• The hidden costs of food production.
• Spirulina prices reflect true costs.
• Spirulina resource advantages.
• Land and soil are conserved.
• More efficient water use.
• More efficient energy use.
• A big oxygen producer.
• Three problems facing global food production.
• Agricultural: Limits of the green revolution.
• Political: Food is not evenly distributed.
• Environmental: Food growing area are declining.
• Advantages of spirulina production.

An environmentally sound green food revolution.
Spirulina cultivation at Earthrise Farms does not cause pollution, soil erosion, water contamination or forest destruction. Spirulina is grown without toxic pesticides and herbicides. These assurances are important to the conscious natural food customer.

7.5. Comparative
protein yields.
(The Futurist, Feb. 1985)

Spirulina is 60% protein and can be cultivated on marginal, unusable and non-fertile land. Its rapid growth means spirulina protein needs 20 times less land than soybeans, 40 times less than corn, and 200 times less than beef production. Spirulina offers more nutrition per acre than any other food, but doesn't even need fertile soil. Higher food production can be achieved while returning cropland to forest.

One kilo of corn protein causes 22 kilos of topsoil loss. One kilo of protein from corn-fed beef is even more destructive, causing 145 kilos of topsoil loss from the cattle eating all that corn. Spirulina cultivation causes no topsoil erosion.

Even though spirulina grows in water, it uses far less water per kilo of protein than other common foods. At Earthrise Farms, water is recycled back to the ponds after harvesting. Because the main production ponds are sealed with food grade plastic liners, very little water seeps through the ground compared to conventional crops. The only significant loss is by evaporation.

Spirulina protein uses 1/3 the water as soy, 1/5 as corn, and only 1/50 the water needed for beef protein. At Earthrise Farms, only 8 gallons of water are used to produce a single 10 gram (20 tablet) serving of spirulina. This is much less than for servings of other foods grown in the U.S.: 15 gallons for a serving of bread, 65 for milk, 136 for eggs, 408 for chicken and 1303 gallons for a hamburger.8

Fresh water is one of the world's most critical resources. Spirulina can use brackish or alkaline water, unsuitable for agriculture. Growing algae for food will become more attractive since it does not compete with needs for drinking or agriculture.

Spirulina requires less energy input per kilo than soy, corn or beef, including solar and generated energy. Its energy efficiency (food energy output per kg / energy input per kg) is 3.5 times higher than soy, 1.4 times higher than corn, and over 100 times higher than grain fed beef.

As cheap energy resources are depleted in the next 20 years, costs of energy dependent foods will rise with energy prices.

Forests help absorb carbon dioxide. Trees are the best land plants for fixing carbon, from 1 to 4 tons per hectare per year.9 Spirulina is even more efficient. In the California desert, spirulina fixes 6.3 tons of carbon per hectare per year and produces 16.8 tons of oxygen. In the tropics it is 2.5 times more productive.10

Understanding carbon budgets is an emerging field of study. For example, how much new forest area should be planted to offset carbon emissions? In 1988, World Resources Institute recommended a U.S. utility plant 52 million new trees in Guatemala to offset CO2 emissions of a new U.S. coal burning power plant over 40 years.11 In the 1990s, carbon budgets will be taken seriously as our planet struggles with global warming from the buildup of atmospheric CO2.

Many consider the green revolution of the 1960s and 1970s to be a successful agricultural achievement. India and Indonesia are often cited as examples of new food self-sufficiency, with an average yield per hectare increasing from 1.1 to 2.6 tons. Yet, the Worldwatch Institute concludes this approach has failed in several ways:12 Success has not been distributed evsly. New seeds, fertilizers and pesticides boosted yields of export crops of wealthier farmers with money and access to irrigation. Yields of locally consumed food of subsistence farmers on marginal rainfed land did not benefit as much.

By 2020, our planet will have 2 million more people, over 7 million total, with an unprecedented need for food. As people grow wealthier, especially across Asia, there is demand for more diverse foods such as meat and dairy which require large amounts of grains. Unfortunately, Worldwatch reports grain growing area peaked in 1981, and has fallen more than 5% since. Yields are down as irrigated area has begun to shrink and fertilizer use is being curtailed due to diminishing returns.13 Big losses of fertile farmland continue to result from desertification and soil depletion. We are running out of space.

