IS ANYONE LISTENING?

New Alliance Report Ties Food Shortages to Need for Agricultural Water 

“Americans spend less of their income on food than any country in the world, but take the availability of abundant, better, safer and affordable food for granted,” said Mr. O’Toole. “Meanwhile, farmers and ranchers continue to feel the pinch– and now that pinch is translating itself back into the supermarket.”

The Capital Press editorial also references a brief Alliance report that further describes current and projected food shortages resulting from the Russia-Ukraine war and explains that food security is something that Alliance leaders have warned policy leaders about for over fifteen years.

“That pinch is going to feel more like a punch soon, with inflation already spiraling out of control, and the seeds of a global food shortage germinating in the trampled grain fields of Ukraine,” said Mr. O’Toole.

The full report can be found HERE.

We highly recommend that you read the report and share it with your associates. President O’Toole’s more summarized commentary below should also be shared far and wide.

Capital Press Commentary
“A wake-up call to our national leaders from a Western rancher”

“There was for a long time an inborn appreciation and awareness by our own policy leaders for the critical importance of a stable food supply,” Mr. O’Toole writes. “Now, it appears that many simply assume that food is something that comes from the local grocery store. Our arguments in support of Western irrigated agriculture have in recent years been drowned in a flood of commentary from faraway critics who downplay and even criticize the importance of using water to produce affordable and safe food and fiber.”

Mr. O’Toole’s commentary warns that global food shortages, once predicted to materialize around 2050, may now come much sooner.

“At a time when the future of Ukraine’s ability to help feed the outside world is at risk, the world’s best producers — Western irrigators — are watching their water flushed to the sea to purportedly help fish populations.”

The Global Agricultural Productivity (GAP) Report in 2010 first quantified the difference between the current rate of agricultural productivity growth and the pace required to meet future world food needs. That report predicted that total global agricultural output would have to be doubled by the year 2050 to meet the food needs of a growing global population.

“The U.S. needs a stable domestic food supply, just as it needs a stable energy supply,” Mr. O’Toole writes. “As we teeter on the brink of world war, that stability becomes even more pressing.”

Mr. O’Toole and the Alliance believe that Western irrigated agriculture is a strategic national resource, and the role of the federal government in the 21^st Century should be to protect and enhance that resource.

“At the Family Farm Alliance, we will continue our efforts to ensure Western irrigated agriculture continues to play a vital role in feeding our Nation, while keeping our rural communities and the environment healthy,” he concludes.

As mentioned previously, we highly recommend sharing this commentary with all you know. Encourage them to tag and follow Family Farm Alliance on Facebook and Instagram.