ODAC contact in the Middle East, Barry G. Claverhouse, writes:

I had a long meeting with a local media person who, though he had never before heard of Peak Oil, was prepared to listen to me and watched "End of Suburbia" and the Money Program "The Last Oil Shock" (David Strahan, 2000). He struck me as being "gobsmacked" - he understood the concept and implications more or less immediately. He subsequently did his own "Due Diligence" on the subject and I received the following mail from him today:

“I think you are right. Unfortunately I can't report that (It has to be all sweetness and light in the media here or what you write won't get published).”

I believe "Food Security" will soon become more important than the current concern over "Energy Security" and the impact on this part of world would be catastrophic, as effectively several Arabian Peninsula countries like Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Dubai import near 100% of their food. Large irrigated agricultural developments during the 1980s in Saudi Arabia had, by early 1990s, made Saudi a net wheat and fodder exporter, see FAO - Saudi Arabia (http://www.fao.org/docrep/W4356E/w4356e0q.htm). Since then, these have had to be greatly curtailed as levels of groundwater have declined. For instance, Saudi barley growing has been curtailed from 2.2 million metric tons to 100,000 metric tons (as of 2002). Growing animal forage (Alfalfa) for the livestock industry has similarly been curtailed, see USDA report - Saudi Arabia to Ban Forage Production (PDF, 16 Kb http://www.fao.org/docrep/W4356E/w4356e0q.htm). They claim "Self Sufficiency" in Eggs, Milk & Chickens - forgetting almost all animal feed is imported.

Came across interesting Lester Brown article on price of wheat and oil, Does Saudi Arabia Have the United States Over a Barrel? (http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=3893)

I wonder if or when they will get back to parity where 1 bushel of wheat is same cost as barrel of oil as in early 70's ?

http://www.odac-info.org/

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