Food issues

According to the poster on my wall the Cree Indians had a saying: ‘‘When you have cut down the last tree, when you have caught the last fish and when you have poisoned the last river you will find out that you cannot eat money.’’

Without food (and water) the human race has no real future yet we have in a few short decades made huge strides in destroying our food supplies.

The perfect storm of the war in Ukraine, inflation, supply chain issues, government/political meddling and the ongoing pandemic has made finding enough food to feed the planet extremely problematic. Food insecurity is highlighted daily even here in Godzone.

A tornado generated hailstorm in the Horowhenua decimates crops, the price of out of season (imported) watermelons skyrockets because they have to navigate the increased costs of the supply chain, a second ‘‘100 year’’ flood destroys farmland, the world’s grain supply is severely compromised by the war in Ukraine, droughts and heatwaves are becoming unforgiving, the farming/horticultural sector is starved of employees leaving the potential food supply to rot in the ground. The list goes on.

Farmers are increasingly being hobbled by pointless regulation and increasing input costs that are going to severely compromise our ability to feed ourselves. We can’t import all of our food because freight is too expensive. But the way we are going farmers are going to give up, plant some trees, grab some carbon credits and retire to a safe beach somewhere.

Two decades of searching hasn’t thrown up any real solution to animals burping.

Just as with nuclear fusion, maybe there isn’t a workable solution, so enforcing farmers to pay for the search is not the answer.

Meanwhile the consumers continue to build houses and drive cars that are much bigger than necessary smug in their cocoon that politicians will never touch them.

Maybe the Cree saying should be altered to: ‘‘When you have bankrupted the last farmer, collapsed the last fish stocks, filled the roads with a giant traffic jam and built houses on the best horticultural land you will find out that you can’t eat trees.’’

Geoff Orchard, Ohaupo