http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/idiocracy/#

Seriously I don’t think if we encourage birth control I don’t think the human race will dissapear. I know the supply of unwanted cats is always increasing despite spay and neuter laws.

I think we need a van that goes around and gives vasectemies.

I found this on Rhwanda:

Between 1897 and 1943, several famines occurred in several sections of Rwanda, partly because of the irregular distribution of food and population. In 1928, a severe famine occurred in central and western Rwanda. Over 300,000 people died, and another 100,000 migrated out of the country. In 1943-44, severe drought caused crop failure and another major famine, in which another 300,000 people died or migrated.
Variations in annual rainfall and temperature make life for the subsistence farmer precarious. Individual family farms around the Virungas are typically a few acres in size, but the fields are not adjacent. Individual fields and pastures are often located in pieces a few miles apart in different geographic settings: on high hills, low hills, and valley floors. The purpose is to plant crops in as many different types of sites as possible, so that if a frost or dry spell destroys crops in one field, perhaps crops in the other fields some distance away will survive.

The fragmenting of farms makes machines, such as tractors, difficult to use (aside from their cost). Individual fields are also too small to use these machines effectively. Consequently, western-type modernizations of farms for increasing yield are impractical, as well as not affordable, in Rwanda.

I got it from here

From this it looks to me like indaviduals own enough land for subsistence farming, and the droughts are caused at least in part by the deforestation that has occurred in the Virunga area, as forests help to store water.

I think it would be a mistake to try to bring all these parcels of land under the control of one entity, whethr that entity is a corporation or a government it is still taking land away from the people who rely on it and placing their lives in the hands of others.

I agree that they should try to encourage crop rotation and drought resitant crops but to try to duplicate the US ag system, with chemicals and geneticaly engineered crops would be a mistake and would probably lead to more famines.

The best thing we can do for Africa is encourage them to have less kids, which really is the best way to increase the quality of life for everyone. I know we always wind up arguing about population, mostly I think that happens because most if not all of the worlds problems could be solved if people would stop over-crowding the planet. I did my part now it is timefor you to do yours.

You talk like the world is like America. It is so not.

Plus, right now it seems like most our access production goes into keeping beef cheap.

The idea is to get away from industrial corn that needs a lot of water and petroleum based fertalizer to crops that are a little easier on the land and perhaps in poor areas a little easier to grow.

We do agree on eliminating subsidies. I just think its important to reduce starvation. Not sure your suggestions get us closer to accomplishing that; in fact, you would be increasing death and suffering in the world.

Surprising, that.

It seems like part of the reason big ag is so “efficient” is they spread many of the costs to the public. Meat is cheap mostly because corn is heavily subsidized so it is cheap to use use feed lots. If corn was not subsidized feed lots would not be cost effective.

The production of of corn also has enviromental costs both in the form of water polution from all the fertalizer and overgrowing ruins the soil.

Big ag gives us cheap food because many of the costs are paid indirectly by the public.

Small local farms might actually be self sustaining without government subsidies and hidden costs. Food might cost a little more but if it wasn’t subsidized the total cost would be less.

The other thing about your example about people being more “eficient” assumes that everyone is going to wok to their maximum efficiency, I don”t think cheap food does that so much as just enables people to spend more time waching TV, blogging and wasting time in other imaginitive ways.