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So I have been thinking a lot about one of my goals for this social experiment to be not buying any petroleum-based products. In case anyone is interested, I found this (partial) list of petroleum-based products that our society uses. A great example to show dependent we are on oil/petroleum, and not just for fuel - every item is another disincentive for our country to get off oil....
Actually, it turns out that demand for organic food is not the problem, rather that supply is limited due to high production costs. Thus the question is how can we reduce production costs. In an ideal world there would new technological innovation and methods that would reduce cost of production. However the industry will not receive enough funding to pursue more efficient production methods unless they are confident that their research efforts will be rewarded by high demand for their products.
Many countries part of the EU and the United States do provide economic help for conversion to organic farming.
One potential way to decrease the cost of organic products is to urge more countries in tropical regions with high rainfall to promote organic farming. In industrial countries, organic systems decrease yields compared to regular farming methods; the range depends on the intensity of external input use before conversion.In the so-called Green Revolution areas (irrigated lands), conversion to organic agriculture usually leads to almost identical yields. In traditional rain-fed agriculture (with low-input external inputs), organic agriculture has the potential to increase yields.
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So I have been thinking a lot about one of my goals for this social experiment to be not buying any petroleum-based products. In case anyone is interested, I found this (partial) list of petroleum-based products that our society uses. A great example to show dependent we are on oil/petroleum, and not just for fuel - every item is another disincentive for our country to get off oil....
http://www.saveandconserve.com/2007/05/petroleum_based_products_a_long_list.html
http://www.fao.org/organicag/oa-faq/oa-faq5/en/
Actually, it turns out that demand for organic food is not the problem, rather that supply is limited due to high production costs. Thus the question is how can we reduce production costs. In an ideal world there would new technological innovation and methods that would reduce cost of production. However the industry will not receive enough funding to pursue more efficient production methods unless they are confident that their research efforts will be rewarded by high demand for their products.
Many countries part of the EU and the United States do provide economic help for conversion to organic farming.
http://www.organic-europe.net/country_reports/default.asp
One potential way to decrease the cost of organic products is to urge more countries in tropical regions with high rainfall to promote organic farming. In industrial countries, organic systems decrease yields compared to regular farming methods; the range depends on the intensity of external input use before conversion.In the so-called Green Revolution areas (irrigated lands), conversion to organic agriculture usually leads to almost identical yields. In traditional rain-fed agriculture (with low-input external inputs), organic agriculture has the potential to increase yields.
Guys, here is a way to end apathy in our book club ;)
http://www.betterworldbooks.com/
This website sells used books and will use profits to promote literacy in the world...
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