Home » Posts tagged 'food' (Page 17)
Tag Archives: food
Government of Venezuela Forces Farmers to Hand Over Food
Government of Venezuela Forces Farmers to Hand Over Food
The government of Venezuela is playing Monopoly, but it isn’t the kind with those little plastic hotels.
They’re controlling essential goods like food, and putting the retail establishments of the country out of business.
According to a UK Telegraph report, the government is now forcing farmers and food manufacturers to sell anywhere from 30-100% of their products to the state, as opposed to stores and supermarkets.
There’s a pattern in collapses around the world
As countries around the world collapse, it’s very important that we take note of the ways that governments take steps to control their people. While no two countries have exactly the same situations, there are some very distinct patterns that we can identify, and this can help us to prepare for a similar scenario if it were to happen in the United States.
Products are already nearly impossible to acquire in Venezuela, with their mindblowing 64% inflation rate, and now those supplies will be even more limited.
There are 7245 government-run stores, mostly in cities. There are more than 113,000 privately owned stores. What are the ramifications of this?
- The government will control the prices
- The government will control the dispersal of the goods
- If you don’t live in the city, you may still be forced to go there to acquire supplies
- The already day-long lines to purchase goods will get even longer
Venezuela has made preparedness illegal, with strict laws against “hoarding,” and they’ve even instituted a fingerprint registry for the purchase of food and supplies, so that no one can quietly stock up for the future. Meanwhile, the government of Venezuela vehemently denies there are any problems whatsoever while simultaneously rationing electricity.
You must prepare ahead of time
We’ve all heard that quote about controlling the people through controlling the food. It’s happened in many government takeovers, including the Holodomor in the Ukraine and the communist takeover of China. Once the government takes over the distribution from the farms, it only goes downhill from there. (In my book, The Pantry Primer, I discuss several government-instigated famines in more detail.)
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Gift of the Maya
The Gift of the Maya
It takes a bit of time for the elegance of a food forest to emerge, something on the order of decades. Strolling the garden through the morning mist in a hot Tennessee summer, we tried to remember what this landscape looked like 21 years ago, when we moved to this site, set up our yurt and started in on our little corner of paradise.
What we see today does not remotely resemble what was here then. Then there was a wire-fenced, stony horse paddock in a re-emerging poplar forest. The deep soil tilth now is blanketed in thick vines, their giant leaves hiding pumpkins, squashes and melons. Bamboo cathedrals twined with akebia and passionfruit arch 70 feet (20 meters) over a duck pond next to our cob henhouse. As we let out our poultry for their daily bug chase, bullfrogs croak and leap away. A snapping turtle submerges beneath the mat of duckweed and hyacinths at the water’s edge. All around us figs, peaches, apples, pears, blueberries, cranberries, cherries, plums and persimmons bend down boughs under the weight of their fruit, rabbits stealing out to grab a windfall and then hop back to cover, while high up in the oaks, beech, butternuts and hickories, squirrel forest wardens check the progress of their winter larder.
All this complexity, shrouded in mist and glistening in dew, would not be called orderly by farmers trained in Ag schools or raised in a tradition of straight rows and powerful machines with air-conditioned cabs. They can pump food from the earth the way you would pump barrels of oil, but not without depleting reserves accumulated over eons. As they pour on chemicals, the genetically monocultured crops gradually but inexorably lose nutrient density and attract predators.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Gleaning: an ancient custom that may return in the future
Gleaning women in Italy in 1930 (image source). The ancient peasant society had found in gleaning an elegant and efficient way to optimize the management of low-yield resources.
Gleaning is an ancient tradition, deeply embedded in the agricultural world. In the past, it was common practice that the poor were given access to the grain fields after the harvest, so that they could collect the spikelets left on the ground by the harvesters. It wasn’t done just with grain, but with all kinds of agricultural products: fruit, olives, chestnuts, and more. Whatever was left after the first pass was for the poor and for the destitute to collect.
