Food Considerations

There seems to be a consensus among the purveyors of opinion that the failing economy is the most important crisis facing civilization. I tend to think that the availability of water and food rank a bit higher than jobs and discretionary income. I’d like to talk about some factors to consider that affect our personal, community, and global food security. Growing method, farm size and location, and marketing all affect our personal health as well as the health and resilience of our community and ecosystems we rely on to grow food.

Conventional agriculture, the so called "Green Revolution," was developed about 60 years ago supposedly to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population. Some say that the synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides were a convenient use for leftover explosives and chemical weapons of WWII. It is largely a human construct based on simplistic concepts of plant growth requirements and the role of soil, the availability of labor saving machines and cheap fossil resources, and a capital-intensive system highly desirable to big business. Before the War, agriculture was labor intensive with 40% of our population working directly or indirectly in agriculture. Today, only .7% are employed in agriculture, forestry, and fishing combined.

The result is a food system controlled by a very small group of wealthy investors that prioritizes and maximizes profit. Fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides manufactured from oil and natural gas have produced high yields at the expense of exposing and polluting the soil, and destroying the living community of soil organisms that evolved symbiotically with plants. It has remained viable only because of direct subsidies to the oil and gas industries and to the "agribiz" farmers themselves. Meanwhile, wind and water are carrying away the topsoil, laden with artificial fertilizers and toxic chemicals, to pollute our rivers and lakes and create dead zones in the ocean. The exposed, root poor soil will absorb only a tenth as much water as unplowed land, and allows minerals to leach out of the growing stratum.

Organic agriculture mimics nature, and is based on a much deeper understanding of the role and the primary importance of soil ecology. It utilizes a diversity and balance of organisms to provide nutrients and protection to crops. No petroleum or natural gas based products are used in the soil or on the plants. Weeding and crop rotation make it more labor intensive than conventional agriculture. While conventional agriculture degrades and depletes soil and other resources, organic agriculture builds and conserves soil and its nutrients. Acre for acre, organic is more productive than conventional. There is no consensus as to whether it is nutritionally superior, but it is certainly safer in that you are far less likely to be exposed to toxic residues.

If organic agriculture is more productive, why does organic produce cost so much more? A better way to phrase it is, why is conventional produce so much cheaper? It is because conventional farms and their fossil resource providers are heavily subsidized (by us!), and they "externalize the costs" of environmental damage; that is, we bear the cost of mitigating their abusive practices. It isn’t that organic produce is expensive; it is what it costs to produce food sustainably.

Think of buying organic as a really wise investment in the future. You are investing in the farmers that are protecting our soil and safeguarding our food security, while starving the corporate giants that are destroying our food growing capacity and working to dictate your food choices.

Even among your organic choices, you have to consider the carbon footprint. Produce from remote locations will have higher transport costs. Larger farms depend more on fossil fuel burning farm implements.

For the greatest resilience and security for our community and the world, a diverse group of small organic farms at the local and regional level is the best strategy. We can’t expect to grow everything we need here on Vashon, but we can do a whole lot better.

The marketing at the grocery store that provides mostly the same fresh produce all year around creates a tremendous amount of waste. I’ll bet half the produce that comes into our grocery stores leaves as blemished or past pull date and, therefore unsaleable, product. Some does make it to our local food bank, but much of it ends up in the landfill or as fancy pig food. Those that grow their own food fully understand that the growing season produces a surplus that needs to be cellared, canned, dried, frozen, or processed to be eaten in the lean season. We can’t afford to throw away half the food we produce, yet the grocery store marketing model leads to just that. Buy local produce you can trust when it is cheap and plentiful and "put it up" for the winter. It’s nice to be able to buy exotic tropical produce and some things we can’t grow here in the winter, but we are better off not dependent on them.

If the above paragraph resonates with you, you should attend the Food Preservation Fair on Saturday, August 11, on the parking lot just north of the Village Green. The Vashon Food Security Working Group wants to share with you the fun and satisfaction you can experience putting away good food for the winter. I hope to see you there!

Comments?
terry@vashonloop.com