In past lessons, I have had a general idea of the concepts from previous knowledge, but was given a much deeper insight into the issues through this course. This week however, was completely new to me. I really had no idea that petroleum has such a major impact on the world food system, and that this plays a big part in the effect on the environment and public health as well. The entire food system is dependent on petroleum and fossil fuels.
For example, in the article “How Oil Prices Affect the Price of Food”, Carbon writes, “Modern agriculture uses oil products to fuel farm machinery, to transport other inputs to the farm, and to transport farm output to the ultimate consumer. Oil is often also used as input in agricultural chemicals”. Carbon then explains how the price of food is therefore largely dependent on the price of the oil being used. Using the systems theory, we can see that each part of the cycle effects the next part, from the start of the food system in the soil, to the end of it, at the consumer. This dependency of the food system on oil can also be used to explain the world food crisis of 2008. In this week’s lecture Liftin explains how high oil prices led to biofuel subsidies, which then resulted in hunger.
In response to this, I think if an initiative was made to encourage people to eat locally, and sustainably, and support farm to table, plant-based diets, it would eliminate the absolute necessity of oil in the world food system. Policies could be implemented as well to regulate the prices of oil particularly for major farmers and for transportation of food to places where it’s needed most, such as Africa.
Topics such as the one you have discussed really help to bring into focus just much we take for granted on a daily basis. For those of living in industrialized Western societies, our culture of convenience takes the thought of the how and why. If we are hungry, we drive a few minutes down the road to the local grocery store to pick up food, or even drive through someplace and have a hot, though perhaps not the healthiest, meal ready to eat. If we are thirsty, we turn on a faucet or reach for a bottle of water. Because of the convenience factor, we tend no to give much thought about what happens behind the scenes to bring our food and water to us with such ease. There are so many moving parts, power relations and politics involved in the simplest of our daily tasks.
The topic of petroleum and oil and its tole in our food system is one such topic that we do not typically give much thought too. And though I fully support your push for a more localized farm to table approach to sustainable living and eating, I am not sure it will remove our dependency on oil. Petroleum is still used in the soil, to power the farm equipment needed to produce the harvest, and to package the food for consumption. Localizing our eating habits is certainly a step in the right direction, and helps to support local farming which is important, but I feel that bigger steps are needed if are going to significantly remove our carbon footprint in agriculture.