Conservation comment: Agricultural revolution offers more food

The revolution in Egypt, and elsewhere in the Middle East, was firstly triggered by food shortages. The irony is that, meanwhile, those in the Western world are dying from obesity and other diet-related diseases.
Besides an unequal distribution of food, the world is heading towards major food shortages.
The factors causing this upcoming food crisis are the availability of water, land, oil, nutrients, fish, climate, money, and all these are exacerbated by a rising population.
The green revolution provided respite from the 1950s when high-yielding cultivars of wheat and rice were introduced to Third World agriculture. There they increased production from three to 10 times.
This sounds great until it is realised these high yields relied on artificial fertilisers, pesticides and irrigation. Unfortunately, they all involve using more of these diminishing resources. For example, it takes large amounts of fossil fuel - another diminishing resource - to produce urea fertiliser.
Another disruption to a diverse environment of trees and hedgerows came with "efficient" monoculture demanded by large, fossil-fuelled tractors.
Bees also suffer from this monocultural environment.
Fish had been considered inexhaustible because of the oceans' apparent vastness. Fish populations are difficult to assess because mostly they are hidden. Only when they become difficult to find do we realise, too late, that they are practically gone.
Nearly half of Western societies' food is wasted. Not only could better, more careful choices and kitchen management reduce this waste, but scraps can be recycled through chooks or pigs. But, if that is not an option, then composting at least saves the waste of nutrients to landfill. And speaking of waste, there is huge nutrient loss down our sewers which we could recover before it is sent out to sea.
Julian Cribb, an Australian, spoke recently about the food crisis on National Radio and he proposed a new direction:
Unifying organic and high-intensity farming thinking to create a new eco-agriculture that uses fewer resources, wastes less and produces more.
Improved irrigation and water use efficiency.
A new focus on soil microbiology to enhance crop and pasture yields sustainably.
Developing novel food systems (rural and urban) that are cushioned against climate shocks.
These would help to rebuild the fertility of the soil which current agriculture tends to treat as just a medium for fertilisers. Natural fertility holds nutrients and water better and can sequester carbon in surprisingly large amounts.
Some farming is making useful changes in these directions, but we need much more.
The Industrial Revolution made many consumables more easily made and distributed, but also contributed to the looming food crisis.
The revolution we need is a change from many of our current farming and agricultural practices and wasteful use of what we produce, but the result will be productive, not destructive, and a route towards more food for all.
John Milnes has been concerned about unsustainable practices on this planet since about the 1970s. He has been involved with Sustainable Whanganui since its inception and is also a trustee. He is a grandfather who would like to leave a planet that will be an ongoing and pleasant home that can feed all living creatures.