It is amazing to note from this article the enormous amount of fuel used in transporting food. It is reasonable to expect food to be shipped to cities from their surrounding rural areas. But moving food between rural areas to rural areas should be minimized. There is need for a rigorous analysis and for seeking solutions. Our food technology laboratories should look for ways to retain nutritional value in processed foods. The author alluded to “leached chemicals find their way into our rivers and streams.” Perhaps, our soil scientists may be able to devise containment technologies somewhat similar to those provided in municipal solid and hazardous waste sites so that these chemicals are contained and recovered for reuse. As the developing world adopts the technological successes of the US in the food production field and urban development, it is important that we provide good pointers so that the lessons are learned before mistakes are repeated.
Its nice that Bruce Boyd is so concerned about our food system but he is way off in his suggestions for rebuilding our food systems. At its core the production and distribution of food is an economic activity and is largely market driven. There is no way to get around this. The tired old suggestions that consumer education, re-training of farmers, and farmers markets will make a difference have no basis in reality - unfornunate but true. Farmers knoiw how to farm, they don’t need training to use organic methods - they need economic incentives. If you want a new food system, then change the U.S. farm bill that distorts farm prices, tax pesticides, or subsidize targeted crops, then farmers will change their farming activities. With 75% of the world’s population in cities within 20 yrs. farmers markets don’t offer any real option for significant change. In fact, the energy cost of moving food to farmers markets is higher per unit of food sold than that of large scale transport in huge trucks over long distances. The biggest single impact of changing the farm system to local production from smaller farms will be greatly increased food prices. Overall, this is a good thing but we will need a much larger social safety net and we will make large producers very rich.
Great article and comments. Some thoughts: Organic, nice as it may be, is less important that local. Local farmers who are responsible but not meeting the rigid standards of organic are more sustainable. Further, re-learning the idea of seasonal production is the consumer education we need. Local doesn’t have to mean small farms. In Pennsylvania, agriculture is our number 1 industry but only 1% of that is produce or orchards. Changing the economic incentives to farm more food directly for people to eat (and not just secondarily through meat or dairy), including a better wholesale system as Katz suggests, energy taxes and reducing sprawl to save farmland close to markets will go a long way towards food security.
A number of small towns in Australia are changing their farming practices, starting farmers markets and by-passing the big multi-national companies. In a country with severe drought problems, bushfires and soil erosion, the large scale beef and dairy farming practices have to be stopped. Not only do they contribute to global warming, they operate outside any humane codes of practice. Cows are milked untill their udders bleed. They have their tails cut off and are proded with electric rods to get them to move. Calves are removed immediately from their mothers causing distress. A calf under 35 kilos is killed for dog food. If people knew how these animals are treated they would never buy the products. I live next to a 600 acre dairy farm that uses so many chemicals on the land that my dam turns green. My dogs are not allowed on the grass because they get burning feet. These chemicals get into the rivers and the water table. Almost every farmer in the area where I live has had cancer. An international effort is needed to stop these practices and we have no time to spare.
A couple of comments: One, there is very little federal support for actual FAMILY farmers. Congress needs to stop delivering huge subsidies to corporate farms run by people who have no real connection to preserving their land for generations to come and just want to squeeze out every dollar, regardless of how things like overfertilizing harms land. Two, there needs to be more incentives for young people to WANT to farm. Most national media and entertainment venues stereotype farmers as dumb kids who can’t do anything else, which for anyone who actually grew up on a farm like me is total nonsense. Also, with the cost of land, fuel, supplies, etc. it is nearly impossible for any young person to become a family farmer if they have no family farm connections. Check out a cool program for the Center for Rural Affairs (http://www.cfra.org) which aims to help match young people who want to be farmers with older farmers who don’t have obvious heirs to the family farm tradition. (Think about it: what other normal career besides farming pretty much requires a family connection of some kind to get started?) Three, it would be nice to see more widespread support for a country-of-origin food labeling program in the United States. Why does the government require T-shirts to be labled as “made in china” but not grocery store beef to be labled “raised in Argentina” or “Raised in Nebraska”? Consumers can’t make educated decisions about their fresh food choices because beef is not labeled. My father is a rancher in Nebraska on land that has been cared for and about for more than 100 years in our family. He has been focusing on the grass-fed beef market because grass-fed beef is leaner and better for people and more sustainably produced. I would like it if people could go to the store and knowingly choose beef personally raised by ranchers like my dad rather than shipped over long distances generating ghg’s, pollution, etc. from Argentina. Without labels, consumers can’t make educated choices. Fourth, I disagree with the author’s implication that family farms are only proper if they also grow fruits and vegetables. Obviously not every region has climate, weather or water supplies to grow fruits and vegetables or the labor to harvest and clean them. There is still a need for corn, wheat and soybean commodities grown in the U.S., so while some states may be better suited for corn crops or cattle ranches, others will be better suited for apple orchards and vineyards. I think the larger issue is let’s just support agriculture locally and nationally when possible, support family farmers and the family farm way of life, and provide more support/incentives for people to pursue farming/ranching/food production as careers. Otherwise we risk becoming dependent on foreign sources for food, just like we are dependent on foreign oil supplies. Family-run farms and ranches are a national resource and treasure that should be nurtured and protected.
