Food prices - Scaremongering? (Warning - Potential Political Content!)

Discussion in 'General Gardening Discussion' started by KevinH, Jan 6, 2013.

  1. shiney

    shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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    I did say earlier on that I didn't want to get involved any further in this topic as I come on GC for gardening and light topics, but I can't seem to shut up :doh::heehee:

    Clueless quite rightly implied that he wasn't sure about the efficacy of the report by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. If you have read the 35 page report (nowhere near 35 pages of info and a considerable amount of paper wastage in the printed report :nonofinger:) you would be able to spot a number of inconsistencies and extremely debateable assumptions. Even the BBC expert in the report that Clueless posted appears sceptical.

    The 35 pages only contains about 20 proper pages of report. The study has been taken from 76 reference works, a number of which are known to have been strongly contested. It appears to me that unnecessarily biased assumptions have been taken from these references - a fairly normal process in these sort of reports as it's always difficult not to automatically look for the details that support the theory instead of remaining totally unbiased.

    The report, quite rightly, says that there is a greater consumption of water for meat production, per kgCal, than for crops. It then goes on to say that it takes over 15,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of beef, over 10,000 litres for sheep and it only takes 287 litres to produce 1kg of potatoes. It's quite possible that this is the correct figure for intensive beef rearing in the developed world (amount of water used for their feed) but you have a chat with a sheep farmer in Cumbria and ask his opinion on how much water is used per kg!! This doesn't take into account the less developed countries where the livestock is mainly grazed. The report also projects that the consumption of meat per head of population will go up by almost 50% by 2050. Quite an assumption!

    It, naturally, advocates that efficient engineering will make a vast difference to the developing world and that more intensive cropping would be the result of this. It is quite correct - but to get the increased efficiency it would require the modern methods of farming. Then what will happen to the hundreds of millions of subsistence farmers that live in those countries?

    Shut up shiney!!!! :heehee:

    I'm going to try and bow out again, now. :old:
     
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    • rosietutu

      rosietutu Gardener

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      War time kids never ever waste any thing, My bins are never full, the compost bin is, the dogs are, Its all a question of how you were brought up and what you were taught, We had school dinners as my parents were on essential work we learned to eat every thing that we were given and if you were quick enough you could pinch your sisters !:snork:
       
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      • shiney

        shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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        I'm not sure that learned is quite the correct wording.:scratch:

        We ate it because that's all we would be given. If we didn't eat it we got nothing else apart from a clip round the ear - slight understatement :heehee:

        I've never understood this thing about children being given a choice of what they wanted to eat!! You ate with the family and ate the same as they were eating. What's so bad about that?
         
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        • redstar

          redstar Total Gardener

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          I recall, on various separate times offering dinner to my nieces, nephews and friends neighbor kids all around the age of 8 years old some supper. Plating it up and giving it to them, their parents said to me "Oh they will not eat that" I looked at the parents and said "oh hush". kids ate what I gave them, and asked for more. And the dinner was food they never had before, cauliflower sauce on pasta, (one of them) and a New Orleans spicy rice, sausage, veggie dish. Although that is a very small poll, I do believe it is all about the parents attitude toward the meal.
           
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          • shiney

            shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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            Agreed :dbgrtmb:
             
          • "M"

            "M" Total Gardener

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            Totally agree!

            I was brought up in the "shiney school of eating": eat it or starve; no questions/choices.

            Mr Mum is a dreadfully fussy eater and it drives me insane at times. Mind you, hardly surprising once I'd met my outlaws *shudders*.
            Vegetables = carrots and peas (tinned) fruit = fruit cocktail (tinned); "real food" was meat, potato and 2 veg - no foreign "muck".

            Last autumn was a classic: I served him homegrown carrots (no tin :yes: ) and he actually preferred them :yay:

            It has taken me a long time but now, he's erring more on the 'eat it or starve' way :heehee: :redface: :whistle: (Or maybe simply to convince him I wasn't trying to poison him :scratch: )
             
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            • redstar

              redstar Total Gardener

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              LoL. I briefly dated this guy named ED about 25 years ago, he was such a fussy eater. I said to myself, this is not happening here with me, not going to deal with that. So I introduced him to my friend Nadine, they later married. I am actually the god mother to their son.

              My husband eats 99% of the stuff presented to him. I just love cooking and cooking with fresh good stuff, so would have hated not cooking what I wanted, "which is normal stuff". It now has been 24 years he's eaten my cooking.

              But husbands parents are interesting cooks. The first Thanksgiving with them was nuts. Canned veggies, pillsbury dough boy for the bread. Store bought pumpkin pie. no Wine, just soda/pop YUCK. So the next year, I offered to bring things. They thought it was all "special".
              Fresh green beans, home made bread, home made desserts, starters and wine.
              Had to let her do the Turkey and stuffing, was not that bad. And I helped with the mashed potatoes to make them "better" by using heavy cream.
              His mom was so annoyed that I could thicken the turkey gravey without lumps. You should have seen her face, like "how can you show me up" .
              When I married my husband at 36 years old (second one) had too many successful Thanksgiving meals under my belt to not make things come out well.
               
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              • clueless1

                clueless1 member... yep, that's what I am:)

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                My mam really annoyed one time when she was here just as we were about to eat. I can't remember what it was that was on our plates but my mam piped up 'oh I bet he doesn't like that, most kids don't'. I was so fuming, because I knew what would happen next and I was absolutely right. The lad promptly pointed at this particular food item and declared 'I don't like that'. He'd eaten it many times before and enjoyed it, but because my mam put it into his head that he wont like it, and because he was 3 year old, suddenly it was true, he didn't like it.
                 
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                • "M"

                  "M" Total Gardener

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                  :heehee:
                  They pick up on *everything* don't they? Little sponges :whistle:
                   
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                  • "M"

                    "M" Total Gardener

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                    How's mealtimes now? Has he settled down a little?
                     
                  • Victoria

                    Victoria Lover of Exotic Flora

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                    You or Mrs Clue should have taken control Clue ... :whistle:
                     
                  • FatBoy

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                    I tell my 5yo granddaughter that the food I have "is only for grown-ups" and so she demands to have some! Very rarely does she say she doesn't like it - "maybe I will when I'm all grown-up, but not today, thank you! But save some for me!"
                     
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                    • "M"

                      "M" Total Gardener

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                      I'm sure that they did, Victoria ... but, 3yo's can be soooo tenacious and can manipulate parents/grandparents/carer's with an inate skill that marketeers would *die* for!!!
                       
                    • clueless1

                      clueless1 member... yep, that's what I am:)

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                      Yes, thanks, much improvement lately:)
                       
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                      • Victoria

                        Victoria Lover of Exotic Flora

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                        Then how is it that we were not permitted to manipulate ... or had that skill not been invented yet ... :scratch:
                         
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