Food 5.0: How We Feed the Future by Robert D. Saik. 

3/5 rating. 160 pages.

Book #62 of 2020. Read August 30, 2020.

This book is about a Wizard (in Charles Mann’s sense) looking at agriculture’s past and future.

Robert looks at the past of agriculture (Food 1.0-4.0) and the future of our food at 5.0. Robert does a great job of looking at some of the ideas that are going to help move us forward. Obviously, with estimates of our population increasing by 50% before leveling off, a lot needs to be done to feed all of these people. I appreciate that Robert is open to looking at every avenue that agriculture can take that will require the least energy in for the most food output.

My issue with the book is that he seems to whitewash the downsides of agriculture. He rightly defends many practices that have become lambasted by various groups for various reasons, instead looking at the science behind why many of these are wrongly demonized. Unfortunately, he goes further than the science warrants on protecting some of the atrocities and environmental degradation that occur in animal agriculture. He says “I would be happy to set you up for a visit” to farms where reporters have been attempting to go for years; he then says he doesn’t know why farmed salmon are bad even though I personally have read various accounts by scientists and authors explaining the issue of trawling our oceans and decreasing fish stocks to get feed for these farmed fish.

Overall, I like his general idea of striving for “infinite sustainability” in agriculture. This is 100% what we have to work towards to feed everyone while not wreaking (any more) havoc on our planet. This book just must be taken with a grain of salt. As Robert says, look at the facts to see where activists are going overboard in bashing potential new agricultural endeavors, but also review the other side and see their concerns to properly understand the issues from all sides.

Quotes:

“By 2050, all countries will need to increase food production by 60-70 percent.”

“‘Roughly for every percent of organic matter in a six-inch layer of soil, you will find twelve thousand pounds of carbon per acre.’ Then I did some math and realized that for every 1 percent increase in organic matter, farmers would fix or sequester about twenty metric tons per acre of carbon dioxide…”

“In Canada, the national climate figures state that agriculture contributes sixty million metric tons (MMt) of greenhouse gases to the environment every year (this is from ALL sources: manure, soil, even enteric fermentation – cow burps). Agriculture also sequesters or stores 11 MMt carbon dioxide equivalent in the soil every year. AND – most people don’t think about this – farmers store an additional 79 MMt of CO2 every year in crops we grow, and these grains are shipped all over the world.”

“Farmers can till the soil, releasing the nitrogen, and satisfy the short-term needs of the crops, but sacrifice the long-term structure and sustainability of the soil. Or, they can use fertilizers to provide nutrition to the plants. Properly used, fertilizers provide sustenance to crops, but used improperly, they can release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.”

“We need chemistries, organic and synthetic, that provide specific weed, insect, or disease control. We also need a way to sustain the soil with the nutrients and life it needs to produce healthy crops while reducing the environmental footprint.”

“Today, no one should be deprived of the tools of agriculture that would allow them to farm more efficiently. To my dismay, I’ve seen some people in the developed world of North America and the European Union believe the best thing for small landholder farmers is to continue using the methods of the muscle era food production. Deeply rooted in colonialism, elitism continues to be prevalent in political policy that tries to keep Africa down by not promoting modern farming practices. Condemning people to the era of muscle food production is only good for those that don’t have to do it.”

“It got me thinking that perhaps the scarcest resource for a farmer is not water, or nitrogen, or even money. Maybe the scarcest resource for a farmer is access to knowledge and wisdom when he/she needs it? It may be that knowledge and wisdom provided to farmers in a timely manner may be the key to nourishing the planet and ensuring infinite sustainability.”

IG Link.