The Locavore's Dilemma

by Pierre Desrochers

  36 For an overview that illustrates in much detail how severe these diseases were a century ago, see United States Department of Agriculture (USDA, Bureau of Animal Industry). 1916. Special Report on Diseases of Cattle, revised edition. Government Printing Office http://www.archive.org/details/specialreportond04unit.

  37 See, among others, Joint FAO/IAEA. 2005. History of Battle against Rinderpest http://www-naweb.iaea.org/nafa/aph/stories/2005-rinderpest-history.html and the FAO Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/en/grep/home.html.

  38 Alonzo Dorus Melvin and John R. Mohler. 1915. “Foot and Mouth Disease.” Bulletin of the United States Live Stock Sanitary Association Live Stock World http://www.archive.org/details/footandmouthdise00melv.

  39 Thomas Robert Malthus. 1798. An Essay on the Principle of Population as It Affects the Future Improvement of Society, with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and Other Writers. J. Johnson http://www.econlib.org/library/Malthus/malPop.html.

  40 Malthus is often unfairly portrayed in social science textbooks as essentially absolving economic systems, political structures and wealthy elites for the faith of the poor. See, for instance, Paul Robbins, John Hintz and Sarah A. Moore. 2010. Environment and Society: A Critical Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell, p. 15. For a more nuanced yet accessible discussion of the issue, see Morgan D. Rose. 2002. “In Defense of Malthus.” Library of Economics and Liberty—Teacher’s Corner http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/Teachers/defendmalthus.html.

  41 Kenneth Smith. 1952. “Some Observations on Modern Malthusianism.” Population Studies 6 (1): 92–105.

  42 Alfred Marshall. 1920/1890. Principles of Economics, McMillan & Co., Ltd, Book IV, Chapter 10 http://www.econlib.org/library/Marshall/marP24.html#Bk.IV,Ch.X.

  43 K. M. de Silva. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka, Volume 1. C Hurst & Company, chapter 21 http://books.google.ca/books?id=dByI_qil26YC&source=gbs_navlinks_s.

  44 Frederic Mousseau. 2010. The High Food Price Challenge: A Review of Responses to Combat Hunger. Oakland Institute, p. 11 http://media.oaklandinsti-tute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/high_food_prices_web_final.pdf.

  45 One of us even wrote an academic paper on the absurdity of doing so. See Samuli Leppälä and Pierre Desrochers. 2010. “The Division of Labor Needs Not Imply Regional Specialization.” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 74 (1–2): 137–147.

  46 We visited the site in 2010. The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site’s website can be found at http://cahokiamounds.org/ .

  47 Because our aim in the following paragraphs is limited to the importance of transportation and economic development as they relate to food security, we limit ourselves to generally agreed upon facts rather than more controversial political debates (e.g., the impact of the land tenure system on peasant behavior, British trade policy and the nature and the actual scope and impact of public relief efforts). Concise discussions and further references on the subject can be found in Ellen Messer. 2000. “Potatoes (White).” In Kenneth F. Kipple and Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas (eds). The Cambridge World History of Food. Cambridge University Press http://www.cambridge.org/us/books/kiple/potatoes.htm; and Cormac Ó Gráda. 2009. “Irish Famine” in Cutler J. Cleveland. Encyclopedia of the Earth http://www.eoearth.org/article/Irish_famine?topic=49465. For a more sophisticated analysis of the subjects dealt with in the following paragraphs, including the impact of the potato blight in other European countries, see Cormac Ó Gráda, Richard Paping and Eric Vanhaute. 2007. When the Potato Failed: Causes and Effects of the ‘Last’ European Subsistence Crisis. Brepols.

  48 Joseph T. Leydon. 1995. “The Irish Provision Trade to the Caribbean, c. 1650–1780: An Historical Geography.” PhD Thesis, University of Toronto; Bertie Mandelblatt. 2007. “A Transatlantic Commodity: Irish Salt Beef in the French Atlantic World.” History Workshop Journal 63 (1): 18–47.

  49 Alan L. Olmstead and Paul W. Rhode. 2008. Creating Abundance. Biological Innovation and American Agricultural Development. Cambridge University Press, p. 264.

  50 Joseph Russell Smith. 1919. The World’s Food Resources. H. Holt & Company, pp. 3–4 http://www.archive.org/details/worldsfoodresour00smituoft.

  51 Denis Mack Smith. 1981. Mussolini. Alfred Knopf, p. 122. For a more detailed account of the “Battaglia del grano,” see also Alexander Nützenadel. 2006. “Dictating Food: Autarchy, Food Provision, and Consumer Politics in Fascist Italy, 1922-1943.” In Frank Trentmann and Flemming Just. 2006. Food and Conflict in the Age of the Two World Wars. Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 88–108.