Gleaning was so important in the past rural societies that it was even sacred. We read in the Bible that God explicitly ordered to owners to give to the poor a chance to glean in their fields. And the origin of David’s lineage in the biblical tradition is related to gleaning, as described in the story of Ruth, a poor Moabite girl who married the owner of the fields where she gleaned. Other religions do not have such explicit references to gleaning, but most of them convey the idea that the rich should partake with the poor what they don’t need. For instance, a similar sharing command from God can be found in the Islamic tradition directed to water.
Gleaning remained a fundamental feature of rural societies until recent times; it is still done, occasionally (as you can see in this movie), but it has lost importance with the onrushing growth of the industrial society. It is not considered sacred anymore; on the contrary, the suspension of the property rights associated with gleaning is often seen as subversive in a world that emphasizes fenced private property and strictly regulated activities. In some cases, it was specifically prohibited, as in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. That was a terrible mistake that aggravated the famine known as the “holodomor” in Ukraine.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Foodroom Gardening: No Rows, No Woes
Foodroom Gardening: No Rows, No Woes
As I battle mud and mosquitoes in this wet year, in the wallow that used to be our garden, I think faraway, crazy thoughts. I keep trying to imagine a future time when all human beings would be responsible for their basic food necessities just as they are responsible for their own bodily cleanliness and cooking meals. Could every home have a sort of foodroom adjoining the bathroom, where the basic yearly food could be produced? Ideally there would be a composting bin or two, plus a cistern or rain barrel to catch water, all geared to take no more time than a daily shower, shave, teeth brushing, and hair combing.
The first thing that would have to disappear to save space would be garden rows. Have you ever thought about how stupid rows are? Rows came into existence to accommodate machine and human traffic. Without them, a garden can produce twice the amount of plants or more. My imaginary foodroom would be elevated even more than raised beds, walled up so I could sit or stand next to it on either side and accomplish all planting and weeding comfortably by hand. Weeding would be done with a trowel from a standing or sitting position. Gone would be all the primitive backbreaking bending over that makes gardening by hand so tiresome. Once a plant produces its food, it could be pulled out and another started in its place. Elderly people could go on gardening until they were a hundred years old and never once have to get down and crawl along like I do now. Kids would be more easily cajoled into the work because you could describe it to them as merely playing in the dirt, like a sandbox. Adults who like office work would see the garden bed was just another desk.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Shaun Chamberlin on the Ecological Land Coop.
Shaun Chamberlin on the Ecological Land Coop.
Food is an issue that galvanizes so many Transition communities, but many of the classic Transition activities around food, like Landshare and Abundance projects, are to some extent ways of making the best of the ever-shrinking space available for ecological growing. Nothing wrong with that, but it meant I was rather excited when – via a post on the Transition Network site in 2011 – I discovered the fledgling Ecological Land Co-operative working on a model for actually reclaimingland from industrialized agriculture and making it available to local, small-scale agroecology and permaculture projects. I quickly got involved, and was elected as a director in the summer of 2012.
Apple Nursery
Since then we’ve delivered three new ecological smallholdings into the hands of eager growers, and plan to reach twenty-five(!) new holdings in the next five years, and then spread from there, influencing planning policy as we go.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Is another way possible?
Is another way possible?
A roundup of news, views and ideas from the mainstream press and the blogosphere. Click on the headline link to see the full article.
Urban Gardening in Greece – a New Form of Protest
Orestes Kolokouris, Green European Journal
Guerrilla gardening and local consumer-producer networks are redefining life in today’s Greek cities. While the crisis has shifted politicians’ attention away from the climate, “transition and recovery movements” work hard to keep the environment on the agenda.
—
… Environmental politics were never well developed in Greece, but in the last years before the economic crisis the Greek environmental movement has had a short “renaissance”. First, there was the movement against the Olympic Games, which helped reinforce other local urban movements fighting to reclaim public spaces for societal use. Secondly, the massive series of forest fires in 2007 led to an increased public awareness about the causes and effects of global warming, which then led to the creation of new environmental grassroots movements (e.g. Green Attack, Bloggers, Guerrilla Gardeners etc.), and the reinforcement of the Greek Green Party that gained an MEP in the 2009 European elections. This in turn has led to the “greening” of the public discourse of other political parties (mainly Pasok and Syriza). Finally, the Greek riots of December 2008 and the participating youth movements have led to the creation of new social experiments around the social and solidarity economy, this involves the so called “transition and recovery movements” (movements aiming to transform economical activities and every-day life rather than to protest and reclaim changes from the authorities) or the theory of degrowth.
… Urban agriculture essentially did not exist until very recently in Greece. Its rapid development coincides with the rapid deterioration of living standards in Greek society in recent years due to the deep crisis. But it roots can be traced back to a few years earlier: to the first years of the 21st century, when small libertarian and alternative and ecological circles decided to experiment with this way of life.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
No scientific evidence of GM food safety
No scientific evidence of GM food safety
It is “premature” to declare GM safe due to “incomplete” scientific knowledge, finds report commissioned by Norwegian Environment Agency
A new study commissioned by the Norwegian government, and conducted by a nationally recognised scientific authority on the safety of biotechnologies, concludes that available scientific data on GM crops is inadequate to prove their safety.
The scientific report was commissioned by the Norwegian Environment Agency and completed last year, before being publicly released in June by the Genok Centre for Biosafety, located in the Arctic University of Norway. The Genok Centre is a nationally-designated centre of competence on biosafety issues.
Absence of evidence
The new study analyses a dossier by giant agribusiness conglomerate, Monsanto, submitted to the Brazilian government, and also conducts a comprehensive review of the available scientific literature from other sources.
Its focus is on Monsanto’s GM soybean Intacta Roundup Ready 2 Pro, which is grown in Brazil, and also authorised in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, and probably also present in Bolivia due to illegal introductions from neighbouring countries.
The report, titled ‘Sustainability Assessment of Genetically Modified Herbicide Tolerant Crops’ concludes that due to major gaps in the scientific literature, it is not possible to give a scientific verdict on their safety. Monsanto’s dossier, the report concludes, demonstrates a range of methodological weaknesses, and highlights the problem of incomplete information and research on GM crops in the available literature.
According to Monsanto, genetically modified organisms do not harm human or animal health, and therefore do not have any adverse effects on crops and the environment.
But according to the new Norwegian study:
“Contrary to this assertion, the literature provides indications of harmful and adverse effects to the environment and to health (both animal and human), as well as to socio-economic conditions, particularly over the medium- and long-term.”
The new study is authored by Georgina Catacora-Vargas, a researcher at the Agroecology Centre (AGRUCO) at the Faculty of Agricultural, Livestock and Forestry Sciences, University Mayor de San Simon, Cochabamba, Bolivia. Catacora-Vargas was until recently technical biosafety advisor at Bolivia’s Vice-Ministry of Environment, Water and Forestry Management.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
City Region Food Systems – Part IIIA – Scale and Production Strategy
City Region Food Systems – Part IIIA – Scale and Production Strategy
This is the first of a two-part blog looking at scale and production strategy. In this piece I analyze critiques of smaller scale and alternative production strategies from several angles. In the second I will discuss problems inherent in the argument that small scale can feed the U.S. population and consider a middle path of scale and production diversity. As in the previous posts (Part I, Part II) – I invite your comments, suggestions, and criticisms.
My analysis of this derives from my thinking over the last twenty years as well as engagement in a broad range of food system localization efforts. Early in the noughts I gave a conference plenary talk and made the following statement:
“I’d like to live in a food system in which I know where a significant percentage of my food comes from, not necessarily all of it … I’d like to know that the production, processing, distribution, and waste were done in an environmentally sensitive manner. I’d like to know that the democratic principles upon which this nation (U.S.) was founded are made stronger and not weakened through consolidation and monopolization. I’d like to know that the farmers who grow our food are honored as heroes and not marginalized as commodity producers. I would like to know that every person and consumer working in the food system has the opportunity to reach their potential and is not limited by less than living-wage jobs, poor nutrition, and substandard education. I would like a food system in which food is a right and working honestly is a responsibility.”
That still resonates with me and is the starting point for much of my thinking. It is also at odds with the notion that the only way to ‘feed the world’ is by large scale, conventional, commodity-driven agriculture. It is also at odds with the notion that we can continue consuming an average U.S. diet that is so at odds with eating patterns that are both healthier for people and the environment.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Bill McKibben: The Planet’s Future Depends On Distributed Systems
Bill McKibben: The Planet’s Future Depends On Distributed Systems
One of the best ways to address climate change
To environmental activist Bill McKibben, it’s all about math. The planet has warmed 1 degree Celsius over the past few decades and is on track to rise another 4 to 5 before the end of the century. An increase of this magnitude is simply too much for the ecosystems we depend on to adapt to that quickly.
Much of the observed warming is due to the fossil hydrocarbons humans burn for energy and industry. McKibben predicts, whether by foresight or necessity, new sustainable energy and agricultural systems will emerge that will drastically reduce the greenhouse impact our modern lifestyle is having on the planet. These will be revolutionary not just for their “greenness”, but also because they will be distributed — disrupting the monolithic control of the current large energy and food producers:
In the late 80’s when I wrote the first book about all of this, we knew trouble was coming. The basic science is not that difficult: with its molecular structure, more CO2 is gong to trap heet that would otherwise radiate back out to space. What we didn’t know was how fast that trouble was coming or really on what scale.
Unfortunately, in the quarter century since, what we’ve learned is that this is happening harder and faster than we would of thought. 25 years ago, no scientist would have thought that at this point we would have melted most of the summer sea ice in the Arctic — they would have said that’s still 50 or 75 years off. No one would have even bothered to really measuring the PH of the oceans, because we didn’t think we could substantially alter something that vast. Certainly, no one would have worried that, as we learned about a year ago, the West Larsen Antarctic ice sheet seems now to be fundamentally destabilized and beginning its slide into the southern ocean. And I think no one would of guessed the degree to which we’ve seen perturbations of the hydrological cycle, the way that water moves around the planet.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Agriculture beyond water
Agriculture beyond water
Drought is becoming more prevalent and causing havoc for food producers around the globe. Many regions have been hit by severe water scarcity over the past few years and this trend seems set to continue.
New data from NASA shows how the world is running out of water, with more than half of the earth’s largest aquifers being depleted. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that by 2020, upwards of half a billion people worldwide will be facing water stress, while US scientists are predicting an historic mega-drought unless we reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. But droughts don’t only mean a shortage of water, they also lead to a shortage of food. With many farmers already experiencing crop failures, what can be done to ensure a sustainable food supply and avoid a food security crisis?
Below are just a few examples of what is happening around the world right now, and gives an indication of the scale of the problem.
California
California is in the midst of a devastating four-year drought. It follows a decade of below average rainfalls and all indications are that this is set to continue. In addition, groundwater sources are being drained by deeper and deeper drilling. An aquifer beneath the Central Valley is now being tapped by more than 100,000 wells. Measures have been brought in to curtail consumption and some farmers have agreed to cut water use voluntarily by 25% in order to avoid further restrictions. But is California doing enough?New laws forcing water agencies to prevent overuse of groundwater have a planning period of six to eight years and a much longer period before meaningful action will take place – by which time there may be little groundwater left.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
An American Civil War Means Food Riots and Starvation
An American Civil War Means Food Riots and Starvation
One of the consequences of an American civil war would be a worldwide food shortage for many years. The disruption of the agricultural sector of the American economy during a nationwide war would virtually eliminate the tons of food exported to other nations from the U.S. A large percentage of these exports are grain that keeps many third world nations stable and peaceful.
Any national chaos would disable the system of seed production that allows farmers to plant the millions of acres in the U.S. It would also disable the production and distribution of fuels and fertilizers that farmers depend on to plant, grow and harvest.
The only way the food production system would continue operating is if the government or a corporate entity seized control of the large tracts of farmland in the Midwest and continued to operate them. Given the executive orders now on the books this is always a possibility. It is also likely that if that happened, food would be used as a weapon against those areas of the country in rebellion against government rule.
Some in the U.S. would possibly continue to eek out an existence on locally grown products but the vast majority of the country and the countries that depend on the surplus grain would either have to find another source or starve. Growing any food in the U.S. under those conditions would be very difficult and very dangerous. That is the main reason individuals must have ample supplies laid in for chaos that lasts for several years.
