solution to the food crisis The book argues that we need to make self-provisioning, once the most ordinary of human activities, central to our lives. The results will be better food, better health, better security, and freedom from corporations that don’t have our interests at heart. This is critical reading for anyone who eats and cares about high-quality food.

[TheDude]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')n June of 2008, 2500 people stood in line, desperately waiting for free food vouchers in Wisconsin. Their need was so urgent and their frustration so violent that fights broke out and at least one person was trampled, stepped on as other Americans tried to get food. Just the week before an e-coli scare caused the recall of millions of tomatoes. Almost 2 million more Americans will depend on food stamps this year than last - as many as 1 in 7 in some states.

[wisconsin_cur]

Sorry I missed your reply dude,

From your link,

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')'m making an argument that society is unlikely to reverse its trajectory of development, regardless of what we might like. Calls for it to do so are a distraction and get in the way of figuring out what we really need to be doing, and what the real options and dangers are.

[hillsidedigger]

In a post-oil world, if America were to revert to be a nation of farmers, there would only be enough room for maybe 80 million people. That's an average of 40 acres of crop and pasture land for each family of 4 with a little excess possibly being produced which might allow some to practice the 'higher arts' in towns and small cities.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hillsidedigger', 'I')n a post-oil world, if America were to revert to be a nation of farmers, there would only be enough room for maybe 80 million people. That's an average of 40 acres of crop and pasture land for each family of 4 with a little excess possibly being produced which might allow some to practice the 'higher arts' in towns and small cities.

[hillsidedigger]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hillsidedigger', 'I')n a post-oil world, if America were to revert to be a nation of farmers, there would only be enough room for maybe 80 million people. That's an average of 40 acres of crop and pasture land for each family of 4 with a little excess possibly being produced which might allow some to practice the 'higher arts' in towns and small cities.

[rangerone314]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hillsidedigger', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hillsidedigger', 'I')n a post-oil world, if America were to revert to be a nation of farmers, there would only be enough room for maybe 80 million people. That's an average of 40 acres of crop and pasture land for each family of 4 with a little excess possibly being produced which might allow some to practice the 'higher arts' in towns and small cities.

[hillsidedigger]

"Even in the 1900s, corn yield per acre was like 20 bushels or such... a diversified farming (mostly vegetarian) using techinques back then should be able to support 2 people per acre."

Even on 'moderately good land' I think 2 people per acre is too optimistic.

Most of the 800 million acres of potential American farmland is less than 'moderately good land'. There's less than 500 million acres currently in cropland some of it requiring engineered drainage or irrigation. The other 300 million acres is pasture ranging from well watered by rainfall to very arid most of which would better not be converted to cropland.

Another note: Of the 500 million acres of cropland much of it (maybe 40%) can only be farmed by 'dry-land' methods and is only good for wheat or a few other crops and really is not suitable for gardening.

[mos6507]

Then I suggest the definition of "farmland" be broadened.



The age of conestoga wagons heading out west is long gone. We're going to have to throw out the book on traditional concepts and just do whatever works.

[AgentR]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', 'T')he age of conestoga wagons heading out west is long gone. We're going to have to throw out the book on traditional concepts and just do whatever works.

[rangerone314]

I seriously need to post a pic of all the water sources on 2 1/2 acres...
#1) small spring in woods - which creates tiny stream which ends near where woods meets west side lawn (and saturates said lawn)
#2) small spring on north side... that runs into #3
#3) small stream runs in sunny area (south to north)
#4 & #5) in woods, small stream & larger stream run west to east and merge with #3

My four main areas for growing things can be expanded to fairly easily to this (areas based on not being in shade):

#1) North Crop Area = trapezoid 80h*50t*75b=5,000 sqFt (corn, beans, squash, amaranth, quinoa, okra)

#2) West Crop Area = 45w*120L=5,400 sqFt (corn, beans, squash, amaranth, quinoa, millet--for chickens)

#3) East Crop Area = 70*70=4,900 sqFt (mainly vegetables, herbs, potatoes)

#4) Middle Area (16 blueberries, plus cranberries, aronia, strawberries, lettuce, spinach, fruit trees) = 90*25 = 2,250 sqFt

I may very likely rotate potatoes and wheat & such into areas #1 & #2 (seeing as how they are comprised of mounds)

The areas COULD be expanded a tiny bit more if I pushed.

All areas are polyculture, ie the Yukon gold potato plants are separated by fava bean plants and the corners have horseradishes. Tomato plants and asparagus are near other with lots of basil, beets, radishes and carrots inbetween as pretty much a ground cover. When the cabbage beds are ready (hopefully soon because planters are crowded!), they'll have brussel sprounts, broccoli, cabbage, rhubarb, hyssop & soybeans

In addition, there are some areas along the margins, such as the 4 female and 1 male kiwi vine (females of which will produce huge amounts of fruit at maturity), 2 fig trees, multiple American hazelnut bushes, American persimmons, mulberries, and black walnuts, which can produce substantial amounts of food.

[Ludi]

Horticulture (perennial crops) is more productive per acre than agriculture.

[hillsidedigger]

"Tell a Chinese or Thai peasant that a family of four needs forty acres"

If the land is well watered, well drained, naturaly quite fertile, if only considering subsistence farming for next season (not for generations), if there's no need for a woodland for heating fuel, no need for pasturage of any kind, then sure less than 1/10th. of 40 acres would be fine.

Note: Many farmable areas would be completely depleted within a few seasons of 2 people per acre production without intensive inputs from off the site. Some farmable areas like bottomlands and glacially produced soils may endure for centuries at 2 people being fed per acre.

Some places, 4 acres or even less is enough for a familily of 4. Some places, 400 acres or more of moderately good range land is not enough to support a family of 4.

How are the great fields of the American Midwest to be broken up into small farms? Much land will be lost due to roads and driveways even if what is being driven is only a mule pulled wagon. Much land will be lost for the residential footprints if each section is to have 320 families of 4 which is 2 per acre?

[rangerone314]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', 'T')he age of conestoga wagons heading out west is long gone. We're going to have to throw out the book on traditional concepts and just do whatever works.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR', '
')That 2-4 acre piece of land that seems both too large, or too small; is EXACTLY the right size.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', 'c')an't grow rice though in Maryland, not long enough of growing season.

[rangerone314]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', 'c')an't grow rice though in Maryland, not long enough of growing season.

[3aidlillahi]

Thanks for the review, Wis. Is it mostly an investigative and reporting book about the farming industry or does it lay out how to accomplish a nation of farmers (by showing how we can be one)?

At only $13 or so on Amazon, I'm adding it to my shopping cart for when I have the funds available.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hillsidedigger', '
')Note: Many farmable areas would be completely depleted within a few seasons of 2 people per acre production without intensive inputs from off the site.

[davep]

I think the 40-acre quote is a bit ridiculous. We live in a relatively humid environment with 10 acres. This land has been used for hay for at least 30 years, with no ferrtilising.

Given my experience with an eight hundred foot garden this year and planting of fruit and nut trees, I think we could easily use a portion of our 10 acres for firewood, another for livestock, some more for forest gardening and maybe one acre for annual crops. This would enable us to sell a fair amount too. The limiting factor (in our situation) is not the land, but our experience. I'm sure that after a few years we will be producing a prodigious amount of open-pollinated food.

The lesson is that you have to start practicing intensive sustainable techniques now, before it becomes a necessity, especially for the perennials.