  52 Thomas Wieland. 2009. “Autarky and Lebensraum: The Political Agenda of Plant Breeding in Nazi Germany.” HOST: Journal of the History of Science and Technology 3 http://johost.eu/?oid=3&act=&area=3&ri=1 .

  53 Ludwig von Mises. 1949. Human Action: A Treatise on Economics Chapter 34: The Economics of War: War and Autarky http://mises.org/humanaction/chap34sec3.asp .

  54 Adam Smith. 1776. An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Vol. 1, Book 4, Chapter 2: Of Restraints Upon the Importation from Foreign Countries of Such Goods as Can Be Produced at Home. .http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=237&chapter =212333&layout=html&Itemid=27.

  55 For much evidence in this respect, see Steven Pinker. 2011. The Better Angels of our Nature. Viking.

  56 Dennis T. Avery. 2000. Saving the Planet with Pesticides and Platics, 2nd edition. Hudson Institute, pp. 383–384.

  57 We are not concerned here with rationing schemes, price controls, regulations and subsidies. This list was mainly derived from Karl Brandt (with Otto Schiller and Franz Ahlgrimm). 1953. Management of Agriculture and Food in the German-Occupied and Other Areas of Fortress Europe. A Study in Military Government) . Stanford University Press; and Mancur Olson. 1963. The Economics of the Wartime Shortage: A History of British Food Supplies in the Napoleonic War and in World Wars I and II. Duke University Press.

  58 This summary account is based on Karl Brandt. 1945. The Reconstruction of World Agriculture. W.W. Norton & Company, chapter 1; C. Paul Vincent. 1985. The Politics of Hunger. The Allied Blockade of Germany, 1915–1919. Ohio University Press, chapter 5; and Ernest H. Starling. 1920. “The Food Supply of Germany during the War.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 83 (2): 225–254. Detailed figures as to the actual performance of German agriculture at the time are available in the latter reference.

  59 Karl Brandt. 1945. The Reconstruction of World Agriculture. W.W. Norton & Company, p. 10.

  60 Ernest H. Starling. 1920. “The Food Supply of Germany during the War.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 83 (2): 225–254, p. 230.

  61 Arturo Bruttini. 1923. Uses of Waste Materials. P. S. King & Son Ltd, pp. 36–37.

  62 Ernest H. Starling. 1920. “The Food Supply of Germany during the War.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 83 (2): 225–254, p. 233.

  63 Ernest H. Starling. 1920. “The Food Supply of Germany during the War.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 83 (2): 225–254, p. 244.

  64 This section is based for the most part on Karl Brandt (with Otto Schiller and Franz Ahlgrimm). 1953. Management of Agriculture and Food in the German-Occupied and Other Areas of Fortress Europe. A Study in Military Government (Volume II of Germany’s Agricultural and Food Policies in World War II). Stanford University Press, chapter 20: Denmark, pp. 299–311.

  65 Karl Brandt (with Otto Schiller and Franz Ahlgrimm). 1953. Management of Agriculture and Food in the German-Occupied and Other Areas of Fortress Europe. A Study in Military Government (Volume II of Germany’s Agricultural and Food Policies in World War II).Stanford University Press, pp. 300 and 310.

  66 Based on Ingrid Henriksen. 2006. “An Economic History of Denmark.” In Robert Whaples (ed) EH.Net Encyclopedia http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/henriksen.denmark and Karl Brandt. 1945. The Reconstruction of World Agriculture. W. W. Norton & Company Inc, p. 11.

  67 Karl Brandt. 1945. The Reconstruction
of World Agriculture. W.W. Norton & Company, pp. 271–273.

  68 Karl Brandt (with Otto Schiller and Franz Ahlgrimm). 1953. Management of Agriculture and Food in the German-Occupied and Other Areas of Fortress Europe. A Study in Military Government (Volume II of Germany’s Agricultural and Food Policies in World War II). Stanford University Press, p. 303.

  69 Karl Brandt (Otto Schiller and Franz Ahlgrimm). 1953. Management of Agriculture and Food in the German-Occupied and Other Areas of Fortress Europe. A Study in Military Government (Volume II of Germany’s Agricultural and Food Policies in World War II). Stanford University Press, p. 310.

  70 For more detailed introductions to energy issues that expand on the themes developed in this section, see Robert L. Bradley and Richard W. Fulmer. 2004. Energy: The Master Resource. Kendall Hunt Publishing Company http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2008/07/18/energy-the-master-resource/ and Vaclav Smil. 2010. Energy Myths and Realities: Bringing Science to the Energy Policy Debate. AEI (American Enterprise Institute) Press.

