As I have been trying to emphasize, healthy food makes healthy humans. Michael Pollan says that when you walk into a modern store, you should avoid the center isles that carry all the processed and dangerous crap (I use that C-word purposefully) and head to the fringes of the store where all the fresh produce lies. Then be armed with knowledge of what is safe and what ought to be avoided and make healthy choices there. Pollan adds that only buying food your great grandmother would recognize as food is also a good option. Of course a growing section of most stores is now the organic section (because we consumers demanded it and the stores are quite willing to get it for us if we buy it). Personally my recommendation (especially in the USA) is to buy organic and GMO free until that far distant day when there is actually some research done that validates the claims for or against GMOs that makes it out to the regulatory agencies that are supposed to protect us and not be corporate puppets. If that makes me a conspiracist, it is because I have read so much research that shows incredible health problems showing up that have direct links to industrialized farming and GMOs – notably this research is deliberately sidelined by the industries (The Koch brothers and others of their ilk show up everywhere). I hear a lot of arguments showing up in other blogs and sites proposing to inform us but then when I read between the lines notice the industrial frame of reasoning coming in again. To those that say organic is too expensive (it’s price is now almost comparable to non-organic in many areas) the arguments come down to your own belief systems. I have read many nutrition sites that claim NO health problems from the medical field research, but this research doesn’t seem rigorous in many cases. It might be noted that many MDs are not trained in research. If that sounds pointed, please note I did 6 years of research in a medical school and was not impressed with the quality of research thinking – they knew their MD stuff great. I stopped taking National Geographic and Scientific American when they both poo-pooed skeptics of Industrial farming and GMOs as ‘flat-earthers.’ So it seems that the mainstream has branded me because I don’t follow along like a sheep in the corporate dialogue. My next bog will talk about skepticism, which is not clinging to outmoded belief systems.
Organic farming grows food with more natural means and without chemical pesticides. The soil quality is revived and the crops are healthier. The problem for industry is that it is not easy to grow organic crops the Earl Butz way, which is getting super-sized farms with really big, very expensive farming machines. While a crop duster plane can spray a whole 20,000 acre farm in a morning, organic farming requires a more personal approach.
Why is organic food such a threat to the global food system? One, it reduces profits across the board for the corporations; Two, it is usually localized; and three, it is still done mainly by small farmers and not corporate systems. Four, there is a belief system that food grown, whatever the methods, is always healthy – essentially a denial that toxic chemicals remain toxic. That, however, is starting to change – for good? We shall see.
Recently in a ‘Newsweek’ opinion piece debunking organic farming as harmful to the environment “The campaign for organic food is a deceitful, expensive scam,” according to a Jan. 19 Newsweek article authored by Dr. Henry I. Miller of the Hoover Institution.” Stanley Malkan of U.S Right to Know comments, “If that name sounds familiar—Henry I. Miller—it may be because the New York Times recently revealed a scandal involving Miller: that he had been caught publishing an article ghostwritten by Monsanto under his own name in Forbes. The article, which largely mirrored a draft provided to him by Monsanto, attacked the scientists of the World Health Organization’s cancer panel (IARC) for their decision to list Monsanto’s top-selling chemical, glyphosate, as a probable human carcinogen.” The Miller article uses industrial Ag sources for all its assertions. Big business and big money yet again trying to discredit organic farming for those not willing to think critically. According to Monsanto organic farming is bad for the environment while pesticides are good for it. Even in a country where insanity seems the norm these day (USA), this has to sound like screwed up fake news!
Hydroponics – there are many small businesses now growing food the hydroponic way. Not simple since the nutrient levels must be set up and monitored, but it can be done anywhere. The water is recycled within a closed system so trans-evaporation is one of the main losses from the tanks. This however, in a closed greenhouse system can be set up to capture the water as condensation that runs back down to troughs to join the tank supply again. It can also be done at home. If soil quality is a problem this allows you to control the actual nutrients and any chemicals within the system. One I really like, that the Chinese seem to be doing a lot of, is Vertical farming. Once we can get past the idea that farms must be horizontal fields then the skies the limit – OK bad pun. Look up some of the examples of vertical farming – amazing yields in minimal space. Agroecology a farming approach that mimics natural ecosystems, is an alternative method that can produce more food using fewer resources. Again, it is Small-scale farming and related to Perrmaculture. It was developed in Australia in the 1970s based on agroecology and indigenous farming systems. In practice, permaculture farms are organic, low-input, and biodiverse, and use techniques like intercropping trees, planting perennials, water harvesting, and resource recycling. One example I liked where communities relocalized the food was in a small town in Switzerland. Here the home owners (and those in apartments) generally grew a crop in their yards (note – NOT grass) and then shared or bartered the produce between themselves – definitely all local! You’d be amazed at how much you can grow in as little as 800sq ft with permaculture techniques. then re-learning storage systems can give you food to last the whole year round. Obviously requires some work and isn’t as conveneint as walking into a shop, but it brings us back to the basics of food. I just keep reminding people of the fragility of the food system as it currently exists. The key about any of these alternate agricultural systems is that it takes food out of the hands of big corporations and puts it back in to the hands of the people. Working as a community then allows people with the aptitude and ability to grow the food and others to do other essential jobs in the community. And most crucially, it keeps the food local and the community resilient to food disruptions. And skeptics might ask, why would people who have become used to urbanized living even want to engage in any form of food system when they can simply go to the store or barter for food should the food system go haywire. Simple answer: People has this propensity to like food every day. Another answer might be that they recognize how fragile the food system is and want to have a steady healthy supply on hand. This leads me back to ‘The Hierarchy’ and how human society got so screwed up in the first place. That’s yet another post coming up.
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