Some people like to blame farmers and agriculture for most of the world’s problems – no, really! These folks start from the rise of city-states, the creation of economic and social hierarchies and the resulting oppression, and tie agriculture to the degradation of the environment, warfare and overpopulation. While there may be a small grain of truth in some of this (it is true that farming is the starting point of a high human population) it is a simplistic analysis of a great many complex variables.

Sure, farming starts us on the road to a big population – but consider that it took well over 100,000 years for the world's human population to reach one billion, which happened right around the year 1804, despite the fact that agriculture had been around for at least 10,000 years. Industrialization, not agriculture, is what makes genuinely huge (and environmentally destructive) populations possible.

Today, between 70 and 80 million new humans are added to the net population each year, mostly in regions of the world least able to support them with local resources. For the past several decades, countries in these regions have been struggling to industrialize and catch up with the "modern" nations of the world. It the process, they have de-prioritized agriculture, taking millions of acres out of production in order to build factories and cities. In fact, the portion of the world's GDP that is agriculturally based has dropped by half in the last fifty years, as more developing countries shift their economies to services, resource extraction, and industry.

Yet, despite real food problems in many areas of the world, starvation is no more a threat now than it was fifty years ago – less, in fact. This is because farmers have adopted new techniques and technologies, many as part of Norman Borlaug’s “Green Revolution”, that have massively expanded outputs while allowing fewer and fewer people to work in agriculture. Ever more output from ever smaller inputs - score one for technology!

However, it doesn't take a genius or an advanced degree in social and economic sciences to see the possibility of eventual tragic consequences. When a tiny fraction of the world’s people produce a huge fraction of the world’s food in an industrialized fashion, the potential for a global agricultural collapse becomes much higher, because all the eggs are in one technological basket.

Those risks are likely to grow worse as time goes on, in large part because people in poorer areas of the world (especially southeast Asia) are growing wealthier and adjusting their traditional diets in favor a more meat-heavy Westernized nutritional regime. (For example, beef consumption in China has increased eightfold in the last thirty years – both because the Chinese are growing wealthier and can thus afford more meat anyway, and also because patterns of consumer preferences are shifting to make beef a more popular choice.)

In some ways this is wonderful because people are living better – but at the same time, it represents a huge strain on the ecology and our food delivery system. Food for thought – and a balancing act that I will continue to address here.

The earthquake that struck Haiti last week has been much in the news, and while it was a humanitarian disaster, it was by no means the first – and it was exacerbated not only by a corrupt political regime, but also by previous natural disasters. The results of these disasters might have been mitigated had it not been for decades of poor land management and environmental stewardship. It’s by no means a stretch.  Haiti is the poorest country in the America’s and it is primarily an agriculture based society. 

A Once Rich and Prosperous Land

As a French colony in the eighteenth century, Haiti was a rich and productive land. Two-fifths of all coffee and two-thirds of all sugar consumed in European countries were grown on Haitian plantations. One problem - this wealth was produced on the backs of hundreds of thousands of African slaves living under brutal conditions that would have made Stalin's gulags look like Club Med. The other problem is that the colony's economy was based on those two cash crops – and not much else. Both required that thousands of acres of forest be removed.

During the bloody rebellion that resulted in Haitian independence in 1803, many of the plantations that might have sustained the people of the new nation were destroyed. Land was doled out to families who knew only of "slash-and-burn" farming techniques when it came to raising food.

Over the past eighty-five years, the population exploded while more productive land passed into the ownership of (or more often, was stolen by) the small ruling kleptocracy that has exploited its own people almost as brutally as their former French masters. Again, these commercial operations depend largely on monoculture, primarily coffee – which nonetheless accounts for only 6% of the nation's income.

At the same time, the burgeoning population has continued to cut down trees for building,  living space, subsistence farms and  fuel. Today, only 2% of Haiti's original forests remain as the country is becoming a desert.

The Dangers – And The Solution

By way of comparison, forests still cover approximately 30% of the planet at large. Unfortunately, these are being cleared at a frightening rate, not all of which is due to farming – although agriculture is the largest cause of deforestation. Haiti is a microcosm of what awaits the entire planet if such trends continue.

Agroforestry promises to play a large part in reversing these trends. Simply defined, agroforestry involves raising trees and food crops on the same land. This emerging science covers a broad range of farming activities that not only create a stronger ecosystem through biodiversity, but help to reduce the destructive effects of soil erosion and mitigate climate change (since trees absorb more CO2 than crop vegetation).

There are other problems facing Haiti that have little to do with agriculture. However, if Haiti ever comes under a government that can see beyond the immediate interests of the rulers themselves and actually commit itself to the good of its citizens, it is possible that experienced agronomists and farmers from the U.S., Canada and elsewhere could help begin the process of recovery by starting a program of reforestation, followed by the introduction of more sustainable practices that would allow the country to feed itself.

We are limited only by our own imaginations and aspirations. Haiti needs our charity right now because of the earthquake, yes – but much more than that, Haiti needs a new vision of how agriculture fits into the national economy and the lives of the people. Let’s hope they get it.

Hello Friends,

I am writing to implore you to donate to a worthy cause that can help the people of Haiti.  I don’t really care which organization you give to, as long as you know it is not a sham, and that the money will help those who need it most.

My wife works for a big German software company who shall remain nameless as I want to keep the focus of this message pure.  One of the company’s clients is a leading non-profit NGO organization that is providing tremendous help with the terrible situation in Haiti. That organization is called Direct Relief International: www.directrelief.org.

My wife’s co-worker, who she personally knows, sent out the following message endorsing the work that Direct Relief International does.  I found it compelling.  Let me reiterate, this is not some re-forwarded email.  We know the source.  Here is a portion of the email.

“If you want to donate to the Haiti relief and be confident that it’s actually going to have a direct impact, then Direct Relief is one of those organizations.  Direct Relief International is a great [software co. name here] customer based in California.

 http://www.directrelief.org/Index.aspx

 Forbes rated them 99% efficient for the past several years in their fundraising reaching the people in need.  For every dollar spent by Direct Relief, they deliver between $21 - $37 in medical material aid to in-country health professionals.  They are partnered with many of our pharma customers who funnel their medical good donations thru Direct Relief because they are so effective.

I spent two days in 2008 with the Direct Relief team at their headquarters in California, filming an [software co. name here]  video. They are the real deal. Incredibly responsible people and some the smartest logistical people I’ve ever met.”

Now you know of a responsible organization, the only thing you have to do now is act. Please give: http://www.directrelief.org/Index.aspx

Sincerely,

Alex Tiller

PS: To better understand the sheer devastation and need, click on the following link to see pictures of the suffering and destruction: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/earthquake_in_haiti.html

I want to encourage my readers to visit a great website for infant clothing. They offer a collection high quality, hand-made in the USA, infant apparel body suites, caps, bibs, and burp cloths in fun fabrics and with hand stitched details.

I really appreciate their commitment to the environment!

Check it out at: http://www.allthingsbean.com  > information > footprint