http://www.energyfarms.net/node/1489
Can My County Feed Itself? Part 1. The Diet
Submitted by jcbradford on Thu, 2008-01-03 20:14.
I live in a rural part of northern California in a county named Mendocino. There are about 90,000 people here, in an
area of about 3500 square miles, for a population density of 25 people per
square mile.[i] This is considered, and it feels like, a low
population density. So naturally I think
most people assume that if we had to grow our own food here we absolutely
could.
But as a data-driven empiricist, I wanted to do the math on
this. I posed the question: Could the land-base of Mendocino County
support its current population of people if it needed to? This initial question leads to many others,
including: What is the theoretical diet
being consumed? What are the yields per
area of the parts of the diet? What
kinds of soil, water and energy systems are needed to produce those yields? And, do the requisite land-water-energy
resources exist at the levels implied by the diet demands?
continues, with some links to follow....
LOL, I know I'm bragging, but Fresno County, along with Tulare, Madera, Kings, and Merced County (the Five-County Area) feeds the WORLD! We are very blessed to live here...