Some good news to finish off the year, and the decade.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/12/weve-just-had-the-best-decade-in-human-history-seriously/ https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/12/weve-just-had-the-best-decade-in-human-history-seriously/

All good news for humanity in general, by virtually every measure this past decade has been exceptionally positive.

One of the more surprising details is that we may be reaching, or already past our peak ecological footprint.

The only trend us farmers may find unsettling, is the massive progress farmers are making, and the consequences:

Efficiencies in agriculture mean the world is now approaching ‘peak farmland’ — despite the growing number of people and their demand for more and better food, the productivity of agriculture is rising so fast that human needs can be supplied by a shrinking amount of land. In 2012, Jesse Ausubel of Rockefeller University and his colleagues argued that, thanks to modern technology, we use 65 per cent less land to produce a given quantity of food compared with 50 years ago. By 2050, it’s estimated that an area the size of India will have been released from the plough and the cow.

[bucket]

How much have other countries spent on public agricultural infrastructure ???????


And a better question is how much has Canada spent there instead of spending it in Canada ????

[ajl]

I do agree with the notion that there is no serious environmental crisis in the western world as we close out the decade, where are they getting the notion that less land is being farmed? A lot of land went into production here and around the world in the last ten years as bush has been cleared and idled lands both here and in Russia were reactivated. There was a lot of hay and pasture put back to cropping in the last few years on the prairies. These lands may have done nothing for several years before. Some land has been lost to urban sprawl. We are producing more and it is feeding more pets and creating bio fuel but don't think land will be idled. I don't think more wilderness is a good thing either. Global cooling may idle land around me as it gets turned into permafrost mind you.