  71 See, for instance, World Energy Council. 2010. 2010 Survey of Energy Resources . World Energy Council http://www.worldenergy.org/documents/ser_2010_report_1.pdfand.

  72 In short, bunker fuel is what is left once more valuable products such as jet fuel, gasoline and diesel have been extracted from petroleum. The only things denser than this fraction of petroleum are carbon black feedstock and bituminous residue used for paving roads and sealing roofs. Because of the high sulfur content of bunker fuel, container ships are often mandated to switch to less polluting “marine diesel” as they get closer to coastlines.

  73 See, among others, Edward D. Porter. 1995. “Are We Running Out of Oil?” Discussion Paper #81, American Petroleum Institute http://www.gisceu.com/epdf_files/U30.PDF.

  74 Amy Myers Jaffe. 2011. “The Americas, Not the Middle East, Will Be the World Capital of Energy.” Foreign Policy (September–October) http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/08/15/the_americas_not_the_middle_east_will_be_the_world_capital_of_energy?page=0,0 .

  75 For an accessible survey of the technical literature on the role of international trade in mitigating the effects of climate change, see Gerald Nelson, Amanda Palazzo, Claudia Ringler, Timothy Sulser and MiroslavBatka. 2009. The Role of International Trade in Climate Change Adaptation. Issue Brief #4. ICTSD (International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development) and IF&ATPC (International Food and Agricultural Policy Trade Council) http://www.agritrade.org/events/documents/IssueBrief4_web.pdf.

  76 Discussions of previous generations’ fears of human-induced climate change are found in Hans Von Storch and Nico Stehr. 2006. “Anthropogenic Climate Change: A Reason for Concern since the 18th Century and Earlier.” Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography 88(2): 107-113; and Mike Hulme. 2008. “The Conquering of Climate: Discourse of Fear and Their Dissolution.” Geographical Journal 174 (1): 5–16. Human-produced carbon dioxide is about 3% of greenhouse gas concentrations if one exclude water vapor, and insignificant if water vapor is included as a greenhouse gas.

  77 Dennis Avery. 2011. “Are Climate Models Lying about Food Too?” Center for Global Food Issues—Latest News (May 24) http://www.cgfi.org/2011/05/are-climate-models-lying-about-food-too-by-dennis-t-avery/ .

  78 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2010. The State of Food Insecurity in the World: Addressing Food Insecurity in Protracted Crises. FAO http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1683e/i1683e.pdf On a global level, the rural poor are more than three times more numerous than urban poor and rural poverty is twice as prevalent as urban poverty.

  79 FAO. 2009. How to Feed the World in 2050. FAO, p. 3 http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/wsfs/docs/expert_paper/How_to_Feed_the_World_in_2050.pdf.

  80 For a concise discussion of the issue in the context of recent agricultural trade liberalization negotiations, see Charlotte Hebebrand and Kristin Wedding. 2010. The Role of Markets and Trade in Food Security. Center for Strategic and International Studies http://csis.org/files/publication/100622_Hebebrand_Role-OfMarkets_WEB.pdf.

  Chapter 6

  1 “Sophistication” in this context refers to making impure and adulterating.

  2 Benjamin Franklin. 1786. “The Art of Procuring Pleasant Dreams.” Reprint in Jared Sparks (ed.) 1836. The Works of Benjamin Franklin, volume 2. Hilliard, Gray and Company: 171-176, p. 172 http://books.google.ca/books?id=IvE_AAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s.

  3 For a much more elaborate discussion of the evolution of the size, shape and capability of the human body in the last three centuries, see Roderick Floud, Robert W. Fogel, Bernard Harris and Sok Chu Hong. 2011. The Changing Body: Health, Nutrition and Human Development in the Western World since 1700. Cambridge University Press and National Bureau of Economic Research; and Timothy Cuff. 2004. “Historical Anthropometrics.” In Robert Whaples (ed.) EH.Net Encyclopedia http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/cuff.anthropometric.

  4 Clifford Cook Furnas and Sparkle Moore Furnas. 1937. Man, Bread and Destiny. The Williams & Wilkins Company, p. xiii.

  5 Frances and Joseph Gies. Life in a Medieval Village. Harper and Row, Publishers, pp. 96–98.

  6 Brian Murton. 2000. “Famine.” In Kenneth F. Kiple and Kriemhild-ConeèOrnelas. The Cambridge World History of Food. Cambridge University Press, pp. 1411–1427, p. 1412.

