**7. Fossil fuels in the food system**

Section 6 focused primarily on the farm and the interaction of the farm system with the environment. This section seeks to articulate likely impacts of rising fossil fuel costs and conceivable adaptions in developed and developing countries, both on the farm and in postfarm segments of the food system.

Because of its annual cycle of production, the food system adapts relatively quickly to altered prices of inputs, leading to optimism that the system will evolve relatively smoothly in a changing cost environment. Price spikes, however, can be more disruptive then gradual increases, although they may also induce long-term adjustment. An example is the radical improvement in energy efficiency of American refrigerators since the oil price shocks of the 1970s. Since then, energy efficiency has improved by a factor of about 3.5, while average sizes have grown about 10%, and real prices have decreased by 2/3 (Appliance Standards Awareness Project, 2011).
