Going Vegetarian & Another Blow to Ag
Going Vegetarian & Another Blow to Ag plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.
As if this hasn’t already been a tough year for agriculture, the Louisiana coast has been prepared for a good harvest. Enter, Hurricane Isaac. Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Dr. Mike Strain says the hurricane most likely will knock down a lot of the sugar cane and rice.
STRAIN: In addition to that we could flooding and salt water intrusion because we’re expecting tides but then we’re going to have anywhere from 10 to 16 and maybe 18 inches of rain and the storm is going to stay on top of us. It’s going to stay here for at least 30 - 36 hours.
The cotton crop is at a very susceptible stage and may take some heavy damage as well.
What if? That is how many a good fiction story starts. But according to a Swedish water scientist, by the year 2050 we all may be forced to become vegetarians. No really. According to the Stockholm International Water Institute, "There will not be enough water available on current croplands to produce food for the expected 9 billion population in 2050 if we follow current trends and changes towards diets common in western nations." So vegetarianism, the scientists say, is one option to combat the water shortage. Makes me hungry for a nice steak.
Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.
Our family enjoys British t.v. shows. One favorite is Pie In the Sky, starring Richard Griffiths, better known as the uncle in the Harry Potter series. Griffiths plays a police detective who would rather be cooking. One of his cookbooks on the show is “Mrs. Beeton’s Family Cookery”, a real cookbook originally dating from the late 1800‘s. We happened to find one on the internet and ordered it. It’s fun reading, especially the part about the art of “using up”. Here in America we call it eating leftovers, something the Natural Resources Defense Council says Americans no longer do. In fact, NRDC research studies report that people are throwing away forty percent of the food in the U.S. I don’t know about you, but I find that rather shocking and disturbing. That means the average family of four throws away about two thousand dollars of food a year. That’s “quite a wake up call”. With today’s rising grocery costs most of us can’t afford to be that nonchalant about wasting food. As Mrs. Beeton said all those years ago, “ Great care should be taken that nothing is thrown away or suffered to be wasted in the kitchen.” Some things should never change.
Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
