NickyJames people in our age bracket don't see a lot of things (beyond the weekend, fast cars, fast women etc) and it is quite sad really as it is our generation that is going to have to clean the mess (left in the wake of a US economy capitulation, high oil prices, high interest rates and a ugly housing market!) up one day, if it is even possible, certainly not in a hurry! I was only talking about this with a friend in Perth last night. Our generation has never experienced anything but good times! It is no biggie to carry a sheetload of debt and spend half your wage on a weekend of late nights. We've all been there but at some point the brain has to get to thinking about stuff! There is noone coming back to the farming sector and that is going to bite us all one day. I have been making far more money off farm than on farm so I can see why it is this way. But the irony is that our hydrocarbon based economies are going to have to get back to plant based economies as oil/gas prices head north further and further.
But those farming systems right now as they operate as essentially gas guzzlers (agriculture is the 3rd largest energy user in the world). Has to be reversed because it can. All about energy accounting - energy invested to energy returned! Sandalwood nut production (60% oil) will dominate the arid landscape as it is the only oilseed crop that once established requires no energy based inputs. Self fertilizing (legume based) and perennial in nature (living for hundreds of years)!
