There are 2 sides to this situation. Rising prices are good news for the world's farmers. African and Latin American farmers have been driven off the land by cheap imports of subsidized American grain. A reversal would infuse rural communities with a much-needed flow of wealth and restore local agriculture.
I think this process would happen even without the misguided subsidization of ethanol production, but at a much slower (and easier to adapt to) rate as fuel prices rise in response to constrained production and increased demand. Lester Brown's call for greater fuel economy combined with plug-in hybrids and wind farms as an alternative makes perfect sense -- unless you are an American grain farmer. For years, the only way to make it in agriculture in the US has been to milk the public teat. That hasn't changed -- yet. Joel At 11:37 PM 6/18/07 -0400, you wrote: >This is a statement that Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute >presented to the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works >on June 13, 2007. >Worth reading and sharing with others. >http://www.earth-policy.org/Transcripts/SenateEPW07.htm > >Sigrid >_______________________________________________ >RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: >[email protected] >http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins >free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org _______________________________________________ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
