>I am generally not a luddite on farming issues, but Michael is just
>emphasizing that it is not greater "productivity" by the individual farmer
>but many other inputs (with their own labor and economic costs that should
>be measured in lost GNP- ie. lost producity) which account for more food per
>farm.
Why should that be lost GDP? What loss is involved in purchasing inputs? Is it a loss when I buy paper for my fax machine? Electricity for the computer?
I want to hear more detail about alternative food production systems, what kind of institutions and resources would be involved, and what kind of productivity we could expect.
>As for the tradeoff between labor and fuel consumption, I would look at the
>issue globally versus the depopulation of our farm states. Wouldn't it be
>better to allow many third world subsistence farmers to immigrate to the US
>to perform labor-intensive work here, if they can indeed be more productive
>with improved technology that is less fuel-intensive?
Why can't they get that technology at home?
Doug