This might eventually help end our barley shortages
Bill Velek
As homebrewers, we've watched with some dismay as barley prices have
jumped dramatically, along with most food prices. Part of that has been
attributed to acreage being diverted to corn for ethanol production, and
is probably true in large measure. Other factors include the increasing
affluence and standard of living of people in China, India, and other
nations with expanding economic clout, which enables them to compete for
more meat in their diets ... which requires more grain as feed; they are
reportedly also drinking more beer. There are other factors, too, but
the main point to be made here is that barley prices are affected by the
prices of other grains, regardless of what they are used for. So, ...
when I came upon this New York Times article --
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/join-the-hunt-for-super-rice
-- my immediate thought was that by improving rice crops, and eventually
using the same technology to improve crops of corn, wheat, oats, and
even barley, we should all have more barley to brew with in the future.
Along those lines, if anyone here would like to help with that research,
we just happen to have our own 'Homebrewers' team already working for
the World Community Grid (the very organization which is working on the
'super-rice' project). Until now, the 'WCG' has been working strictly
on non-profit medical research to help find cures for diseases such as
cancer, but this is an important humanitarian project now that we are
seeing a growing food shortage. Any member can designate the particular
projects that his/her computer to work on, so if you want ALL of your
computer's spare power to be used for 'super-rice' research, you can
certainly do that. The main thing is to quit wasting your computer's
power running a stupid screen saver when you're not even looking at it
most of the time, and start using it for humanitarian research. Our
'Homebrewers' team currently has only 88 members, but we have donated
the equivalent of more than 133 YEARS of computer time for this
non-profit research to benefit all of humanity.
Read about our team here - http://home.alltel.net/billvelek/team.html -
and then click on the Home-Page link to see how safe and secure this is.
Thanks for your time.
Bill Velek
Charlotte_0'Neil
> Semi-on-topic
>
><< As homebrewers, we've watched with some dismay as barley prices have> jumped dramatically, along with most food prices. Part of that has been> attributed to acreage being diverted to corn for ethanol production, and> is probably true in large measure. >>
but I don't agree with your chosen method of doing so. I would say, if
you want to help world hunger and keep down the price of gas, dig up
your front lawn and plant potatoes in it. It must be a very rich
country where the peasants can afford not to use their land to feed
their families and buy the food from other countries, instead. Another
suggestion would be: learn to recognize wild food and gather it
yourself. See my page on Wild Food for some tips (
http://windintheroses.googlepages.com/wildfood ).
But thanks again for your company, my only poster :-). I am linking
this forum to some more of my pages, so maybe it will see more
traffic, if only drive-by. But my problem is I am really not that much
into running a forum. I have tried the various ways to communicate on
the web, forums, maillists, blogs, webpages etc., and, while I like
them all enough to do them a little, what I find I like the most and
what suits me best is webpages. I think I like it cos there's nobody
to argue with me and I have dreams that my blatherings will live on in
eternity <s>.
Actually, now that I think of it, I have a whole long page on eating
on the cheap -- http://windintheroses.googlepages.com/frugalhealthyeating
Best wishes,
Charlotte
Bill Velek
> On May 15, 2:31 pm, Bill Velek <billve...@alltel.net> wrote:
>
>> Semi-on-topic
>>
>> << As homebrewers, we've watched with some dismay as barley prices
>> have> jumped dramatically, along with most food prices. Part of
>> that has been> attributed to acreage being diverted to corn for
>> ethanol production, and> is probably true in large measure. >>
>
> I admire your desire to do something to make the world a better
> place, but I don't agree with your chosen method of doing so.
What is it that you don't agree with? Grid computing? The hybrid-rice
research program? That I've formed a team called Homebrewers to help
gather support for the programs? Or the way that I try to recruit new
members for my team on homebrewing forums?
Bill Velek - portal to my HOMEBREWING websites: www.tinyurl.com/29zr8r
My other sites: www.velek.com ~ www.2plus2is4.com ~ www.grow-hops.com
Charlotte 0'Neil
<< What is it that you don't agree with? Grid computing? The hybrid-rice
research program? That I've formed a team called Homebrewers to help
gather support for the programs? Or the way that I try to recruit new
members for my team on homebrewing forums?>>
What you're doing is fine, in that you believe in it. What I'm opposed to is fiddling with food to make it more suitable for big agri-business to grow it, and less nourishing for people to eat it. We don't need massive, high-yield crops to feed the planet. The farmers of Africa could feed the world on their rich soil already if western countries stopped subsidizing big-farma so that small farmers could compete in the world market.
I don't care about GM per se, it's what they're using GM for that I object to. These new grains will be resistant to pesticides, so there will be more pesticides (that is, poison) on your barley; they will need chemical fertilizers, to there will be more petro-chemicals in your beer. They will need big industrial equipment to harvest, so there will be fewer agricultural jobs for people in poor, third-world countries.
They want to produce a high yield crop, but it will be at the cost of the plants not putting down long roots and drawing up micro-minerals from the soil, so your beer will not be as nutritious as beer used to be.
Let America grow fuel grain, its black gold -- more money for us and less money for that ratbag family the royal house of Saud -- and let developing nations get on the production ladder with the food grain crops that have fed humans for thousands of years.