Interesting point here from Walter Russel Mead on China’s small agricultural problem:
Though China is geographically larger than the United States, it has far less arable land per capita available: 0.08 hectares per person versus 0.53 per person here. And the arable land available in China is shrinking, mostly because of extreme desertification.
So China imports food to help feed its huge and growing population. But its imports vastly outweigh its exports in agricultural products (see the chart below, courtesy Zero Hedge & FAO). And that deficit is going to grow: There will be lots more mouths to feed in the future, and as more and more Chinese enter the middle class, appetites evolve.
If you’re wondering what the cause is for the aforementioned desertification is, it’s actually pretty simple: they’re [expletive deleted] Commies. The only thing that a Commie thinks that a shovel is good for is for digging the hole in which to toss the latest crop (pardon the pun) of counter-revolutionary wreckers and enemies of the State. Seriously, Marxists make absolutely lousy farmers. Usually literally: they’re not exactly renowned for being good at maintain bourgeois infrastructure projects, either.
Anyway, interesting article there on the potential trade problem that we’ll be all worrying about next decade. Get in on the ground floor early, folks!
Moe Lane
Yep, seriously considering investing in some reasonable-quality farmland.
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I figure I can approach Galt if needed, and will be – by definition of “farmland” – far enough out in the sticks to avoid the worst of any urban issues.
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What we must remember, of course, is that just being able to grow food isn’t enough .. we must be able to beat those plowshares back into swords at need… else we become subject to the other guy using a gun to get butter.
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Mew
Does Paul Krugman know about this? According to him, China is the model