Reply #32: Please [View All]

[Nederland]

GliderGuider's graph of grain stocks is created using data on both global production and consumption whereas your graph only shows global grain production.

Yes, because that is the correct way to analyze the data. "World Grain Stock as Days of Consumption" is an irrelevant statistic for our purposes. In fact, all that chart shows is that we've gotten better at managing food inventories. Whereas we used to have months of food sitting in warehouses, now we have gotten better at predicting supply and demand fluctuations so that the huge inventories we used to have to maintain as a buffer are no long necessary. Believe it or not, the fact that we no longer have millions of tons of food sitting in warehouses rotting is a good thing. Moreover, decreasing inventories are a phenomena that is not unique to food, it is a global revolution called "just in time" inventory management. It has occurred in virtually all sectors of the economy from automobiles, computers, clothing and office supplies.

And when you look at data from 1950-1970, it appears that global production was flattening out by 1970 too.

Really? When I look at the graph I see production in 1950 at around 600 million tons, in 1960 at around 800 million tons, in 1970 at around 1100 million tons, and in 1980 at around 1450 million tons. That is not a flattening by any stretch of the imagination. Be honest with yourself--if a graph of this exact same shape was presented to you as a graph of global temperatures over time you would be describing it as a slow steady increase and proof that global warming was real. The only reason you could possibly claim that global production looked like it was flattening anywhere on this graph is because your own ideological biases make your eyes see something that simply isn't there.