Book Review: Why 2011 Could Be The Year To Plant A Family Garden

Title: Food Shock: Why 2011 Could Be The Most Important Year Ever To Plant A Family Garden
Authors: Bill Heid and Brain Brawdy
Pages: 33
Publisher: Off The Grid News
Reviewer: Gumisiriza Mwesigye
Available at www.offthegridnews.net

This year more than any another, the prices for food have been volatile and have kept rising beyond the point at which a number of experts had predicted that they would cool off. This unprecedented trend has raised fears for the future in rich, middle-income and poor countries, and in many of them, sparking off riots and protests against the high costs of living.

Against this backdrop, Bill Heid, an entrepreneur in what is known as the preparedness and survival industry, and Brian Brawdy, an ex-police investigator and military weapons specialist who now educates people on self-reliance and survival, teamed to write this publication. Using an unassuming and concise style, they trace the causes of the current food crisis, present a frank diagnosis of the situation and offer back-to-basics kind of solutions.

The authors present three major reasons why prices have kept going up. Reference is made to the protests in Tunisia and Egypt that were initially fuelled by discontent over prices of staple foodstuffs. These are some of the varied cases, ranging from Russia, China, Mexico to UK and US, that are used to illustrate their point that though prices will continue their upward trend, the attempts by governments to curb them will remain inadequate. This is backed by figures from several organisations such as Oxfam, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the World Bank and US Department of Agriculture.

In the second reason advanced, Heid and Brawdy observe that the bad weather such as unprecedented droughts and floods in Australia, US, Russia, India and China will continue to play a significant role in the current situation. “We are just one drought or one heavy rain away from a major worldwide catastrophe…” Also, it noted that these phenomena “have demonstrated just how dependent our food supply is on the weather. For now, the effects have just been an increase in price.” The situation of food shortages is compounded by the growing use of food crops such as soya beans and maize in the manufacture of biodiesel—as an alternative to petroleum.

The third reason revolves around the move to increase agricultural productivity through the use of biotechnology and genetic engineering. “Breeding crops to increase the size and yield has had an unintended effect; it also decreases the nutrient value of the produce.” The use of chemicals to counter the menace of pests, diseases and weeds also features prominently here.

Probably, this is one of the few publications on this theme that offers practical, do-it-yourslef solutions to the ordinary people who are most affected by soaring food prices. Heid and Brawdy say the way to cope will be having food security in their hands: Through utilising the land available to them such as backyard gardens to grow their own food.

Though their advice is primarily targetted at an American public, their take on the situation, the causes and probable solutions are also relevant to developing countries whose populations tend to wait on government intervention in a crisis and where biotechnology is being fronted as a way to realise higher crop yields. In the same breath, it serves as a warning to other countries that are contemplating on following that path, of the potential pitfalls and what is touted as "the solution" may not be that. Instead, it is up to the people to take initiative and the onus is on them to play a part in dealing with the current crises.

Get the publication at Off The Grid News website or download here