According to the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, pests destroy 20–40% of global crop production annually. That’s 1 to 2 of the 5 fingers destroyed by pests.
This means (generally) of all the crops planted, we can only expect a yield of between 60 and 80%. That’s only 3 to 4 of the 5 fingers able to sing “wee wee wee all the way home.”
Try as we may, nature takes its due first.
While scientists load the soil with nitrogen to boost those yields to grow more food for wasteful people, the average shopper is still reasonably confident that a portion of this 3 to 4 finger yield will be available.
Furthermore, at this point in time, most are consumers are confident in their ability to acquire as much of this 3 to 4 finger yield as they want or can pay for.
The average person doesn’t concern themselves with the 1 to 2 finger yield that was lost to pests. Why is this?
It’s simple – we believe that we’ll just grow more. In a continuous process, like farming, we expect (perhaps erroneously these days) that farmers will continue to grow food. Vestiges are part of the process.
We have faith and expect infinite growth in this area, so we’re not concerned with what is lost to nature.
However, in areas where we’re not aware of infinite growth, people can be very anxious about living with only 3 out of 5.
The fear of facing the possible 2 out of 5 that doesn’t go your way fuels the desire to stack the deck, but instead creates a house of cards.
Why?