Food
Norman Borlaug: Thanks to synthetic fertilisers global cereal production tripled between 1950 and 2000, but the amount of land used increased by only 10%. The more intensively you farm the more room you have left for rainforest.
Anthony Trewavas: organic farming requires more energy per ton of food produced because yields are lower and weeds are kept at bay by ploughing.
Michael Pollan: only 1/5 of the energy associated with food production across the whole food chain is consumed on the farm: the rest goes on transport and processing.
“Fairtrade” means paying producers an above-market price for produce, provided farmers meet particular labor and production standards. This premium is passed back to the producers to spend on development programs.
Tim Harford: the low price of commodities such as coffee is due to overproduction, and ought to be a signal to producers to switch to growing other crops. Paying a guaranteed premium both prevents this signal from getting through and, by raising the average price paid for coffee, encourages more producers to enter the market. This then drives down the price of non-Fairtrade coffee even further, making non-Fairtrade farmers poorer.
“Voting with your trolley” The Economist