[extropy-chat] gm biodiesel 'em

[spike]

> Dirk Bruere wrote:
> >
> > And the politically correct are OK about converting farmland from food
> > to fuel production in an increasingly hungry world?
> >
> > Dirk

Increasingly hungry?  We have an ever-increasing problem
in the west with producing way too much food.  Prices
for most food crops are terrible.  Sure there
are hungry places on this planet, but producing more
here cannot help that.  It is not economically viable
to ship it there.  If the politically correct have a
solution that will help the hungry and still pay the
farmers, I am all ears.


> bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Lifespan Pharma Inc.
> Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] gm biodiesel 'em
> 
> ... the phytochemicals in the canola/rape  plant foliage must be worth
> enough as  food and industrial ingredients
> to justify the majority of the resource petrochemical  inputs  to be
> used to simply produce more  petrochemical inputs.

I have a notion that we will develop agriculture
techniques that use far less energy than current
practices.  We will find ways to cultivate crops
without the energy intensive and costly procedure
of disking soil for instance.  Canola and winter 
rye are appealing in that they are nitrogen fixers, 
which allow me to reduce investment in certain 
fertilizers for the next crop.

I am keeping an eye on oil-bearing crops, for I
know that legislatures often do wacky knee-jerk 
reactions to oil shortages, such as offering absurdly 
large subsidies to producers of ethanol and 
biodiesel.  My libertarian side is offended by this, 
but my righteous indignation is easily overpowered 
by my righteous capitalist desire to collect these
funds.

spike