Category Archives: Peak Food

Food production, population, and carrying capacity will also be reduced by peak soil, peak water, bioinvasion, pollution, climate change, loss of biodiversity, war, infrastructure decay and nearly every other category at energyskeptic

Livestock threatened by toxic invasive species on rangeland

Preface.  Will cattle, sheep,goats, and horses have to be raised on feed lots in the future to prevent range land poisoning from invasive plants? Each year poisonous plants adversely affect 3-5% of the cattle, sheep, and horses that graze western … Continue reading

Posted in Biodiversity Loss, BioInvasion, Farming & Ranching, Peak Food | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Phosphate: All hopes rest on Morocco with 75% of remaining reserves

Preface. Phosphate is absolutely essential for both plants and animals.  It’s estimated that Morocco has of 75-85% of phosphate reserves that might last for 300-400 years.  Or peak in 25 years.  Walan (2014) has estimates of researchers who’ve predicted peak … Continue reading

Posted in Farming & Ranching, Limits To Growth, Peak Food, Peak Phosphorus, Recycle | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Phosphate: All hopes rest on Morocco with 75% of remaining reserves

Vanishing open spaces: population growth and sprawl in America

  Preface.  Before the fossil fuel age began, about 80 to 90% of people farmed to make a living. Since the end of the oil age will send us back to the past, farmland and farmers will once again comprise … Continue reading

Posted in Overpopulation, Peak Food, Soil | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Replacing diesel tractors with horses or oxen – what will that be like?

Preface. Since fossil fuels are finite, at some point increasing numbers of farmers with diesel vehicles and equipment will want to replace them with horses, which can do the work of six people.  Below is what  energy expert Vaclav Smil … Continue reading

Posted in Farming & Ranching, Life Before Oil, Muscle Power, Peak Food, Vaclav Smil | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Why and how Jellyfish are taking over the world

Preface.  The more climate change kicks in, the more we over-fish, pollute, acidify and warm the ocean, create vast dead zones, and trawl ocean bottoms, the better the jellyfish do. It is quite possible that the ocean ecosystem will shift … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Extinction Books, Fisheries, Jellyfish, Peak Food | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Book review of Dirt: the erosion of civilization

Preface. On average civilizations collapsed after 800 to 2,000 years because they’d destroyed their topsoil, some of it caused by deforestation to grow more food, make metals, ceramics, glass and other objects requiring high heat, which fossils provide today. Today, … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Peak Food, Soil | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Deep-sea trawling harms biodiversity and carbon storage

Preface. Overfishing has eliminated 90% of the world’s large predatory fishes and is devastating marine ecosystems. Bottom trawling is one of the most devastating ways our oceans are being overfished, degraded and biodiversity destroyed .  This industry tossed 437 million … Continue reading

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75% of Earth’s land is degraded threatening 3.2 billion people

  Preface. By 2050 95% of Earth’s land could be degraded and reducing or even preventing food production, forcing hundreds of millions to migrate. More than 75% of our planet has been altered by humans, a figure that will likely … Continue reading

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U.S. Industrial farming destroys future food production for centuries

Preface. Below are excerpts from a devastating critique of current farming practices by the National research council who show the myriad ways that industrial farming is harming the land and future food production.

Posted in Air, Biodiversity Loss, Groundwater, Limits To Growth, Peak Food, Pesticides, Planetary Boundaries, Soil, Water Pollution | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

We’re killing our food supply and technology can’t save us

Farrell, Paul B. Feb 11, 2015. Opinion: We’re killing our food supply and technology can’t save us. Big Ag can’t feed 10 billion and magical technologies won’t appear.  MarketWatch. We’re maxing-out on Peak Food. Billions go hungry. We’re poisoning our … Continue reading

Posted in Peak Fertilizer, Peak Food | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments