quote:

ORIGINAL: Edwynn




The calculations for modern industrial farming would have to include the energy consumption involved in production of all the agrochemicals and biologics used in that process. The petroleum-derived chemicals and fertilizers and cost of extracting and refining them, the energy consumption in mining and refining of phosphates, the production of bovine growth hormones, high levels of antibiotics, genetically altered seeds (Roundup-Ready, e.g.), transportation of the raw materials to the refineries and chemical processing plants, transportation of the finished product to the end users, etc.

All this before any harvest and shipping of the food itself.

None of this is cheap in terms of either dollars or energy to extract, produce, and transport the line-up used in modern fields and barns.

These high input costs are supported by the subsidy systems of the developed economies, to the detriment of farmers in developing countries and and farmers using more natural methods in all countries.


I would venture to say that the transportation cost of shipping the food itself in consideration of local vs. remote, significant though it can be, is actually the smaller part of the total energy cost when comparing industrial vs. natural farming and husbandry methods.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Termyn8or

That's not new Step.

For decades even buying seeds they do not reproduce. It's like cloned seeds or something, I don't know exactly how it's done. But the point is, this has been around for a while.

T^T

quote:

ORIGINAL: DeviantlyD

quote:

ORIGINAL: Edwynn




The calculations for modern industrial farming would have to include the energy consumption involved in production of all the agrochemicals and biologics used in that process. The petroleum-derived chemicals and fertilizers and cost of extracting and refining them, the energy consumption in mining and refining of phosphates, the production of bovine growth hormones, high levels of antibiotics, genetically altered seeds (Roundup-Ready, e.g.), transportation of the raw materials to the refineries and chemical processing plants, transportation of the finished product to the end users, etc.

All this before any harvest and shipping of the food itself.

None of this is cheap in terms of either dollars or energy to extract, produce, and transport the line-up used in modern fields and barns.

These high input costs are supported by the subsidy systems of the developed economies, to the detriment of farmers in developing countries and and farmers using more natural methods in all countries.


I would venture to say that the transportation cost of shipping the food itself in consideration of local vs. remote, significant though it can be, is actually the smaller part of the total energy cost when comparing industrial vs. natural farming and husbandry methods.

That all sounds like a guess on your part. Do you have any data/references?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Termyn8or

That's not new Step.

For decades even buying seeds they do not reproduce. It's like cloned seeds or something, I don't know exactly how it's done. But the point is, this has been around for a while.

T^T