The future of food products...

I got to thinking today about the future of food and over population...

I came to a conclusion about the future of food and that is some of us will be doomed in year to come probably in the not so distant future.

Does anyone know what happened in Ireland when they depended on potatos heavily and they got a drought and millions died of hunger? We could be facing a similar situation as the globes weather changes. For example here in North america we rely on grains and corn for almost everything we eat. Likewise with cattle and other farm animals also rely on the feed produced from crops. Now let's say Massive droughts and winters with overwhelming snows or even catastophic rain fall like Europe had experienced last year hit North America.

This would cause million of people within Canada and the USA to go hungry. It would completely destroy our food market but the question begs to differ will we do the unthinkable?

I beleive if we are faced with this type of situation which is quite a high probability according to researchers. We will end up in a situation where our live stock dies due to hunger then people. It has been prooven time and time again that nothing lasts forever and that desperate people will commit desperate acts. It is that survival instinct that will make people do anything to stay alive.

I figure if this were to happen we will end up in a society similar to that of the movie Soylent Green in which people are made into food for other people. Who is to be eaten first in this situation well prisoners are a start. After that perhaps the senior populations as well as just about anybody arrested. This intern would result in quite a massive population drop. It is also doubtfull that people buying human meat products would even know what they are eating after it is processed.

Humans have resorted to cannibalism in extreme situations before. With our rate of consumption the loss of our Agriculture would be catastrophic. Even if the population knew what was happening those who refuse to not eat and die off will most likely be rounded up for food processing.

This is just a theory but definatly a plausible one.



[edit on 17-6-2006 by The_Doctor]

îf crops failure wasn't too severe, switching to a completely vegetarian diet would help a lot, meat production requires a lot of crops, much more than direct consumption.

The irish Potato famine......Ireland was actively exporting large amounts of food during that famine.

as far as who gets eaten first.....cook the Politicians..you willl need to salt the meat a bit more, but we need to make sacrafices.

Originally posted by toolman

as far as who gets eaten first.....cook the Politicians..you willl need to salt the meat a bit more, but we need to make sacrafices.

line of the week!

Soylent Green would kill you. Modern human beings are full of agricultural chemicals, artificial colours and preservatives, hormonal growth promoters, veterinary antibiotics, therapeutic and recreational toxins and all kinds of other poison. We are unfit for human consumption.

Interesting theory, Doctor, but I'm more worried about the fact that our main food supply is being put into the hands of the big corporations - Walmart, Tesco et al.

It's only a matter of time before the only places we can buy food are large stores such as these.

What if they decided for whatever reason to close the doors?

do you have any idea what it would take to cause that kind of famine? more than a century of gradual change. by that time, we'll have desalinization plants all over the coasts, and alternative fuel. transporting the water to the midwest would not be much of an issue at that point. famine due to massive drought on this level would not be enough to cause mass starvation.

It's wise to know how to grow your own produce...and even "live off the land" short term as well

May come in handy one day.

Cheers

JS

Originally posted by Delta Alter
Interesting theory, Doctor, but I'm more worried about the fact that our main food supply is being put into the hands of the big corporations - Walmart, Tesco et al.

It's only a matter of time before the only places we can buy food are large stores such as these.

What if they decided for whatever reason to close the doors?

Not just that.

Most of the basics on food production world wide, such as seed and plant companies, are being controlled by a few megacoorperations. That means the bottom end of the supply line is controlled by a few. Hence GM crops everywhere.

When I go to the garden centers to buy plants, I cant find any natural, unaltered varieties of flowers, shrubs, and herbs. Everything is hybrid this and that, and the qualities i seek in alot of these plants are missing, such as frangrance.

I am an advocate of teaching people survival basics I think everyone should know how to make their own food.

As for people not being eatable that is inaccurate. see if what we were eating was to kill us fast tho population would not be where it's at. Humans can infact eat other humans...

Let's look at Americas corn products which include almost everything manufactured and processed. It is also used to feed live stock so if the corn failed for whatever reason for one year it would infact cause most of the United States and Canada to go hungry so much so I am willing to say that if more diversification among'st food is not found we would infact loose millions to hunger.

"do you have any idea what it would take to cause that kind of famine? more than a century of gradual change. by that time, we'll have desalinization plants all over the coasts, and alternative fuel. transporting the water to the midwest would not be much of an issue at that point. famine due to massive drought on this level would not be enough to cause mass starvation."

You missed the point...I am not talking a gradual change I am saying if just for one year it either rained too much or to little which is a definate possibility. You don't need desertification to loose crops. Too much moisture from to much rain or an overactive winter which both of these scenarios have happened here. flooding in the fields mean you cannot plant crops. This also had happened in Europe last year especially Germany massive rains cause huge flood there.

It may not be a case of desertification there are many reasons why agriculture can fail. Since agriculture is so heavily relied on if something jeopardized and seriously damages let's say 90% of the corn or up here in Canada the wheat,barley,canola we would have a serious problem.