Soil conditions plus climate instability has been putting pressure on productivity advances, and this is causing price volatility. When there is volatility companies play it safe and charge extra. These prices are sticky - they recede much more slowly than the rise - which means higher costs in the long-run as a result of short-term blips.
If you would like a nice visual reference of food price volatility, you can find one here: https://www.foodsecurityportal.org/tools/excessive-food-price-variability-early-warning-system
Poor soil condition can be compensated with fertilizers but this is a potentially fragile supply chain, and relying on fertilizers further degrades the soil and reduces long-term fertility. Fertilizer production and use is also destructive in other ways, such as eutrophication of water bodies. All of the big commercial producers are already using fertilizers but they are likely to use more as yields drop.
There is a related issue at play here: The nutrients in our food are decreasing, and will continue to decrease with more CO2 and other GHGs in the atmosphere. Which means we need to consume more food mass for the same levels of nutritional benefits.
Study Links
Study 1: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10969708/
Study 2: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1369526617302406
Study 3: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abfcfa/meta
I'm afraid food is going to continue getting more expensive.
anecdotal, but I knew a guy who knew a guy who did contract work analyzing soil for companies
Combination of pesticides and fertilizer get you stuck in a loop of constantly buying more of each to combat the long-term effects of last year's fertilizer and pesticides. Also, apparently cannabis growers are the most egregious of these industrial agriculture producers. Being in a weird space with federal regulations, there isn't much oversight in regard to the sort of fertilizer and pesticides they use, so it ends up being the very worst sorts available.
That definitely lines up with what I've heard as well.
I think the diminishing returns / negative feedback loop was one of the big motivators for GMO investments. The amount of investment is indicative of the scale of the problem.
Our approach has been to innovate our way out of crises, but it seems to me that we've really just been kicking the can in the long run because (within the capitalist paradigm) every time we create a new solution we also create a new problem.
Soil conditions plus climate instability has been putting pressure on productivity advances, and this is causing price volatility. When there is volatility companies play it safe and charge extra. These prices are sticky - they recede much more slowly than the rise - which means higher costs in the long-run as a result of short-term blips.
If you would like a nice visual reference of food price volatility, you can find one here: https://www.foodsecurityportal.org/tools/excessive-food-price-variability-early-warning-system
Poor soil condition can be compensated with fertilizers but this is a potentially fragile supply chain, and relying on fertilizers further degrades the soil and reduces long-term fertility. Fertilizer production and use is also destructive in other ways, such as eutrophication of water bodies. All of the big commercial producers are already using fertilizers but they are likely to use more as yields drop.
There is a related issue at play here: The nutrients in our food are decreasing, and will continue to decrease with more CO2 and other GHGs in the atmosphere. Which means we need to consume more food mass for the same levels of nutritional benefits.
Study Links
Study 1: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10969708/
Study 2: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1369526617302406
Study 3: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abfcfa/meta
I'm afraid food is going to continue getting more expensive.
anecdotal, but I knew a guy who knew a guy who did contract work analyzing soil for companies
Combination of pesticides and fertilizer get you stuck in a loop of constantly buying more of each to combat the long-term effects of last year's fertilizer and pesticides. Also, apparently cannabis growers are the most egregious of these industrial agriculture producers. Being in a weird space with federal regulations, there isn't much oversight in regard to the sort of fertilizer and pesticides they use, so it ends up being the very worst sorts available.
Fuck that fancy shit. Cannabis is a resilient plant we should be throwing hardy seeds everywhere and using them for everything for free.
That definitely lines up with what I've heard as well.
I think the diminishing returns / negative feedback loop was one of the big motivators for GMO investments. The amount of investment is indicative of the scale of the problem.
Our approach has been to innovate our way out of crises, but it seems to me that we've really just been kicking the can in the long run because (within the capitalist paradigm) every time we create a new solution we also create a new problem.
Hard to solve a problem when every solution must include profitability.
Yes, yes it is. Many lives are depending on disconnecting the two imo. The sooner the better.