The lack of young farmers in the US is certainly not surprising. When you consider the average hourly wage of a farmer and farm worker being unregulated in most states and often far below the minimum wage standard, its no wonder our youth don’t want to get involved, especially with our culture’s focus on monetary gain. However there are plenty of people out in the fields at this very moment who know how to make our farms function, they are the farm workers. Most of these people are minorities, often living out of a car or overcrowded housing unit without job security, health insurance or enough income to do much more than survive, let alone aspire to own and operate their own farming operation. Yes, many of these people are undocumented immigrants, but without them we would have a very different food culture. I believe that the knowledge, willingness and mass of people needed to populate the next generation of diversified farms is already out there farming, but they are being held in economic oppression. Not necessarily by the farm owner, or the consumer, or the government that is suppose to regulate the humaneness of working situations, but by all of them. If fair wages, health insurance, benefits, and more education were provided to our farm workers, we might have a massive population of people in the agricultural sector jumping to start their own local farming operations. Unfortunately, fair wages and insurance for farm laborers is very rarely proposed or discussed when it comes to organics, local or sustainably produced food, largely because no one, not even the “foodies” of the US, want to pay that kind of money for food.
This is an excellent article, but it fails to make one critical point. The “greening” of the food industry is not only about eating locally and switching to organic products. Fundamentally, it is about limiting our meat and dairy intake. Animal farming is the least efficient use of agricultural land, be it organic, free range, grass-fed, or what have you. The United Nations has acknowledged that animal farming is the world’s single largest contributor to global warming (even more than transportation).
Switching to organic and locally grown foods is a great start, but much more substantial environmental benefits can be realized if a majority of consumers eschew animal products most of the time.
I loved it when you said that family farms were once diverse, growing hay, oats, corn, fruits, and vegetables, and featuring a woodlot and numerous fencerows.We just bought a farm which is not yet developed. We decided to apply for farm insurance for peace of mind. We will be considering your post as a guide.
COMMENTS
BY Som Karamchetty, PHD
ON June 9, 2008 04:16 PM
It is amazing to note from this article the enormous amount of fuel used in transporting food. It is reasonable to expect food to be shipped to cities from their surrounding rural areas. But moving food between rural areas to rural areas should be minimized. There is need for a rigorous analysis and for seeking solutions. Our food technology laboratories should look for ways to retain nutritional value in processed foods. The author alluded to “leached chemicals find their way into our rivers and streams.” Perhaps, our soil scientists may be able to devise containment technologies somewhat similar to those provided in municipal solid and hazardous waste sites so that these chemicals are contained and recovered for reuse. As the developing world adopts the technological successes of the US in the food production field and urban development, it is important that we provide good pointers so that the lessons are learned before mistakes are repeated.
BY David Katz
ON June 10, 2008 11:21 AM
Its nice that Bruce Boyd is so concerned about our food system but he is way off in his suggestions for rebuilding our food systems. At its core the production and distribution of food is an economic activity and is largely market driven. There is no way to get around this. The tired old suggestions that consumer education, re-training of farmers, and farmers markets will make a difference have no basis in reality - unfornunate but true. Farmers knoiw how to farm, they don’t need training to use organic methods - they need economic incentives. If you want a new food system, then change the U.S. farm bill that distorts farm prices, tax pesticides, or subsidize targeted crops, then farmers will change their farming activities. With 75% of the world’s population in cities within 20 yrs. farmers markets don’t offer any real option for significant change. In fact, the energy cost of moving food to farmers markets is higher per unit of food sold than that of large scale transport in huge trucks over long distances. The biggest single impact of changing the farm system to local production from smaller farms will be greatly increased food prices. Overall, this is a good thing but we will need a much larger social safety net and we will make large producers very rich.
BY SG Hock
ON August 7, 2008 05:18 PM
Great article and comments. Some thoughts: Organic, nice as it may be, is less important that local. Local farmers who are responsible but not meeting the rigid standards of organic are more sustainable. Further, re-learning the idea of seasonal production is the consumer education we need. Local doesn’t have to mean small farms. In Pennsylvania, agriculture is our number 1 industry but only 1% of that is produce or orchards. Changing the economic incentives to farm more food directly for people to eat (and not just secondarily through meat or dairy), including a better wholesale system as Katz suggests, energy taxes and reducing sprawl to save farmland close to markets will go a long way towards food security.