World Resources Institute agrees new approaches are needed. "Agricultural research has changed its perspective since the days of the Green Revolution. Although production oriented research which was responsible for developing high yield varieties is still at the forefront, some researchers are now increasing emphasis on the needs of poor farmers and on ecologically sustainable agriculture."14

Many food experts claim the problem is not production, it is equitable distribution. A landmark book in the 1970s, Food First, claimed food is produced for profit, not people.15 Although the world food supply is adequate to end hunger, chronic hunger persists, victimizing one third of the world's people, and primarily children.

Today, the developing world is even worse off with its huge debt burden. Wealthy elites of developing countries took on debt in the 1970s for over-ambitious and ill-conceived development schemes. Now these countries cannot repay the interest on the debt, and their people suffer with austerity programs imposed by the IMF, the World Bank, and governments. These debtor countries are using their limited agricultural resources to grow export crops for hard currency to pay the interest on their debt, and not for food for their own people.

The underlying cause of political instability in these regions is the inability of people to control their own resources. Many would agree with the theme of the Hunger Project: "Although the world can feed itself, food is not evsly distributed. Hunger persists wherever people lack opportunity to participate in their society and end hunger."16

There are few signs these inequities will soon change. Not only do many people continue to suffer chronic hunger, the environment continues to deteriorate. Desertification and soil depletion worsen from the stress of chemically produced export crops, livestock overgrazing, poor soil management, pollution and rainforest destruction.

A 1983 U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report concluded the developing world as a whole is capable of producing sufficient conventional foods to sustain its own population by the year 2000.17 Yet, because the unrestricted movement of food within the developing world is unrealistic, 65 countries would have insufficient resources to meet their food needs by 2000. The excess population dependent on imported food will rise to 440 million people. These regions include over 20% of Africa where millions of people live.

Worldwatch reports desertification claims 15 million acres worldwide each year, an area the size of West Virginia. According to the U.N. Environmental Program (UNEP), "11 billion acres - 35% of the earth's land surface - are threatened by desertification and, with them, fully one-fifth of humanity."18 Successful economies gobble up cropland. "Asia is losing ground. The development boom is eating away Asia's cropland. Unless this trend is reversed, the continent's leaders may find themselves facing a new national security problem: food."19

All three problems combine for maximum impact: 1) The green revolution has reached its limits, 2) world food distribution is not likely to change dramatically, and 3) cropland is lost due to economic growth and environmental deterioration. As farmed land turns into desert, or is paved over for infrastructure, less fertile land is available, while population is growing. To face these problems we need unconventional food sources with higher yields.

This is where a new food resource such as spirulina can be beneficial. For food self-sufficiency, these areas need new food production and economic opportunity while simultaneously restoring the environment. Unconventional foods such as spirulina, microalgae, aquaculture, salt-tolerant crops and new drought-resistant grains and legumes offer help for these arid regions. New types of seawater-tolerant spirulina may become available. Genetically improved algae may have a higher content of desired nutrients or grow better in cold weather.

Facing a serious loss of cropland and higher food imports, China has declared spirulina a national food priority, In the last five years, over 50 spirulina farms have sprung up, mostly in southern China, making this country one of the largest producers.

Areas of chronic malnutrition are most common in the arid tropics and subtropics. Here, diets are high in carbohydrates and sugars, but low in protein, certain vitamins and minerals. Spirulina thrives best in these locations, and is a perfect complement to the typical diet. It speeds recovery from malnutrition. It is more digestible than other plant, dairy or meat products. This is important for victims of malnutrition with poor ability to digest food.

In a worst case scenario, global warming may create drastic climate change. The world's most productive crop regions could fail to produce food because of excessive heat and lack of rainfall. This drought situation is feared for the great North American grain belt. A climate crises could trigger worldwide food shortages and a scramble to find solutions. Microalgae require less land and water than other protein foods and can grow in hot climates where other crops cannot.

Today, while commercial farms grow spirulina as a health food for millions of people on six continents, lake harvesting and village-scale farms in Africa, Asia and South America can produce food for local people. Using appropriate technology, they address needs of waste treatment, soil and water quality, reforestation and food production, offering a context for the revival of the environment and the economy of villages and entire regions.