Where to Begin?

Last fall Rebecca and I tabled at Conway's Eco Fest. Next to us was a representative of the Farm Bureau, so I went over to ask him questions about who they were and what they did. The answer I remember the most was when I asked him whether they represented organic farmers, or just conventional ones? "We represent everybody," he replied, "the only rule is you can't say your product is any better than anyone elses'." I rarely if ever argue with people I've just met, so I let this stunner pass. But what a statement! Right there is encapsulated the single largest problem with our food system. If you're reading this, please, take just a moment to thank the stars or whatever deity you believe in that the Ag People are Not in charge of anything else! In a way, we are blessed that they have only messed up agriculture. Think for a moment what would happen if they were in charge of, say, the Auto Industry. No car could be advertised as better than any other car! A $15,000 Ford would be required to be advertised as "Just the same" as a $70,000 BMW. You couldn't say that one car was faster, had better handling, safety features, gas mileage, features, or anything. They'd all have to be "the same". And then what? Well, it'd decimate the market for better, and more expensive, cars. There would be no way for manufacturers to be rewarded for increasing safety, or handling, or gas mileage, because they couldn't advertise it! So we'd end up with a race to the bottom. Pretty soon most of us would probably be driving around heavy old clunkers that got 10 miles to the gallon and fell apart every other week. That's pretty much what's happened to the agriculture industry.

And we want to change it. We believe in change by doing. We believe sustainable, natural food is better. We believe it looks better, tastes better, and is healthier. We believe we can raise good food while building soil instead of destroying it. We believe we can cool the earth instead of heating it. We believe we can trap carbon out of the atmosphere instead of releasing it. We believe we can clean the water instead of poisoning it. We believe we can do just about everything better than the conventional agriculture industry, and heal the earth while doing so, instead of destroying it. We can raise crops and livestock without petroleum-derived fertilizer.

We (or at least I) believe than in 50 years modern agriculture will be as dead as the dinosaurs. Because it can't survive without readily available petroleum. Period. And the end of oil is inevitable. Period. Soon. Period. And then what? There is no choice. We can produce our food sustainably and naturally. We can. We have to. No one is saying it's going to be easy.