You'd be surprised what some people find interesting, and for good reason.

Anyway, it is crucial that society's awareness is raised regarding the relationship between oil and food. Oil is intrinsic to modern food production and delivery: everything from fertilizer to transportation. Furthermore, there is a national, if not international, near panic regarding the price of corn and soy and wheat. Corn, at least, is being diverted to biofuels. Prices for grain-based foods are rising dramatically. (Meat prices are rising too, since cattle and other "food" animals are fed grain, but as a vegan I welcome all of that).

When you couple this scenario with the rising cost of oil and the concurrent arrival of peak oil, what you're left with is very scary. Imagine food shortages coupled with gasoline shortages coupled with heating fuel shortages. And here I used to think Mad Max was only fiction.

For two reasons...

First because the corn itself is being diverted so that food and sugar production are being lowered ... In the case of sweeteners the US has an import tariff on sugar.

Because acreage, prime acreage is being diverted from other crops such as soybeans and wheat. The price for those two crops have sky rocketed.

And as the first poster noted prices will be going up due to ever increasing prices on oil and nat gas. Oil is hovering around $100 and nat gas $9 ... These prices are way up year on year.

So the fertilizer may be there but it won't be cheap. The question is: How many people will starve due to these higher prices ? The UN is already panicked about the shortage of food for their relief programs.

Every time they talk, those presidential candidates produce enough fertilizer for several generations. The symbol for both parties should be the bull.

"But here's the intriguing point. In the past, rising food prices have generally been caused by scarcity. That's not true this time around -- globally, harvests of most grains are up, but prices keep rising anyway, because demand is rising even faster."

OK, its being a bit nit-picky, but when there is not enough supply to meet demand the result is scarcity. How is that not true this time around? Whether the harvest is up or not, if there isn't enough to meet demand the result is scarcity (and rising prices).

(Meat prices are rising too, since cattle and other "food" animals are fed grain, but as a vegan I welcome all of that).

As someone whose body can't seem to tolerate the estrogen-based endocrine disruptors that come along with soy and other forms of plant protein, I do not welcome the rise of meat prices.

However, again, speaking as someone who can't eat soy protein, I welcome the information that soy prices are going up.

Maybe that means the commercial bakers will stop finding it economical to use "soy protein isolate" as a dough conditioner in their pastries, and I'll be able to eat apple fritters from the supermarket again.

They put that evil stuff in everything I like and it makes me feel powerless and threatened and frustrated.

By the way, when they aren't being killed for food, animals poop, and animal poop makes fertilizer.

So when peak oil comes, the people who keep animals will have a way to transport goods and a way to fertilize their crops.

So where will the vegans be then?

Are vegans allowed to use animals for transportation or use organic fertilizer on plants?

How would you ever acquire enough organic fertilizer to grow your plant protein without exploiting the animals who are pooping on your behalf?

As someone whose body can't seem to tolerate the estrogen-based endocrine disruptors that come along with soy and other forms of plant protein, I do not welcome the rise of meat prices.

Are you intolerant of all plant protein, or only soy-based plant protein? One could live one's entire life as a healthy vegan and never touch a soy product. Wheat gluten is good protein. Quinoa provides all of the essential amino acids. Of course, there are dozens of tasty legumes besides soy. And so on.

They put that evil stuff in everything I like and it makes me feel powerless and threatened and frustrated.

I am sorry you are faced with that.

By the way, when they aren't being killed for food, animals poop, and animal poop makes fertilizer.

Indeed. George Washington Carver was a big advocate of using human poop as fertilizer.

So when peak oil comes, the people who keep animals will have a way to transport goods and a way to fertilize their crops.

So where will the vegans be then?

Composting our fertlizer and transporting it by bicycle and sailboat, I guess. If society is suddenly without any oil-powered vehicles, it's not just vegans who will have to find new ways to cope. Incidentally, peak oil may already be here.

Are vegans allowed to use animals for transportation or use organic fertilizer on plants?

Vegans are allowed to do whatever they want. It's a choice, after all. Some might balk at using animal poop to fertilize their food, others might balk at using animals as the proverbial beasts of burden. I'm not too concerned about animal poop as fertilizer, since my issue is cruelty to animals, not purity of diet. However, I would not support using animals as slaves.

How would you ever acquire enough organic fertilizer to grow your plant protein without exploiting the animals who are pooping on your behalf?

I don't know enough about fertilizer to rule out composting vegetable matter as a perfectly fine substitute. And, I believe, seaweed and algae are used throughout the world as fertilizer, so maybe the world can move to mass algae production. Anyway, how many people live on this planet? 8 billion? 10 billion? That's a lot of poop right there. Poop is poop, right? I think Rush Limbaugh is good for at least every cornfield in the state of Kansas.

Cuba shows it's feasible.

Just an FYI, though you probably already know about this: http://www.innvista.com/health/foods/hemp/seedprot.htm