Some Food (Or Fuel) For Thought . . .
Where’s the beef? I’m worried about our corn.
The morning after St. Patrick’s Day, I find myself thinking about the ultimate wisdom of using food to fuel our wants and needs. Barley for beer, berries for wine, sugar for rum and whatever it is they use to make moonshine (your guess is as good as mine), is one thing. Using food for fuel, however, is an entirely different matter.
Each year, hard-working American farmers and food producers need to harvest and process enough quality food for nearly 365 billion meals (not including snacks). As we continue to divert more of our nation’s corn and other crops to produce ethanol for fuel, our food prices will of course continue to rise. Other potential and rarely-discussed consequences, however, could be far more severe.
Bill Marler, an adversary but respected colleague, writes often on his blog about security shortcomings in our food system which, I agree, make the general safety of our food vulnerable to interference or attack from enemies. I query, alternatively, what might happen years or decades from now, if those who wish us harm were to develop and introduce a microbe into American farm fields, which could spread and destroy (I’m personally reminded of the 1845 potato famine) a significant percentage of our staple crops. Not only would our food infrastructure be devastated, but we could potentially find ourselves in the precarious situation of not being able to make enough ethanol to fuel the new breed of (green) vehicles needed to harvest, produce and distribute the food we eat. Although, I suppose, in a worst case scenario, we could always revert to forgotten times, using horses to transport replacement crops and foods from regions not affected, I am still trying to figure out what they would be fed.
Let there be no mistake, I am not opposed to alternative fuels, even those that require food to produce. We do need to find and develop new options, and there appear to be a wide-range of possibilities (solar and wind seem viable). My only point is that, as we set and define our national food and fuel policy, we should be very careful not to put all our eggs in one basket. We each enjoy and need the food we eat – including its availability and affordability. Thus, let’s make sure that, at all turns, and all levels, we protect both.
Just some extra food (or, fuel) for thought.
