The Oil Drum

Depends on what you mean by 'we' and 'far.' Grain was shipped halfway across the planet in the 1880s - not only from Australia, but also from California and Oregon to Britain. ( http://www.jstor.org/jstor/gifcvtdir/di000128/0161391x/di952316/95p00787... )

And lots of interesting reading in an article at http://www.helsinki.fi/iehc2006/papers2/Singleton.pdf Even more interesting to understand how such shipping worked, for those with a nautical bent is http://www.nps.gov/history/maritime/nhl/falls.htm - with the added tidbit 'In 1907 Falls of Clyde was once again modified when she was converted into a sailing oil tanker.' Fascinating reading of how oil was handled at the birth of the oil age - and yes, biodiesel is very easily imaginable in this configuration.

This is one reason cities like London or New York were so successful in expanding compared to cities like Berlin or Paris - ships docked in the city, and grain was moved a very short distance before being used.

Though localization remains a very valid goal, looking at how the world functioned before WWI swept away an integrated world economy which we have only recently been able to surpass is fascinating. (With the twist that Communist China is the society performing much of the oppressing, while being home to hundred of millions of the oppressed.)

Leaving aside the non-trivial concerns about population, there is absolutely no reason to feel that such long distance trade (Brazil-China, Argentina-India, etc) would be impossible using tools already available - tractors running on biodiesel, ships using sails/sail assistance, and railroads.

What is impossible to imagine is driving 20 miles to get a burger and fries being a daily occurence for hundreds of millions of people. Especially the burgers - cattle raised hundreds or thousands of miles from where they are fattened using grain that also travels hundreds or thousands of miles, after which the meat is then frozen and shipped hundreds or thousands of miles before it is eaten.