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For reference ...

The full report is here:

Edible insects

Future prospects for food and feed security

http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3253e/i3253e.pdf


3 posted on 05/14/2013 7:12:42 PM PDT by DogByte6RER ("Loose lips sink ships")
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 photo serve.jpg It's a cookbook!
6 posted on 05/14/2013 7:14:54 PM PDT by DogByte6RER ("Loose lips sink ships")
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To: DogByte6RER

We could grow far more nutritious vegetables via aquaponics using tilapia as part of the process. Fish and fresh vegetables in a symbiotic relationship. With cheap energy (aka nuclear in a friendly regulatory environment) you can grow hydroponic crops indoors that are much higher yield than large-scale farming methods. Massive farms that would produce huge amounts of quality calories are possible. We waste gigantic amounts of water now on crops when non-traditional methods such as drip tape or other micro irrigation methods, deeper garden beds that retain water, hugelkultur, and other ideas not currently in widespread use drastically cut water usage.

Look up backyard gardening and you will be stunned at what people grow in small places. Anyone willing to do a little bit of work should not starve. Farming technology, clean water, and nutrition has greatly improved in the developing world as well and eventually, assuming the rule of law, those nations will be able to mass produce food with modern equipment just as we do even becoming exporters themselves.

I won’t eat bugs, but my chickens will gorge themselves on them and as long as I can feed them bugs (and grass) and provide them with water they give me great eggs (and new chicks). I can even feed the excess eggs back to the chickens with the shells. They eat my leftovers and they love dandelions that are easy to grow. I can easily grow insects and sprout grains to feed them with minimal effort.

Want another great source of protein? Grow meat rabbits. I believe they are even more efficient than chickens. You can feed them just about any vegetation and they grow fast.

Replace your ornamental trees in the lawn with fruit trees. Provide them minimal care and break out grandma’s water bath and can jelly and preserves. We got almost 5 gallons of honey from one beehive last year. Plant berries instead of shrubs and put in a small garden to offset your grocery store purchases. It’s not that difficult.

I won’t bore you to death, but you get the point. There are plenty of old ways and new ideas to feed yourself and when there is enough of a financial incentive or a need more people will do it. People don’t now because it’s easier to buy what they need and it’s no longer common knowledge - but anyone who assumes people will sit around and starve is an idiot.

The models from the population bomb crowd take today’s technologies and ideas and transpose them against the future never assuming or understanding that people will adapt and overcome and technologies will change the world in ways we cannot even begin to imagine. In fact, I would argue that positive changes in agriculture are far more likely than the population bomb they predict. The idea that we are using too much land now for agriculture is a farce. Can you imagine what we could grow in the easily accessible highway median spaces and shoulders in this country if we needed to do so? I bet that is not even 1/10000th of our available land.

We have not even begun to tap the potential of this planet for growing food and any person who suggests otherwise does not know what they are talking about or they have another hidden agenda. These idiots need to get out of the city and visit some small hobby farms.


54 posted on 05/14/2013 11:31:45 PM PDT by volunbeer (We must embrace austerity or austerity will embrace us)
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