Wasabi Times - South Dakota
November 2, 2020
WHO STARTED THE FOOD WARS
It all started with using a commodity as a weapon against an opponent. It was called a siege, were basic needs were denied a city that was militarily surrounded in a conflict of powers. The besieged was the weaker and the surrounding forces were the one besieging the city. The principle was simple; deny the populace basic needs and they will force their leaders to capitulate.
In the 1970's Oil was used as a siege weapon with significant economic results. The economies of western countries were brought to their knees by OPEC. Several years later all of the most advanced countries put their efforts to control the supply and production of Oil. Wars were fought and deals were made to try to dominate the Oil production and distribution mechanism.
In fact the control of the Oil producing countries has always been a contention with the main consumption countries who were originally western. In the beginning of the Oil era the principle Oil handlers that were created n the United States and Europe in the early 1900's controlled almost every aspect of exploration, exploitation, distribution, refining and distribution in the world.
It is a fact that if a country did not have the ability to have a large scale agricultural sector there would be no long term success of that nation and there could be no sustainable industrial development.
FOOD IS STRONGER THAN OILWhile people love to travel and need the power of petrochemical products to propel their agricultural equipment, oil does not have as much effect on agriculture as the quality of the land and the ability of the agriculturist. What plentiful and cheap oil did was to make food cheaper due to the high productivity levels of the farmers. Farmers were so productive that their crop production had to be minimized by government programs. While Oil was stored in vast underground caverns, only the United States created a Food Reserve that could support the population of the United States for a good number of years.
FIGHT FIRE WITH FOOD?Both Oil and food are weapons, one projects power and the other sustains existence. While the power can kill with explosive and aggressive violence the sustenance can be withheld which also kills with a slow and degenerative silence.
Food is the most important element in human survival, even greater than shelter. People will live exposed and in peril just to eat and survive. Ancient and modern times have proved this as a reality of human existence. Without food there is no battle (unless it is for food), there is no morale, there is no victory. Without Oil there is slow movement, less impact, diminished existence but it does not contribute without direct war us to loss of life as there are alternative means of producing work for the purposes of agriculture.
The Food Wars were started with the Oil wars. The greatest nations on earth had extensive agriculture where they could sustain their numbers of people even with primitive means. Howeverr, in the modern world, to sustain the large populations of people in almost every country it requires a highly integrated system of agriculture and a fuel source for operating farm equipment that is not defendant on other highly volatile sectors of the economy.
The reason the food wars started was because some powers decided to use Fuel power to change the world. This gave impetus to agricultural countries to use the same methods of world price minipulation.