F.A. Farm

Andrew Curry’s article, “The Future of Food (1 of 2),” reviews the British government’s Foresight report, The Future of Food and Farming. Here is the weblink: 
http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-02-14/future-food-1-2

The first part of his review is largely descriptive, but he promises a more critical look in Part 2. What I find interesting is that he cuts right to the heart of the matter, asking “So what is to be done?” He then lists the 12 priority areas from the report and then asks another question, “Is this enough?” This is followed by the usual answer, “Perhaps not.” However, Curry is astute enough to hoist the report on its own petard. His words bear repeating.

The report states boldly right at the beginning that“Nothing less is required than a redesign of the whole food system to bring sustainability to the fore”, but nowhere starts to develop the tools which would help people develop a vision of what such a re-design might look like, as if it doesn’t want to say ‘boo’ to power. It seems to take a relatively uncritical view of global and open markets; indeed, whenever the politics of food threatens to break the surface, the report seems to move swiftly on. I’ll come back to this in the next post.

1. Spread best practice. - This has to be done by actually getting your hands dirty. Going to meetings doesn’t cut it.
2. Invest in new knowledge. – Those of you with money will have to pay those who are actually working on solutions. The time for the true believers to give, give, and give some more while they scratch out a living is now past.
3. Make sustainable food production central in development. – This is a no-brainer, but we have to decide what is sustainable. Input/output analysis based on measurable energy use is the key to deciding what is actually sustainable.
4. Work on the assumption that there is little new land for agriculture. – This is false. Both Albert Bates and I (and probably others) have been quoted as saying, “I can make soil.” Making soil is a relatively simple process, but it does take time and labor. Other techniques, such as hay bale culture and chinampas are useful tools.
5. Ensure long-term sustainability of fish stocks. – This is not my area of expertise, but there are other people working on this.
6. Promote sustainable intensification. – There are three keys to intensive agriculture: water, fertility and labor. These are certainly doable, but in the past, slavery and serfdom have fulfilled the labor needs. With petroleum-based agriculture, cheap oil served as the “energy slave” and allowed the labor component to decrease significantly. This will have to be turned around in the future. However, slavery and serfdom will NOT work this time around. The choices in a post-peak oil future are quite restrictive. Either pay farmers and farmworkers a living wage (not being done now) or starve.
7. Include the environment in food system economics. – Duh! This also means most economists will become redundant.
8. Reduce waste – both in high- and low-income countries. – Another Duh! There are a huge amount of “frozen” calories lying about in hard consumer goods that can be reused in either their original forms or recycled into new products. For those of you involved in so-called “deep green” entrepreneurship, you know all about the money to be made here.
9. Improve the evidence base upon which decisions are made and develop metrics to assess progress. – This is where input/output analysis based on calories has its greatest value. Calories are an easy metric to calculate, are known by everyone, and cross multiple platforms. The greatest value of this metric is its ability to get people on board.
10. Anticipate major issues with water availability for food production. – Another Duh!!! Utilizing soil moisture from rainfall has the added value of decreased levels of salinization over time. Real sustainability has to move towards dry farming and away from irrigation. Some irrigation is still needed, even on the west side of the Cascades, but there is not enough research being done by small-scale farmers on planting patterns and working with properties of plant root systems to utilize inherent soil moisture. This is my current research focus, but I am just getting started. We need more work on this (and I don’t mean some sort of government study! – I mean real down-to-earth work that addresses the small-scale perspective).
11. Work to change consumption patterns. – This is another no-brainer. The first step is to reduce meat consumption, but this very simple, moderate idea usually runs into opposition from people who have one or two cattle but make the mistake of adopting the arguments of the industrial cattle industry. Using meat for flavoring and increasing your intake of fresh vegetables and fruits is NOT some sort of communist plot.
12. Empower citizens. – This point reveals the inherent bias of a government-sponsored report. Empowering citizens is NOT something that comes from the top down. It is not something that we GIVE people. It is a bottom-up process that requires the citizen to take advantage of the power they already have. Back in the 1970’s I heard a good quote from a semi-underground journal called The North Country Anvil, “Most hippies wouldn’t recognize power if it was laying on the street in front of them.” This is still true today, except it is not just the hippies who aren’t using the power they already have. Now it is most Americans.

There you have it. I am looking forward to reading the second part of Curry’s review. Meanwhile, there are vegetable starts to get going, seeds to order, ground to till and inspiration to be had around every corner. There are, however, NO meetings that you have to attend.