BY Dr Christine James
ON August 7, 2008 05:37 PM
A number of small towns in Australia are changing their farming practices, starting farmers markets and by-passing the big multi-national companies. In a country with severe drought problems, bushfires and soil erosion, the large scale beef and dairy farming practices have to be stopped. Not only do they contribute to global warming, they operate outside any humane codes of practice. Cows are milked untill their udders bleed. They have their tails cut off and are proded with electric rods to get them to move. Calves are removed immediately from their mothers causing distress. A calf under 35 kilos is killed for dog food. If people knew how these animals are treated they would never buy the products. I live next to a 600 acre dairy farm that uses so many chemicals on the land that my dam turns green. My dogs are not allowed on the grass because they get burning feet. These chemicals get into the rivers and the water table. Almost every farmer in the area where I live has had cancer. An international effort is needed to stop these practices and we have no time to spare.
BY Blueskyone
ON August 7, 2008 07:51 PM
A couple of comments: One, there is very little federal support for actual FAMILY farmers. Congress needs to stop delivering huge subsidies to corporate farms run by people who have no real connection to preserving their land for generations to come and just want to squeeze out every dollar, regardless of how things like overfertilizing harms land. Two, there needs to be more incentives for young people to WANT to farm. Most national media and entertainment venues stereotype farmers as dumb kids who can’t do anything else, which for anyone who actually grew up on a farm like me is total nonsense. Also, with the cost of land, fuel, supplies, etc. it is nearly impossible for any young person to become a family farmer if they have no family farm connections. Check out a cool program for the Center for Rural Affairs (http://www.cfra.org) which aims to help match young people who want to be farmers with older farmers who don’t have obvious heirs to the family farm tradition. (Think about it: what other normal career besides farming pretty much requires a family connection of some kind to get started?) Three, it would be nice to see more widespread support for a country-of-origin food labeling program in the United States. Why does the government require T-shirts to be labled as “made in china” but not grocery store beef to be labled “raised in Argentina” or “Raised in Nebraska”? Consumers can’t make educated decisions about their fresh food choices because beef is not labeled. My father is a rancher in Nebraska on land that has been cared for and about for more than 100 years in our family. He has been focusing on the grass-fed beef market because grass-fed beef is leaner and better for people and more sustainably produced. I would like it if people could go to the store and knowingly choose beef personally raised by ranchers like my dad rather than shipped over long distances generating ghg’s, pollution, etc. from Argentina. Without labels, consumers can’t make educated choices. Fourth, I disagree with the author’s implication that family farms are only proper if they also grow fruits and vegetables. Obviously not every region has climate, weather or water supplies to grow fruits and vegetables or the labor to harvest and clean them. There is still a need for corn, wheat and soybean commodities grown in the U.S., so while some states may be better suited for corn crops or cattle ranches, others will be better suited for apple orchards and vineyards. I think the larger issue is let’s just support agriculture locally and nationally when possible, support family farmers and the family farm way of life, and provide more support/incentives for people to pursue farming/ranching/food production as careers. Otherwise we risk becoming dependent on foreign sources for food, just like we are dependent on foreign oil supplies. Family-run farms and ranches are a national resource and treasure that should be nurtured and protected.
BY Aaron Gilliam
ON August 8, 2008 09:48 AM
The lack of young farmers in the US is certainly not surprising. When you consider the average hourly wage of a farmer and farm worker being unregulated in most states and often far below the minimum wage standard, its no wonder our youth don’t want to get involved, especially with our culture’s focus on monetary gain. However there are plenty of people out in the fields at this very moment who know how to make our farms function, they are the farm workers. Most of these people are minorities, often living out of a car or overcrowded housing unit without job security, health insurance or enough income to do much more than survive, let alone aspire to own and operate their own farming operation. Yes, many of these people are undocumented immigrants, but without them we would have a very different food culture. I believe that the knowledge, willingness and mass of people needed to populate the next generation of diversified farms is already out there farming, but they are being held in economic oppression. Not necessarily by the farm owner, or the consumer, or the government that is suppose to regulate the humaneness of working situations, but by all of them. If fair wages, health insurance, benefits, and more education were provided to our farm workers, we might have a massive population of people in the agricultural sector jumping to start their own local farming operations. Unfortunately, fair wages and insurance for farm laborers is very rarely proposed or discussed when it comes to organics, local or sustainably produced food, largely because no one, not even the “foodies” of the US, want to pay that kind of money for food.
BY Che Green
ON August 11, 2008 03:29 PM
This is an excellent article, but it fails to make one critical point. The “greening” of the food industry is not only about eating locally and switching to organic products. Fundamentally, it is about limiting our meat and dairy intake. Animal farming is the least efficient use of agricultural land, be it organic, free range, grass-fed, or what have you. The United Nations has acknowledged that animal farming is the world’s single largest contributor to global warming (even more than transportation).
Switching to organic and locally grown foods is a great start, but much more substantial environmental benefits can be realized if a majority of consumers eschew animal products most of the time.
BY dionne
ON February 10, 2016 07:06 AM
this is amazing and i love how you explain the part of the unheathy food.
BY Jeff Carbine
ON November 30, 2021 05:23 AM
I loved it when you said that family farms were once diverse, growing hay, oats, corn, fruits, and vegetables, and featuring a woodlot and numerous fencerows.We just bought a farm which is not yet developed. We decided to apply for farm insurance for peace of mind. We will be considering your post as a guide.