Urban Farming Oz

Food security is by definition one's ready access to the food to ensure long term survival, that is you do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. The majority of us westerners have no idea of how close our society is to temporary or even permanent food insecurity. To many this may sound extreme, but let's look at what happens when a natural, or unnatural, man made disaster occurs. We have many recent events to draw upon, with fire, flood earthquakes, war, revolution and nuclear disasters among them.

Though quickly forgotten and often ignored by outsiders, less tha 12 months ago Queensland resident suffered from food insecurity.

From the Herald Sun·"QUEENSLAND will commandeer 13 water trucks to ferry drinking water to flood victims in the state's worst-hit region.·As residents’ frustration about the shortage of drinking water, fresh food, power and other supplies turned to anger, the Bligh Government moved to react to the crisis.·A short time ago, authorities confirmed Army water trucks would work around the clock to supply fresh water until treatment plants were working again.·But as panic-buying of essentials created pressure on supplies, the desperation turned to anger in some flooded towns with residents left with dwindling food, no power and little fuel." Full Article here

Further north, in Japan just a few months later, it was Fukishima's turn, and what a horrible turn it was. The full extent of this nuclear disaster and it's long term effects on the food chain not just in Japan but as far away as Canada and the US are yet to be considered or revealed. For starters you can read this report·Japan’s 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami:·Food and Agriculture Implications. Bear in mind this report no doubt understates the potential long term issues especially when radiation has been detected in 13 USA States. This is believed to be a direct result of Japan burning it's nuclear contaminated rubbish. ·See·http://fairewinds.com/·for many informative videos on the whole situation in Japan.


Next was the flooding in the Thailand
·Southeast Asia’s battle with some of the worst floods in decades is far from over, with waters seeping deeper into the Thai capital of Bangkok. But the United Nations is already warning that parts of Southeast Asia affected by the floods are facing “serious food shortages,” a problem caused by destroyed crops and compounded by the difficulty in delivering food assistance.
·A report from the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization says that significant flooding and devastation across Southeast Asia – including Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand – has caused severe damage to housing, infrastructure and agriculture."

And there are many many more instances, all in less than 12 months.

So what can you, we do? Be Prepared.
The old Boy Scout Motto is spot on. Our whole societies food supply is an dependent on Just in Time delivery. In the modern supermarket what you see on the shelves is all there is of that product in the store. The goods for restocking the shelves are in the trucks on the highway. So as soon as they can't get through things sell out fast. Even faster as people know the supply line is closed an they start hoarding. A trip to a inner city supermarket at around 6.30pm on will reveal the worker who are buying the ingredients for tonight's dinner. Tomorrow they will be back, they have no food reserves at all. A disaster in the making.

Keeping a few spare tins of beans is easy, but fresh produce, greens vegetables and meat is another story. If the disaster takes out ·the power then the frozen produce / ready meals have about 24 hours before they are unusable.

A much better idea is to have fresh produce on hand, that is grow it yourself. The added bonus is it is fresher and tastes better too.

Power
Having survived a typhoon, and being without power for days I know the importance of power. We had a community solution, you could have one too. A small generator, of better still a stand alone solar / wind power supply is ideal. If you go camping and have a 12 volt fridge freezer make sure you have sufficient renewable power to keep it running. Our 40 litre fridge is a great freezer, face it warm beer is better than rotten steak! ·If you go the generator way make sure you have fuel on hand, ·when there is no power there is no fuel. ·Also remember as pure gasoline / petrol disappears the ethanol in the fuel will absorb water so fuel can not be stored for more than about 6 months.

More soon......