Oil is a necessity in food production.(CROSSROADS)

WRITING for Earth Polciy News, Lester R Brown highlighted the importance of oil in producing food for the world's growing population.

The prospect of peaking oil production has direct consequences for world food security, as modern agriculture depends heavily on the use of fossil fuels. Most tractors use gasoline or diesel fuel. Irrigation pumps use diesel fuel, natural gas, or coal-fired electricity. Fertiliser production is also energy-intensive. Natural gas is used to synthesise the basic ammonia building block in nitrogen fertilisers.

While the United States' agricultural fuel use has been declining, in many developing countries it is rising as the shift from using farm animals to tractors continues. A generation ago, for example, cropland in China was tilled largely by buffaloes. Now much of the ploughing is done with tractors as farms face a labour shortage with many children preferring to work in the cities.

Fertiliser accounts for 20 per cent of United States' farm energy use. Worldwide, the figure may be slightly higher. As the world urbanises, the demand for fertiliser will increase. As people migrate from rural areas to cities, it becomes more difficult to recycle the nutrients in human waste back into the soil, requiring the use of more fertiliser. Beyond this, the growing international food trade can separate producer and consumer by thousands of kilometres, further disrupting the nutrient cycle.

Irrigation of crops requires more energy worldwide as water tables fall. In some states in India where water tables are falling, over 50 per cent of all electricity is used to suck water from wells.

The 14 per cent of energy used in the food system to move goods from farmer to consumer is equal to two thirds of the energy used to produce the food. An estimated 16 per cent of food system energy use is devoted to canning, freezing, and drying food.

Brown notes that packaging is also very energy-intensive, accounting for 7 per cent of food system energy use. It is not uncommon for the energy invested in packaging to exceed that in the food it contains. Packaging and marketing also can account for much of the cost of processed foods.--CT

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