The Rural Voice, 2000-04, Page 14ORGANIC FARMERS
NEW!
The CANADIAN
ORGANIC SEED
ALLIANCE
is proud to offer a
complete line of
organic seeds
From BIG (soybeans,
edible beans, spelt)
to small (flax, oats,
barley, wheat)
we've got it all... organic!
For more information
please contact
COSA at
(519) 395-3126
or (519) 364-1525
"Our experience
assures lower cost
water wells"
100 YEARS' EXPERIENCE
Member of Canadian
and Ontario
Water Well Associations
• Farm
• Industrial
• Suburban
• Municipal
Licensed
by the Ministry
of the Environment
DAVIDSON
WELL DRILLING LTD.
WINGHAM
Serving Ontario Since 1900
519-357-1960 WINGHAM
519-664-1424 WATERLOO
10 THE RURAL VOICE
Robert Mercer
Water flows up hill towards money
Agriculture is capital intensive, but
it is also water intensive. Without
water, crop production diminishes.
As the world expands its population
and economy, water is becoming more
in demand and
scarcer as a result
Water is now
scarcer than land.
Aquifers are being
depleted, and
rivers, lakes and
inland seas are
drying up. World
water use has
tripled over the
last 50 years, but
rainfall patterns
remain much the
same.
It is often
difficult to
comprehend the extent to which the
world's natural fresh water resources
are being depleted in Canada where
water is mostly cheap and apparently
unlimited.
History tells us that in the long run
irrigation -based societies fail. Society
today, on a worldwide basis, is now
facing the same problem. India, China
and the U.S. face major and mounting
groundwater deficits. Farmers and
urban user are pumping groundwater
faster than nature is replacing it. Water
tables like bank balances are dwindling.
China is the world's largest grain
producer and irrigates much of the
northern plains area where 40 per cent
of China's grain is produced. Here the
water table is reported to be dropping
1.0 - 1.5 meters a year. (About five
feet.)
In India the water deficit across the
nation is three times as bad as in China.
Nine states in India run major water
deficits including Punjab and Haryana,
the principal cereal crop areas. Some
aquifers in the Mehsana District are
now depleted. A recent report suggests
that one quarter of India's grain -based
harvest could be in danger of
groundwater depletion.
Should India and China decide to
change their irrigation policies and
import grain rather than use limited
water reserves to grow it, the potential
scale of the replacement cereal imports
could destabilize world grain markets.
To give some idea of the magnitude
of the worldwide groundwater deficit,
the collective shortfall in India, China,
the U.S., North Africa and the Arabian
Peninsula is estimated to equal twice
the annual flow of the Nile River.
As groundwater deficits amount in
individual countries, the potential for
conflict between countries sharing the
same river systems mounts. Without
water sharing agreements such multi-
national river basins as the Ganges, the
Nile or the Tigris -Euphrates become
regional hot spots for political
manoeuvering. This is especially so
since it is in these river basins where
much of the increase in population is
expected in the next 25 years, by as
much as 50 per cent.
Other areas of conflict are between
urban and rural uses. Where votes
count and where money is at stake,
urban uses will take precedence over
farming. Agriculture will have to
provide more food off less land with
less irrigation in the years ahead. To the
urban politician the over -pumping of
groundwater reserves is an invisible,
and therefore irrelevant, problem.
Unfortunately, as the Worldwatch
Institute suggests, groundwater over -
pumping ranks as one of the most
serious threats to world food supply.
Yet, have you heard any national or
international politician, non-
governmental organization or lobby
group even discuss it?0
Robert Mercer was editor of the
Broadwater Market Letter and a farm
commentator in Ontario for 25 years.
OUTDOOR
WOOD FURNACES
• Sate • Economical • Convenient • Insurable
97.2% EFFICIENCY
3' to 4'
wood
Y -
Gerald Saunders
RR 1r5. Woodstock
(519)467-5441
• Wood fired hot water
furnaces
• Unique round design
fire box
Russell Sales & Service
Owen Sound
(519)376-7907