  7 Lizzie Collingham. 2011. The Taste of War. World War II and the Battle for Food. Allen Lane, p. 18.

  8 Gregory Clark. 2007. A Farewell to Alms. Princeton University Press, pp. 38–41.

  9 Thomas R. DeGregori. 2002. Bountiful Harvest: Technology, Food Safety and the Environment. Cato Institute, p. 93.

  10 Roderick Floud, Robert W. Fogel, Bernard Harris and Sok Chu Hong. 2011. The Changing Body: Health, Nutrition and Human Development in the Western World since 1700. Cambridge University Press and National Bureau of Economic Research, p. 1.

  11 Matt Ridley. 2010. The Rational Optimist. How Prosperity Evolves. HarperCollins Publishers, p. 18.

  12 Jeffrey M. Pilcher. 2006. Food in World History. Routledge, p. 20.

  13 Jeffrey M. Pilcher. 2006. Food in World History. Routledge, p. 55.

  14 Roderick Floud, Robert W. Fogel, Bernard Harris and Sok Chu Hong. 2011. The Changing Body: Health, Nutrition and Human Development in the Western World since 1700. Cambridge University Press and National Bureau of Economic Research, p. 5.

  15 Based on Patricia Cohen. 2011. “Technology Advances; Human Supersize.” New York Times (April 26) http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/books/robert-w-fogel-investigates-human-evolution.html?_r=1; and Gina Kolata. 2006. “So Big and Healthy Granpa Wouldn’t Even Know You.” New York Times (July 30) http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/health/30age.html?ex=1155009600&en=6342cb47f342cde2&ei=5070&emc=eta1.

  16 Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield. 2011. Air Conditioning, Cable TV, and an Xbox: What Is Poverty in the United States Today? Backgrounder #2575, Heritage Foundation http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/07/What-is-Poverty.

  17 Stephen L. Morgan. 2000. “Richer and Taller: Stature and Living Standards in China, 1979–1995.” China Journal 44: 1–39.

  18 Daniel Schwekendiek. 2009. “Height and Weight Differences between North and South Korea.” Journal of Biosocial Science 41 (1): 51-55. For nearly three decades, the North Korean regime has been pursuing an autarkic policy known as Juche with disastrous results. For a concise introduction to the issue, see Jordan Weissmann. 2012. “How Kim Jong Il Starved North Korea.” The Atlantic (December 20) http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/12/how-kim-jong-il-starved-north-korea/250244/.

  19 For the latest statistics and a more detailed discussion of the issue, see the “Obesity” webpage of the World Health Organization http://www.who.int/topics/obesity/en/.

  20 Greg Easterbrook. 2004. The Progress Paradox, Random House, p. xiv.

  21 John Page. 1880. “The Sources of Supply of the Manchester Fruit and Vegetable Markets.” Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England 16 (2nd series), p. 482 http://books.g
oogle.ca/books?id=epoEAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s.

  22 Robert Paarlberg. 2010. Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press, p. 86.

  23 Extracted from the pyrethrum flower, it was first used to kill body lice on people in the early nineteenth century and then household pests. It is very similar in its chemical composition to military nerve weapons.

  24 For a more detailed discussion of the true nature and real shortcomings of organic agriculture, see Alex Avery. 2006. The Truth about Organic Foods. Henderson Communications.

  25 Gary Blumenthal. 2011. “Creating False Markets.” World Perspectives, Inc (February), p. 2. Blumenthal observes that the National Organic Act “was required in the U.S. because government regulators lacked a science-based rationale” for organic foods. Furthermore, unlike conventional food products which are regulated by USDA, EPA and FDA scientists, organic products are regulated by marketing specialists at the Agricultural Marketing Service and overseen by a National Organic Standards Board comprised predominantly of organic growers, handlers, organic certifiers, consumer representatives and environmentalists. The sole scientist on the committee makes her living by giving advice to an organic foods marketer.

  26 From the U.K. Food Standards Agency press release for the study (July 29, 2009) available at http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2009/jul/organic.The study is Alan D. Dangour, Sakhi K. Dodhia, Arabella Hayter, Elizabeth Allen, Karen Lock and Ricardo Uauy. 2009. “Nutrional Quality of Organic Foods: A Systematic Review.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 93 (6): 680–685 http://www.ajcn.org/content/early/2009/07/29/ajcn.2009.28041.full.pdf+html.

  27 For several quotes to this effect see Alex Avery. 2006. The Truth about Organic Foods. Henderson Communications, chapter 12. To give but one illustration taken from Avery’s book, the Organic Trade Association stated over a decade ago that “Whenever you buy organic products, [you are telling] farmers, producers and retailers that you care about the earth, too, and that you want them to continue with their efforts to save the planet.”.