Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The water problem can be improved by outlawing all those stupid unproductive grass lawns and flushing with drinking water.

Your area " Bread basket of the world" ,, ????
Sorry I eat EVERYDAY , MILLIONS of people , BILLIONS of people eat everyday without YOUR supposed "Bread basket of the world"

Surely China would be considered the TRUE bread-basket ..... it produces about half as much Maize as the USA , 30% MORE Wheat and 2000% YES 20 times more rice than the USA. Even India on a balanced scalke far out produces the USA.

No offence to anyone They are just numbers.
http://www.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/psdre ... mplateID=2
The US is the worlds highest total grain producer in the World.
But there are many nations that are close. And yes, the US is one of the lowest producers of rice.
But California is not even the US Bread basket.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grain_Belt

No offense in any of this Baton.
The figures are extremely questionable ,, the output of say rice from China ,, do they calculate the rice grown and eaten by the normal provincial family? No , they wouldn't ,, say 50 MILLION families growing their own needs ,, say 2 kilo per week ,, so add 52 X 2 X 50 MILLION kilo not counted. That completely changes the figures. Same would apply for India.
Anyway ,, they should be using aquaponics to grow it

Louisiana can grow much more rice than it does thanks to abundant amount of water from river basins but it could never be marketed to the asian countries with the excepition of Japan who uses it to make soki I guess they just don't like the coonass long grain rice. But the upside is I can get the ricebran really cheap, it used to be free until deer hunters found deer liked the stuff.
While I agree the numbers are skewed because of local undocumented consumption it must not be assumed that it was left completely out of the equation. These are not just export numbers. Will google for UN type numbers.

Man! this edit button is kicking my butt!

Yuk look what I come across.
http://www.earth-policy.org/Indicators/ ... a.htm#fig5
That's what happens when a farm unfriendly president is in office.
57 day supply

Yep, the drop since about 1998 is impressive! Hope the new guy can change it, although we can't hope to see results in less than one growing season. Or is he the one you were blaming? *grin* (ok, we need a smart-a@@ icon...)

No cant' blame the new guy for this, not enough time in office...either office.
Can't blame him any more than the other guy for 911. Governments action is really slow. I'm not talking how quick they pass laws. But the results of them take a long while before the effects can really be seen. We really are a nation/world where instant results and gratification is expected. Most of what the president and congress does takes at least 1 year to see the results and possibly as much as 10 years. His score card will emerge in his third year, anything positive or negitive before then is just hype by supporters or detracters.

That'll do, D. That'll do.

Back on topic of the thread: Scientific American had an article on phosphorus shortage causing famine since, rather than cycling it through our ecosystems 46 times as is natural, we now mine it, eat it, and flush it into our rivers or into the oceans in a single cycle. AP (and septic systems and humanure) is a good step in the other direction as the phosphorus excreted by fish or normally lost in runoff stays in the system until it ends up as fish, veggies, or compostable scrap that (maybe) goes back into our AP systems as worms or other feed. Any way that we can create cycles from linear streams, change what was waste into raw material, is good.

'nuff preaching. I'll stop now before I get into analogs with economic systems and possible implications....

Yip. "Shortages" of phosphorus reported are just another case of gross mismanagement of eco-systems. AP wins again.... as in most debates.



Rest of article here.... http://www.gaiapulse.co.uk/subitems/uri ... rce-59.htm

Nice .pdf I have on file about phosphorus found here... http://www.ppi-ppic.org/ppiweb/bcrops.n ... 9-1p06.pdf

Pretty vital. No phoshorus... no life.

But we flush it into water systems and create excessive algae problems ....and water systems can die and stink up.

http://www.ec.gc.ca/ceqg-rcqe/English/H ... us_WQG.cfm

Organic growers are getting hammered here in the U.S. Consumers are opting for cheaper produce, leaving organics on the shelves. This is not a small sector of the population but millions choosing lower quality. Sad really, that people can't afford the price of healthy food, although I question that organics are as healthy as they once were- but still they were limited in pesticides and grown more naturally than regular field crops.
Ironically, according to my projection sheet, AP can be sold at regular wholesale prices (not organic) and still be profitable. Looks like a niche for commercial AP is opening up fast.


See the link for the complete article.
Embattled organic sector worries about regulation
...Sales of organic food have soared from $1 billion in 1990 to an estimated $20 billion in 2007 and by 2006 became the fastest growing sector in the industry, according to the Organic Trade Association.
But now growth is coming to a halt as Americans tighten their purse strings and opt for cheaper alternatives.
"Millions of people who were occasionally buying organic products have cut back to save money and we're seeing the real decrease in growth in the last nine months," said Ronnie Cummins, the national director of the Organic Consumers Association.
Millions of people who were occasionally buying organic products have cut back to save money and we're seeing the real decrease in growth in the last nine months," said Ronnie Cummins, the national director of the Organic Consumers Association.
Whole Foods Market Inc, a chain that sells organic and luxury grocery items, reported in May that quarterly sales fell nearly 5 percent from its stores opened at least one year. Profits also fell but the company said it avoided going into the red by cutting prices to keep consumers coming back.
...Growth in the organic sector dwindled to 12.5 percent last year compared to the 20 percent it used to enjoy.
...As part of a broader food safety overhaul, the Obama administration recently announced the creation of a new post of deputy commissioner for foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The position would oversee all food safety activities within the agency.
Most organic farmers believe food safety reforms are necessary, but they worry small and medium organic farmers will be unfairly targeted.
"Based on the escalating cost that would be involved in conforming to this legislation -- administrative fees, record keeping and internal labor requirements -- we can force out of business some of the highest quality practitioners," said Mark Kastel, an analyst at the Cornucopia Institute in Wisconsin.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNe ... 7Z20090717