E Pluribus Unum means “Made in China”

Now that the US economy has changed hands to Mainland China, food is gradually working its way up the pyramid of things we cannot do without, surpassing spinner rims and Akon ringtones in the process. With our national debt in the hands of the country that invented firecrackers and fire drills, it is only a matter of time before this grand idea blows up in our face. It is vital to secure a steady food supply for the 21st century.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blew Fish?

Aquaculture is a neat trick. Growing oceanic protien stock may sound boring, but it is an exciting way to farm protien. Well, exciting compared to watching beans grow. Fish farms, shrimp farms, clam beds, and even crawfish farming are all classified as aquaculture, and all are potential hot spots for future growth in our global food structure.

Wild versus Tame Salmon–Which one is Pink?

Actually, neither one. Both are sorta orange.

Aquaculture and Climate Change–A Set of Really Boring Statistics

Well, we will skip that part, and add some fun instead. Aquaculture has been around for eons–in fact, most civilzations had aquaculture before they had SHIPS. Indus, Yangtze, Yalu, and even the Nile delta had some form of aquaculture milennia before the first keel of a long boat was laid. Even the Native Americans had a form of aquaculture, but sadly, very little smallpox resistance. Aquaculture is sustainable farming of protein stock–and if you have been to the grocery store lately, you might have noticed that land based protien farmers (beef, pork, chicken)have been gouging the hell out of you. Recently, I paid over $200 for a hamburger and a hooker. And she was an ugly hooker.

Aquaculture– Fish food for food fish

Ok, that is just fun to say 5 times fast, but there is a point. For land based protein farming, a feed source (usually corn) is necessary. It takes roughly 3 pounds of corn (or 589 kilograms, for our metric audience)to make a hog gain one pound. This is pretty efficient, until you consider that in order to get one hundred pounds of pork products (I am excluding chitlings from this equation)it takes a little over 300 pounds of corn, or about .25 acre of field production. Now keep in mind that this represents the entire year’s growth on that particular piece of land. With the equation of 4 hogs per acre, one hog farm can take over a pretty decent sized cornfield. And we slaughter millions of hogs DAILY.

Eat More Fish, Get Better Milage

Like it or not, corn is here to stay. 40% of our corn crop goes to make alcohol, which is enough to drive you to drink. A great deal of the remainder is left over for feed stock, seed, and the rest is packaged as Del Monte Creamed Corn, which is found on soup kitchen shelves all over the United States. Since the American farmer has hoodwinked the public into putting sour mash into its gas tanks, corn prices have skyrocketed, and so have land based protiens. This, coupled with ridiculous gas prices, has passed on an enormous hardship to the average working man.

Sushi Saves the World!

Free Willy my ass. We need to start FARMING. Aquaculture represents the next generation of protien supplies. Fish stocks are sustainable, renewable resources that can be farmed without using arable farmland. This takes corn out of the equation, and food prices/gas prices should drop correspondingly. As long as we are limited in our food supply to our arable land production, we are limiting our global intake of food. The Earth is 70 percent water–the logical path is to use it to feed ourselves.

Many of us drop into McDonalds for a hamburger and a coffee. That is going to change.