In Economic Harmonies, Bastiat marveled at the system of voluntary social order that resulted in a standard of living incomprehensibly above that which obtained in the state of nature, without direction or coordination.
Every day, when he gets up, he dresses; and he has not himself made any of the numerous articles he puts on. Now, for all these articles of clothing, simple as they are, to be available to him, an enormous amount of labor, industry, transportation, and ingenious invention has been necessary. Americans have had to produce the cotton; Indians, the dye; Frenchmen, the wool and the flax; Brazilians, the leather; and all these materials have had to be shipped to various cities to be processed, spun, woven, dyed, etc.
Next, he breakfasts. For his bread to arrive every morning, farm lands have had to be cleared, fenced in, ploughed, fertilized, planted; the crops have had to be protected from theft; a certain degree of law and order has had to reign over a vast multitude of people; wheat has had to be harvested, ground, kneaded, and prepared; iron, steel, wood, stone have had to be converted by industry into tools of production; certain men have had to exploit the strength of animals, others the power of a waterfall, etc.—all things of which each one by itself alone presupposes an incalculable output of labor not only in space, but in time as well.
In the course of the day this man consumes a little sugar and a little olive oil, and uses a few utensils.
...
It is impossible not to be struck by the disproportion, truly incommensurable, that exists between the satisfactions this man derives from society and the satisfactions that he could provide for himself if he were reduced to his own resources. I make bold to say that in one day he consumes more things than he could produce himself in ten centuries.
What makes the phenomenon stranger still is that the same thing holds true for all other men. Every one of the members of society has consumed a million times more than he could have produced; yet no one has robbed anyone else. If we examine matters closely, we perceive that our cabinetmaker has paid in services for all the services he has received. He has, in fact, received nothing that he did not pay for out of his modest industry; all those ever employed in serving him, at any time or in any place, have received or will receive their remuneration.
So ingenious, so powerful, then, is the social mechanism that every man, even the humblest, obtains in one day more satisfactions than he could produce for himself in several centuries.
Without direction from any, Paris is fed.
I wonder whether any of the directors of the National Science Challenges have ever read Bastiat.
The directors of six National Science Challenges call on the government to develop a National Food Strategy for Aotearoa New Zealand.
“Food is essential to our health and wellbeing but it can be a major cause of ill-health and disease,” said Professor Sir Jim Mann, director of the Healthier Lives challenge. “The food we produce also has profound effects on the environment and on climate change, and is vitally important to our economy. A healthy and environmentally sustainable food supply is essential for human and planetary health.”
As the National Science Challenges enter their final year, the six science leaders today announce their intention to bring key findings from their research together to support a future National Food Strategy.
A strategic, science-informed plan is needed to both reduce food production’s contribution to climate change, and adapt to future challenges.
I'd bin all of this. There is zero need for any national food strategy. Set a carbon price on agriculture. Set cap-and-trade markets on nutrients and sediment, or deal with them through regulation in catchments too small for cap-and-trade.
The rest takes care of itself.
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