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Factorite (Elite) Posts: | 210 |
Location: | United States | Status: | |
| Quote C:Amie - 2018-12-23 5:44 PM ...On the crop issue you've identified. What is the actual issue that is concerning; so I can understand the issue?
I just had a quick look and the USDA states that in 1800 wheat yields were 13.3 bushels per-acre and in 2013 were 42.7 bushels - the same productivity on 3.2 times less land. You suggest that land use has all but halved, which would imply that net production is 1.72 time higher now vs 1800 and that US agricultural mechanisation is vastly efficient?
We have similar numbers over here (I would assume, I've not checked DeFRA [our USDA of sorts]). We have such little land, we've been putting forests back in left right and centre to try and repair the environment or using it to 'pretend' to build housing. Unlike the US though, we hate GM food as a concept. We don't want it. ... It appears that I'm a little more confident in U.S. agriculture than some of my compadres. The attachment is a picture of a page I put together earlier in the year for another forum. It summarizes the steady and inexorable rise in production of seven or eight staples that feed the World. 2018 data won't be finalized till sometime in Feb. 2019 but all forecasts are that it will be another cross-spectrum record year. The data is in 3 year increments from 1959 to 2016 when I decided to go yearly.  (Crops3.jpg)Attachments ----------------  Crops3.jpg (46KB - 0 downloads) |
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Administrator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 17,974 |
Location: | United Kingdom | Status: | |
| Focusing on wheat, your numbers suggest a 2.14 time increase since 1959? Which is more extreme than the numbers that I sourced, but do I infer that you concur with my general proposition? The US agricultural titan has become more efficient rather than constricted (unlike some parts of the EU which has become more dependent on subsidisation, small holdings and clinging inefficiency). |
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Factorite (Elite) Posts: | 210 |
Location: | United States | Status: | |
| Quote C:Amie - 2018-12-27 3:56 PM
Focusing on wheat, your numbers suggest a 2.14 time increase since 1959? Which is more extreme than the numbers that I sourced, but do I infer that you concur with my general proposition? The US agricultural titan has become more efficient rather than constricted (unlike some parts of the EU which has become more dependent on subsidisation, small holdings and clinging inefficiency). Exactly! Of course we started with an enormously rich medium that we TOOK from the original inhabitants but I believe advances in agriculture, spear headed by the U.S., are one of the great under appreciated achievements of the last two centuries.
I firmly believe that as technology, robotics especially, filters down from other industries, yields will continue at a record pace. |
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Factorite (Elite) Posts: | 210 |
Location: | United States | Status: | |
| 2018 forecast: "USDA Forecasts Record High Corn Yield and Soybean Production for 2018
WASHINGTON, August 10, 2018 – U.S. farmers are expected to produce a record-high soybean crop this year, according to the Crop Production report issued today by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Up 4 percent from 2017, soybean production is forecast at record high 4.59 billion bushels, while corn growers are expected to decrease their production slightly from last year, forecast at 14.6 billion bushels... ...Average corn yield is forecast at 178.4 bushels per acre, up 1.8 bushels from last year. If realized, this will be the highest yield on record for the United States. ... ....Wheat production is forecast at 1.88 billion bushels, up 8 percent from 2017. Growers are expected to produce 1.19 billion bushels of winter wheat this year, down 6 percent from last year." https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/2018/08-10-2018.php |
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Global Moderator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 12,667 |
Location: | Southern California | Status: | |
| The problem is that developed nations are still discarding consumable foodstuffs at alarming rates while millions go hungry. Here in the US the estimates by the Department of Agriculture are 30-40% food waste.  |
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H/PC Elite Posts: | 733 |
Location: | England, UK | Status: | |
| Naturally this thread has blown up, to no surprise from me whatsoever.
I think cancelling Brexit would be the most peaceful option at this moment, bearing in mind the deficiency in preparation for the program as it stands. The debate won't end for a long time though. |
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Administrator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 17,974 |
Location: | United Kingdom | Status: | |
| Quote CE Geek - 2018-12-27 7:13 PM
The problem is that developed nations are still discarding consumable foodstuffs at alarming rates while millions go hungry. Here in the US the estimates by the Department of Agriculture are 30-40% food waste.
You're right. Eliminating global food waste will save 70.5GT of CO2 emissions; Nearly 4.5 times the CO2 saving of going full-tilt on nuclear power. As I'm sure you know, the EU is famous for it food mountains and lakes because of its quotas and subsidies. |
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Administrator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 17,974 |
Location: | United Kingdom | Status: | |
| Quote Paianni - 2018-12-27 8:37 PM
Naturally this thread has blown up, to no surprise from me whatsoever.
I think cancelling Brexit would be the most peaceful option at this moment, bearing in mind the deficiency in preparation for the program as it stands. The debate won't end for a long time though.
As a young person, which way would you have (or did you ) voted and why?  |
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H/PC Elite Posts: | 733 |
Location: | England, UK | Status: | |
| I was one of the 48.1% that Cameron's strategy worked for.
I would only vote for Brexit if I had complete control over it in the first place.
Edited by Paianni 2018-12-27 10:07 PM
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Administrator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 17,974 |
Location: | United Kingdom | Status: | |
| I see; any particular "something" that you feel strongly about in that? |
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H/PC Elite Posts: | 733 |
Location: | England, UK | Status: | |
| It would involve a new pan-European empire centred in London. |
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Administrator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 17,974 |
Location: | United Kingdom | Status: | |
| Quote Paianni - 2018-12-27 11:13 PM
It would involve a new pan-European empire centred in London.
LOL! Sadly I think the Commission think said empire should be run from Brussels, the French, Paris and the German's, Berlin... and the Commission is winning.
We have more chance of winning Eurovision at this point than ever having our way in the EU again.  |
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H/PC Elite Posts: | 733 |
Location: | England, UK | Status: | |
| Basically we needed time to find ways of compensating for >40 years worth of absorption into EU institutions. Brexit could not get my vote, me being aware the government was and still is no more clued up on the subject than I am. How anyone could have expected better from them beggars belief to me. |
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Administrator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 17,974 |
Location: | United Kingdom | Status: | |
| Do you think that what we had before 1974 works as a model?
If by 'compensating' you infer that our political classes and civil service had no longer got a clue how to perform those functions, I would agree. If you mean it as trade balance, then I somewhat agree. |
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H/PC Elite Posts: | 733 |
Location: | England, UK | Status: | |
| Quote C:Amie - 2018-12-28 10:22 AM
Do you think that what we had before 1974 works as a model?
If by 'compensating' you infer that our political classes and civil service had no longer got a clue how to perform those functions, I would agree. If you mean it as trade balance, then I somewhat agree. The pre-1974 model barely worked back then as the economy was tanking and there was not enough natural resources for the UK to be a manufacturing hub in isolation. Today it is totally out of the question. |
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