From:
Newsgroups: rec.gardens

every single study of famines has found that there are only a few major
contributing
factors and a world wide lack of food isnt one of them.
1. mal distribution of food.
2. somebody holding onto the food to make a killing
3. people cannot afford the food
4. wars and the mass dislocation of farmers and those who work the land
contrary to what most people think, Somalia is a lush and green country. it
is the
damned wars that have driven the people to starvation.
The biggest threat to the world food supply is disruption of traditional
farming
practices that have developed over the thousands of years of human farming
experience. And the biggest lousy practices a
1. monoculture
2. planting non-native species ill adapted to surviving normal climate
variations
3. irrigation leading to salinization
4. cash crops that destroy the soil profile
5. the use of non-organic fertilizers that dont put back nutrients and
organic
matter
6. over cultivation of marginal land that leads to erosion of thin soil
layers.
all of the above practices are inherent in the development and "pushing" of
GMO
crops. Ingrid

(Frankhartx) wrote:
Everyone had better face the fact that unless there is a major cataclysm and
a
drastic reduction in the worlds population, the continued growth of
population
means that conventional agriculture will not be able to keep up with the
increased demand. Bio-engineered food plants are inevitable, like it or not.

Without the advantages in production gained throug bioengineering we will
not
be able to sustain our future population. So wake up to the facrts of life
and
smell the roses--they are edible so you can eat them too--some day you may
have
to.



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current food supply is adequate for the current world population and can
sustain some increase. But if population continues to increase as it is doing
then even with the best of practices it will not be sufficient without the
ability to increase production supplied by the bioengineeered crops. Todays
famines are not related to the world food supply but are localized phenomia
with various causes. The government of Zimbabwe in what only can be described
as utter madness has largely deliberately destroyed what was once a highly
effecient agricultural base with the result that we can expect the people there
to suffer greatly--but here in the US we waste more than enough food to fill
the gap But todays famines are tactical situations, in the overall strategical
picture future populaion growth will stress the present system beyond it's
limits and bioengimeered crops will be a necessity.