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How do we really know what to eat? Perhaps it’s environmental. Sure enough! If nothing but markets decide now – and they seem to be careening out of control – and history doesn’t count, everybody can be like everybody else and have any kind of food. Then maybe it isn’t so much a matter of knowing what to eat as it is regaining a sense of who we are. Perhaps the first step is to reconnect our food to place, good places – not industrial wastelands. 
We in the independent small farm sector probably need to keep an eye on new threats to organic farming. It seems there is no end of manipulation by industry to control markets and government continues to be driven by special interests. 
Visit the cathedrals to food where delectables from the world over are on display. The gross over production and high price of food in western markets are being demonstrated in a new phenomenon: Food Halls.
I don’t think there is anything easy about finding the right urban agro-ecology, but I do know it needs to happen. That it is, in fact, already taking place. 
The intrinsic quality of the food system we uphold is reinforced by humane practices throughout; by fair and equitable agreements with farm/food workers, by respect for and restoration of natural ecosystems, by humane treatment of animals, and by collaborative and distributional structures that share resources sustainably, spread assets, and bring health. 
Even in a short time – just the last few years – the shellfish industry in Washington State has deteriorated because of bad management and pollution. We can’t afford to let this gross negligence continue. 
Double speak by the media is distorting the very identity of “farmer” for the average American. In fact, most of our food production – the food chain we’ve become so dependent on and can’t do without – is controlled by only a half dozen “chemical corporations.” What is a farmer? A farmer is NOT a global chemical corporation! 
US industrial agriculture has turned the Central Valley of California from a natural paradise of biodiversity into a desert waste land. It’s sad for everyone. The Valley was one of Americas most beautiful places; today it has become a demonstration of the worst agricultural practice in the US over time and a standing model of bad public food policy. 
It’s very strange to hear the FDA and food safety people talking about outlawing manure on organic farms. I grew up on an organic farm where I rolled around with my dog on the manure pile (well composted, of course) and, you know, my brother and I were the healthiest kids in school. It may turn out that all this manure may actually be worth a lot of money! 
This is an important presentation I think most for its honesty. And because it is being delivered by an authentic Iowa farmer, not some fabrication on contract hauled out to speak the corporate line because of the special interest of the parties involved. |
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