On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:08:07 +1100, Clifford Heath
wrote:

John Larkin wrote:
We have something they don't: an enormous capacity to make food.

A very large percentage of that capability is due to the use of
nitrogenous fertilizers, manufactured from natural or petroleum
gas via the Haber-Bosch process for ammonia. The Chinese make
more than a quarter of the world's production, but basically -
guess what - the ability to store energy in your cereal crops and
in your "biofuels", comes predominantly from below the ground,
not from the sun. Without fossil fertilizer, 90% of the world's
production of grain would cease.

The fossil fuel crisis is first and foremost a *food* crisis, the
cost of fuel for transport is just the leading edge.


Well, just think about the negotiation sessions:

"We have food. You have oil. Wanna do business?"


John