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SPEAKING
FREELY
Oil and food: A new security
challenge
By Danielle Murray
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click here
if you are interested in
contributing.
From farm to plate,
the modern food system relies heavily on cheap
oil. Threats to our oil supply are also threats to
our food supply. As food undergoes more processing
and travels farther, the food system consumes ever
more energy each year.
The US food system
uses over 10 quadrillion Btu (10,551 quadrillion
Joules) of energy each year, as much as France's
total annual energy consumption. Growing food
accounts for only one-fifth of this. The other
four-fifths is used to move, process, package,
sell, and store food after it leaves the farm.
Some 28% of energy used in agriculture goes to
fertilizer manufacturing, 7% goes to irrigation,
and 34% is consumed as diesel and gasoline by farm
vehicles used to plant, till, and harvest crops.
The rest goes to pesticide production, grain
drying, and facility operations.
The past
half-century has witnessed a tripling in world
grain production - from 631 million tons in 1950
to 2,029 million tons in 2004. While 80% of the
increase is due to population growth raising
demand, the remainder can be attributed to more
people eating higher up the food chain, increasing
per capita grain consumption by 24%. New grain
demand has been met primarily by raising land
productivity through higher yielding crop
varieties in conjunction with more oil-intensive
mechanization, irrigation, and fertilizer use,
rather than by expanding cropland.
Crop
production now relies on fertilizers to replace
soil nutrients, and therefore on the oil needed to
mine, manufacture, and transport these fertilizers
around the world. Rock deposits in the United
States, Morocco, China, and Russia meet two-thirds
of world phosphate demand, while Canada, Russia,
and Belarus account for half of potash mine
production. Nitrogen fertilizer production, which
relies heavily on natural gas to fuel the
conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into reduced
forms of nitrogen such as ammonia, is much more
widely dispersed.
World fertilizer use has
increased dramatically since the 1950s. China is
now the top consumer with use rising beyond 40
million tons in 2004. Fertilizer use has leveled
off in the United States, staying near 19 million
tons per year since 1984. India's use also has
stabilized at around 16 million tons per year
since 1998. More energy-efficient fertilizer
production technology and precision monitoring of
soil nutrient needs have cut the amount of energy
needed to fertilize crops, but there is still more
room for improvement. As oil prices increase and
the price of fertilizer rises, there will be a
premium on closing the nutrient cycle and
replacing synthetic fertilizer with organic waste.
The use of mechanical pumps to irrigate
crops has allowed farms to prosper in the middle
of the desert. It also has increased farm energy
use, allowed larger water withdrawals, and
contributed to aquifer depletion worldwide. As
water tables drop, ever more powerful pumps must
be used, perpetuating and increasing the oil
requirements for irrigation. More efficient
irrigation systems, such as low-pressure and drip
irrigation, and precision soil moisture testing
could reduce agricultural water and energy needs.
But in many countries, government subsidies keep
water artificially cheap and readily available.
Countering the historical trend toward
more energy-intensive farm mechanization has been
the adoption of conservation tillage methods -
leaving crop residues on the ground to minimize
wind and water erosion and soil moisture loss.
Soil quality is improved through this technique,
while farm fuel use and irrigation needs are
lowered. Zero-till farming is practiced on 90
million hectares worldwide, over half of which are
in the United States and Brazil. Reduced tillage
is now used on 41% of US cropland.
Although agriculture is finding ways to
use less energy, the amount consumed between the
farm gate and the kitchen table continues to rise.
While 21% of overall food system energy is used in
agricultural production, another 14% goes to food
transport, 16% to processing, 7% to packaging, 4%
to food retailing, 7% to restaurants and caterers,
and 32% to home refrigeration and preparation.
Food today travels farther than ever, with
fruits and vegetables in Western industrial
countries often logging 2,500-4,000 kilometers
from farm to store. Increasingly, open world
markets combined with low fuel prices allow the
import of fresh produce year round, regardless of
season or location. But as food travels farther,
energy use soars. Trucking accounts for the
majority of food transport, though it is nearly 10
times more energy-intensive than moving goods by
rail or barge. Refrigerated jumbo jets - 60 times
more energy-intensive than sea transport -
constitute a small but growing sector of food
transport, helping supply northern hemisphere
markets with fresh produce from places like Chile,
South Africa, and New Zealand.
Processed
foods now make up three-fourths of total world
food sales. One pound (0.45 kilograms) of frozen
fruits or vegetables requires 825 kilocalories of
energy for processing and 559 kilocalories for
packaging, plus energy for refrigeration during
transport, at the store, and in homes. Processing
a one-pound can of fruits or vegetables takes an
average 261 kilocalories, and packaging adds 1,006
kilocalories, thanks to the high energy-intensity
of mining and manufacturing steel. Processing
breakfast cereals requires 7,125 kilocalories per
pound - easily five times as much energy as is
contained in the cereal itself.
Most fresh
produce and minimally processed grains, legumes,
and sugars require very little packaging,
particularly if bought in bulk. Processed foods,
on the other hand, are often individually wrapped,
bagged and boxed, or similarly overpackaged. This
flashy packaging requires large amounts of energy
and raw materials to produce, yet almost all of it
ends up in our landfills.
Food retail
operations, such as supermarkets and restaurants,
require massive amounts of energy for
refrigeration and food preparation. The
replacement of neighborhood shops by "super"
stores means consumers must drive farther to buy
their food and rely more heavily on refrigeration
to store food between shopping trips. Due to their
preference for large contracts and homogenous
supply, most grocery chains are reluctant to buy
from local or small farms. Instead, food is
shipped from distant large-scale farms and
distributors - adding again to transport,
packaging, and refrigeration energy needs.
Rather than propping up
fossil-fuel-intensive, long-distance food systems
through oil, irrigation, and transport subsidies,
governments could promote sustainable agriculture,
locally grown foods, and energy-efficient
transportation. Incentives to use environmentally
friendly farming methods such as conservation
tillage, organic fertilizer application, and
integrated pest management could reduce farm
energy use significantly. Rebate programs for
energy-efficient appliances and machinery for
homes, retail establishments, processors, and
farms would cut energy use throughout the food
system. Legislation to minimize unnecessary
packaging and promote recycling would decrease
energy use and waste going to landfills.
Direct farmer-to-consumer marketing, such
as farmers' markets, bypasses centralized
distribution systems, cutting out unnecessary food
travel and reducing packaging needs while
improving local food security. Farmers' markets
are expanding across the US, growing from 1,755
markets in 1993 to 3,100 in 2002, but still
represent only 0.3% of food sales.
The
biggest political action individuals take each day
is deciding what to buy and eat. Preferentially
buying local foods that are in season can cut
transport and farm energy use and can improve food
safety and security. Buying fewer processed,
heavily packaged, and frozen foods can cut energy
use and marketing costs, and using smaller
refrigerators can slash household electricity
bills. Eating lower on the food chain can reduce
pressure on land, water, and energy supplies.
Fossil fuel reliance may prove to be the
Achilles' heel of the modern food system. Oil
supply fluctuations and disruptions could send
food prices soaring overnight. Competition and
conflict could quickly escalate. Decoupling the
food system from the oil industry is key to
improving food security.
Danielle
Murray is a staff researcher with Earth Policy
Institute.
(Copyright 2005
Earth Policy Institute)
Speaking
Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows
guest writers to have their say. Please click here
if you are interested in
contributing. |
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