F. George McDuffee wrote in
:

This was not meant to imply that agriculture is not the
fundamental economic sector. Everything rests on this. FWIW the
area of North America currently called the United States will
become a net food *IMPORTER* sometime in 2006 or early 2007.

Mainly due to tastes and the fact that we can afford to eat imported food.
Well that and the fact that when it comes to food, most Americans show
little or no restraint.

But why buy canned veggies and fruit in the middle of winter when you can
get imported fresh ones?

Our climate can't support some of the foods we like to eat, such as bananas
and sugar. Yeah, they will grow in Florida but we eat way more than could
be grown there. Plus it's barely warm enough. Where are we going to grow
all of the coffee?

Then there are spices and foreign cuisine. Balsamic vinegar, wasabi,
truffles, mushrooms, cheeses, prepared meats, wines, beer, and all sorts of
other good stuff that we can afford to buy.

We could survive without all of it and can easily grow enough food for
everyone. But our diets would be a more dull.

--

Dan