On Monday, October 24, 2005, at 11:32  AM, Adam Sroka wrote:

> We cannot feed the
> population and maintain our infrastructure on a mostly Paleolithic
> diet.
> Thus, in a very real sense, the Neolithic diet is the "diet of the
> future" and the Paleolithic Diet is a throwback

I <think> it could be done, over time. In fact, it is happening slowly
now. The world is flush with cereal grains and legumes, and has been
for decades. There is no need to expand production. The malnutrition we
see in the third world is not due to low production, but to political
oppression and violence, in the main. Weather is only occasionally a
factor in some economically remote areas.

In the west, governments skew the farm markets terribly, resulting in
both overproduction and higher prices overall. Again, the problems are
political, not economic. Farmers are a declining voting bloc though, so
they will have less clout to extract payola from the public as time
goes.

There are very large areas of land that used to be productive farmland
that have been taken out of production, not because the land is
spoiled, but simply because it is less economic to farm. Government
money goes mainly to a few large farmers, who overproduce, skew the
market, and drive farmers in other areas out of business. Much of the
American west could be used for wide-scale grass-fed cattle farming,
but it is now unused, or is used to grow wheat. Many currently
irrigated lands will have to revert to native grasslands in the future
as underground water is depleted.

We could easily greatly increase grass farming but for political
control of the land. At least in the US the government owns directly or
controls some 40% of the land, and of much of this land little use is
made, though much of it was once agricultural. A long period of drought
in the 1880s and another in the 1930s drove wheat farmers off the
western land, and the government took it over. Used as native
grasslands, whether for buffalo (bison for you pedants ;-) or cattle
that land could be productive. We are nowhere near the end point for
meat production. Europe and Australia can also greatly expand meat
production if they wish.

Many people will choose the false economy of eating grains and junk
food, but that is no reason for the rest of us to go along. Food is
cheap, and getting cheaper. For people who really can't afford paleo,
making small practical changes like substituting rice for wheat would
improve their health a lot without being expensive.

We are not going to get rid of grain, simply because it tastes so good,
people will continue to eat a lot of it until something happens to
their health.