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A better strategic defense would be domestic meat production, with feed that can be diverted to direct human consumption in an emergency. This would build in a
by pfdietz 1y ago
A better strategic defense would be domestic meat production, with feed that can be diverted to direct human consumption in an emergency. This would build in a large buffer due to the inefficiency of conversion of feed calories to meat calories.
- gottorf 1y agoDefensive domestic meat production can't work without other defensive measures. Otherwise, meat producers will just import cost-effective feed from other places, which will shrivel up once geopolitical instability hits.
- LAC-Tech 1y agoSurely you can graze animals in japan?
- dmurray 1y agoNormally grazing means grass, which doesn't fit the strategic goal of "feed that can be diverted to direct human consumption in an emergency." But yes, surely with some combination of taxes, subsidies and there being no better economic use for the land, you can get people to grow soy or barley and feed cattle with it.
- marcosdumay 1y agoI don't think just producing meat is enough to stabilize the price of food anywhere. It helps, reducing most of the need for government intervention, but it doesn't seem to be enough. Also, it's wasteful, at least from some point of view. You stabilize the price by consuming the excess, but you would still need to survive an eventual shortage. It may not be a huge problem worldwide, but Japan in particular doesn't have a lot of excess capacity.
- pfdietz 1y agoThe goal wasn't to stabilize prices, but to provide strategic defense against food shortage in emergencies.
- marcosdumay 1y agoIf that's your entire goal, it's a bad one. You won't be able to get enough food for your defense during a shortage if the farmers get bankrupt during high-production years.