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I am reading Vaclav Smil's 'How the world really works', and cay say in the west 3 generations are removed from the farmland and has this rainbows and unicorn v

I am reading Vaclav Smil's 'How the world really works', and cay say in the west 3 generations are removed from the farmland and has this rainbows and unicorn view of food production and thanks to American cultural broadcasting are projecting these (insane) ideas to third world elite. Industrial farming is critical to feed a world with 8 billion people. NPKs play a very important role to see people around the world are fed.

MarkMarine 4y ago
If you’d like to know how the world really works, check out American Exception by Aaron Good
- sremani 4y ago
  Will check it out. The title reminds me of Ian Bremmer's quote "what makes America great? Two oceans, Canada and Mexico!".
- t6jvcereio 4y ago
  I haven't read the book, but as a European I'd rather the Americans being the exception rather than the Russians or the Chinese.
  - MarkMarine 4y ago
    Understandable, but if you read the book I think it’s comforting to that avenue of thought. Basically, you can be assured that American Foreign policy will be the same no matter what democratically elected government is in place, and the book explains why in 260 pages. I’m not the author and I don’t have a PhD or even think I’m smart enough to sum that up, with end notes, in a paragraph. But I thought it was smart and adds new light to what the original commenter said about learning how the world actually works.
rossdavidh 4y ago
While there is a real problem there, I will point out that it's not that new for elites from wealthy countries to give faulty advice to farmers in poorer countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creole_pig https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creole_pig U.S. and other advisers convinced Haiti to get rid of their local pig breed, and Haiti's farmers quickly discovered that the "superior" breeds they were given instead were not compatible with local conditions. That was 40 years ago. So, while the passage of time surely has reduced the familiarity of western elites with the reality of small-scale or low-income agriculture, the wealthy countries have been giving bad advice to poorer country farmers for a long time.
8bitsrule 4y ago
>Industrial farming is critical to feed a world with 8 billion people. Sad to say, it has become that way, yes. And so we are seeing only the beginning of this trouble. If there's a way out, it has to begin.

MarkMarine 4y ago

If you’d like to know how the world really works, check out American Exception by Aaron Good

sremani 4y ago
Will check it out. The title reminds me of Ian Bremmer's quote "what makes America great? Two oceans, Canada and Mexico!".
t6jvcereio 4y ago
I haven't read the book, but as a European I'd rather the Americans being the exception rather than the Russians or the Chinese.
- MarkMarine 4y ago
  Understandable, but if you read the book I think it’s comforting to that avenue of thought. Basically, you can be assured that American Foreign policy will be the same no matter what democratically elected government is in place, and the book explains why in 260 pages. I’m not the author and I don’t have a PhD or even think I’m smart enough to sum that up, with end notes, in a paragraph. But I thought it was smart and adds new light to what the original commenter said about learning how the world actually works.

rossdavidh 4y ago

While there is a real problem there, I will point out that it's not that new for elites from wealthy countries to give faulty advice to farmers in poorer countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creole_pig https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creole_pig U.S. and other advisers convinced Haiti to get rid of their local pig breed, and Haiti's farmers quickly discovered that the "superior" breeds they were given instead were not compatible with local conditions. That was 40 years ago. So, while the passage of time surely has reduced the familiarity of western elites with the reality of small-scale or low-income agriculture, the wealthy countries have been giving bad advice to poorer country farmers for a long time.

8bitsrule 4y ago

>Industrial farming is critical to feed a world with 8 billion people. Sad to say, it has become that way, yes. And so we are seeing only the beginning of this trouble. If there's a way out, it has to begin.