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Re: China and Food (was Re: Ecological Economics and Entropy)



Jason McGinnis sure provides us with a lot of misinformation,
considering that he refers us to the FAO Web page  www.fao.org.

     How much more food China can produce is dependent on many
     factors, not the least of which is the fact that they don't
     grow potatoes.

According to the FAO Web page, China grew 45 million tons of
potatoes in 1995, which was the largest potato production in the
world.  The Russian Federation was next with 39 million tons.  By the
way, the Netherlands grew 7.3 million tons.

The Chinese yield per hectare on potatoes was 1/2 that of the US and
1/3 that of the UK, indicating that the Chinese can get a lot more
potatoes if they treat their peasants better.

     Huge increases in yields in the past and our belief that
     they are neverending ...

What's this phony "our"?  McGinnis clearly doesn't include himself.



-- 
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/
During the last years of the Second Millenium, the Earthmen complained
a lot.


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