Food–World Wheat Crop In Peril: An article last month (6/14/09) from the Los Angeles Times via the Hartford Courant (courant.com) entitled “A ‘time bomb’ for world wheat crop”  by Karen Kaplan, has received some comments from a number observers (e.g. survivalblog.com/6-23-090) but we thought it deserved some more extensive  exposure due to it’s potentially devastating content. Here are some of the articles highpoints:

• “Crop scientists fear the Ug99 fungus (Ugandan stem rust/PH) could wipe out more than 80 percent of worldwide wheat crops as it spreads from its home base in eastern Africa. It has jumped the Red Sea and traveled as far as Iran. Experts say it is poised to enter the breadbasket of northern India and Pakistan, and the wind inevitably will carry it to Russia, China and even North America –if it doesn’t hitch a ride with people first.”
• “It’s a time bomb,” said Jim Peterson, a professor of wheat breeding and genetics at Oregon state University in Corvallis. “It moves in the air. It can move in clothing on an airplane. We know it’s going to be here. It’s a matter of how long it’s going to take.”
• “The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico estimates that 19 percent of the world’s wheat — which provides food for 1 billion people in Asia and Africa — is in imminent danger. American breeders say $10 billion worth of wheat would be destroyed if the fungus suddenly made its way to U.S. fields.”
• “After several years of feverish work, scientists have identified a mere half-dozen genes that are immediately useful for protecting wheat from ug9. Incorporating them into crops using conventional breeding techniques is a nine-to-12-year process that has only just begun.”
• “More than 500 million acres of wheat are planted around the world, according to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization. “All the seed needs to change in the next few years,” said Ronnie Coffman, a plant breeder who heads the durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project.”
• “To make matters worse, the fungus is becoming more virulent as it spreads. At least one version of Ug99 can defeat all six stem-rust-resistant genes, and several variants can defeat groups of them.”

What You Can Do: Here are several things the prudent family can do to meet what appears to be an almost certain reduction in wheat availability in the near future:

1. Get you family food reserves built up as rapidly as you can. This would include expanding your own food preservation skills and equipment (manual/non-electric is preferred or at least as a back-up)
2. For the average home gardener, corn (non-hybrid/open-pollinated and at least two varieties) is in our view, generally the best substitute for wheat. Check with your local county ag agent or state university for further information on corn varieties and on other grains that might be suitable for home food production in your area.
3. Make sure that you have the essential information for food preservation, storage, and production in PRINTED/BOOK form for reliability. Books and pamphlets have been recommended on these subjects over this last year here at PrudentHome and are in our back posts.
4. Work on and expand your home food production/gardening skills and equipment (manual/non-electric is preferred or at least as a back-up).You will note that over the last year we have emphasized our preference for a bio-intensive/organic food production effort for the family garden. We’ve done this because it is a method (when fully developed) that is simple, sustainable, requires only manual tools, and is/can be independent of outside fossil fuel inputs.  Even if times got really tough, the prepared family could still produce much, if not all, of its own food.

The Equation: FAMILY FOOD SECURITY = FAMILY FOOD STORAGE AND PRESERVATION + FAMILY FOOD  PRODUCTION

Until later in the week: keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers changing fast.

Although the article is a work designed to inform the investor, the excellent background context for the investment advice in very pertinent to the home gardener. Here’s what we mean;

1. The critical shortage of fresh water worldwide is described as the “worst crisis of all time” and is the result of: 1. The global financial and credit crisis, 2. Ongoing world modernization that is increasing water demand and pollution, and 3.Major droughts around the world including the U.S. which is officially in drought over 60% of the country (While not specifically mentioned in the article, many of the world’s hardest hit areas are also the largest food producing countries such as Australia and Argentina).
2. In pulling some specific U.S. water situation information from the article we note that the ground water in the U.S. in being consumed “ … at a rate 25% faster than it is being replenished.” and that currently “…the Western U.S. is experiencing it’s worst drought in 500 years.” and that while agricultural irrigation accounts for 70% of fresh water use it is only 35-50% of that water that “…actually helps grow crops.”

‘Wise Water Use’: Prudent Home concludes: The bottom line is that water is such a critical resource that the home gardener must take the view that wherever one lives, “drought gardening”, with its emphasis on water conservation techniques, is the only reasonable and sustainable approach to home gardening.

What-you-can-do and ’How’: Drought Gardening: We’re going to use as our guideline, a University of Vermont Extension Department of Plant and Soil Science post (pss.uvm.edu/ppp/pubs/oh72drought.htm) that contains about three pages of key information that could generally be applied to almost any location. We recommend that you contact your county extension service and state university for guidelines more specific to your geographic area. Here are some of the keys:

• With the help of your county extension service, state university, and seed catalog, search for plant varieties specific to your geographic area with drought resistance as one of your considerations.
• When watering: water early either manually (our preference), or use soaker hoses or drip systems combined with mulching to reduce water loss.
• Water deeply and less often (we water at least once/day early) noting that “One inch of water will wet a sandy soil to a depth of about 12 inches.
• Save water by using “gray” water from your dishes, washers, beginning shower use, window A/C’s, and dehumidifiers.
• Collect water from gutters and down spouts (rain barrels are best but clean garbage cans or buckets will do) for garden use (watering cans-manual watering- are a natural fit to these collection techniques).
• Mulch 3-4 inches with organic matter, ie. Straw (or dried grass clippings). This helps water retention in soil and leave a 4 inch space around the plant for watering and fertilization. Newspaper works great too with mulch on top. These efforts reduce weeds and the necessity for soil surface disturbance from hoeing and weeding thus aiding in water retention.
• Work organic matter into the soil (compost) to aid in water retention and add nutrients.
• Fertilize with organic fertilizers as they help water retention and soil humus.
• Use natural pesticides, as they’re effective and less stressful to plants, as needed only.

Notice that what we’ve described here are essentially organic and sustainable gardening methods for the home garden. They are the basic basics so learn and do more. Good luck!

Until the end of the week, keep your eyes on the horizon as there’s weather moving in.