From my records our CSA required around 8 (uh oh) to 37(yikes!) kwh of energy to produce 1 kwh of food energy. Now around half of that was transport to get the food to customers doors but that did not include cooking! Of course farming for money without machinery means using unheated (that's a line I won't cross) greenhouses to produce high value labor intensive crops that tend to be light on calories and the 1000s of kwh in steel and electricity are cheap compared to the cost of 100s of kwh of the farmer's labor. I was still able to produce 1k to 1.5k food calories per hour spent working so if manual labor is around 350 calories an hour endeavor I wouldn't starve though I would need to account for the fact that you often have to spent more time in the kitchen then in the garden. Of course if it really came to it I would probably just irrigate an acre of sweet potatoes which only need some water and a deer fence and my calorie output ratio would skyrocket! That really is the problem with just looking at ratios though or maybe a farming under capitalism as a management exercise problem. Last year I was able to collect 21,000 calories of acorns to make flour for zero energy cost! (well I suppose except for the cost of remembering to bring a backpack on my walk) but a farm gate energy return of infinity doesn't really make sense either.
All of this just indicates we are in a collision course with reality. I have prepared well for our own fuel, our electricity wood for heat and food for us and animals. I started preparing about 50 years ago.Most of our energy comes from human work and the only flaw is my age at 76 years old but still working on the farm. Quite simple really.
From my records our CSA required around 8 (uh oh) to 37(yikes!) kwh of energy to produce 1 kwh of food energy. Now around half of that was transport to get the food to customers doors but that did not include cooking! Of course farming for money without machinery means using unheated (that's a line I won't cross) greenhouses to produce high value labor intensive crops that tend to be light on calories and the 1000s of kwh in steel and electricity are cheap compared to the cost of 100s of kwh of the farmer's labor. I was still able to produce 1k to 1.5k food calories per hour spent working so if manual labor is around 350 calories an hour endeavor I wouldn't starve though I would need to account for the fact that you often have to spent more time in the kitchen then in the garden. Of course if it really came to it I would probably just irrigate an acre of sweet potatoes which only need some water and a deer fence and my calorie output ratio would skyrocket! That really is the problem with just looking at ratios though or maybe a farming under capitalism as a management exercise problem. Last year I was able to collect 21,000 calories of acorns to make flour for zero energy cost! (well I suppose except for the cost of remembering to bring a backpack on my walk) but a farm gate energy return of infinity doesn't really make sense either.
All of this just indicates we are in a collision course with reality. I have prepared well for our own fuel, our electricity wood for heat and food for us and animals. I started preparing about 50 years ago.Most of our energy comes from human work and the only flaw is my age at 76 years old but still working on the farm. Quite simple really.
Але зрештою, на місцевому рівні все ще існуватимуть паннаж та гуси на бур'яневому “газоні“ :)