Even if a person does not have the financial means to store several years worth of regular meals, they can store some of the basics that will allow them to get by along with any fresh produce they are able to scavenge off the land. That may sound like a very extreme case but we are likely headed for unprecedented times and nothing should be taken for granted.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Joel Salatin: The Pursuit Of Food Freedom
Joel Salatin: The Pursuit Of Food Freedom
A right worth fighting for
Sustainable farming activist Joel Salatin and author of Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal returns this week to talk about the importance of a basic human right: to choose what to eat.
In past podcasts, he’s described the challenges facing farmers who want to grow organically. This week, he sheds light on the additional challenges consumers face in getting access to quality produce and meats.
The bottom line is our industrial system (or, as Joel puts it, the “fraternity”) seeks to protect itself and its existing revenue streams. Research is commissioned to discredit the claimed benefits of organic farming. FDA nutrition guidelines favor the mono-crops grown by factory farms, despite mounting evidence these guidelines are not in the public health’s interest. Pesticides and herbicides are used in ever-greater amounts. Distribution infrastructure doesn’t enable small-scale delivery trucks (which most organic farms use) to plug into it. For those not living in an area concentrated with small farms, being able to identify and purchase healthy food options is difficult.
Joel recommends we elevate “food freedom” to the same status as we demand for other core personal liberties like public safety and legal equality:
We need to celebrate and energize the public to defend the freedom to acquire the food of our choice from the source of our choice. This whole orthodoxy thing we’ve been talking about is militating right now against being able to choose for ourselves the kind of fuel we want for our own bodies. I look at this whole food freedom effort as rectifying something that was missed in the Bill of Rights. We’ve got the right to own a gun, the right to assemble, the right to worship, the right to speak, the right to be secure in our persons without a search warrant. There are all sorts of wonderful rights. But we did not get the right to choose our food.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Food Security: a Hostage to Wall Street
Food Security: a Hostage to Wall Street
Imperialism and the Control of Agriculture
Family farming should indeed be celebrated because it really does feed the world. This claim is supported by a 2014 report by GRAIN, which revealed that small farms produce most of the world’s food.
Around 56% of Russia ‘s agricultural output comes from family farms which occupy less than 9% of arable land. These farms produce 90% of the country’s potatoes, 83% of its vegetables, 55% of its of milk, 39% of its meat and 22% of its cereals (Russian Federation Federal State Statistics Services figures for 2011).
In Brazil, 84% of farms are small and control 24% of the land, yet they produce: 87% of cassava, 69% of beans, 67% of goat milk, 59% of pork, 58% of cow milk, 50% of chickens, 46% of maize, 38% of coffee, 33.8% of rice and 30% of cattle.
In Cuba, with 27% of the land, small farmers produce: 98% of fruits, 95% of beans, 80% of maize, 75% of pork, 65% of vegetables, 55% of cow milk, 55% of cattle and 35% of rice (Braulio Machin et al, ANAP-Via Campesina, “Revolucion agroecologica, resumen ejectivo”).
In Ukraine, small farmers operate 16% of agricultural land, but provide 55% of agricultural output, including: 97% of potatoes, 97% of honey, 88% of vegetables, 83% of fruits and berries and 80% of milk (State Statistics Service of Ukraine. “Main agricultural characteristics of households in rural areas in 2011″).
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Hudson Valley Harvest: Transparency is Key to Scaling Local Food
Hudson Valley Harvest is bringing local food to larger markets through its network of small farmers.
The Hudson Valley of New York has a long, rich history of agriculture, and currently boasts more than 5,000 farms that generate upwards of US$500 million in annual revenue. However, despite the regional growth of direct-to-consumer models such as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and farmers markets, small farmers may still struggle to bring their products to larger buyers, such as restaurants, schools, and other institutions.
Hudson Valley Harvest, the leading local food company in the tristate area (New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey), has grown to fill this niche. Paul Alward, a farmer of 10 years, co-founded the company in 2011 with three friends who met at farmers markets in New York. According to Alward, now the chief executive officer of Hudson Valley Harvest, the company “grew organically from the market system.” Embracing transparency, traceability, and sustainability, Hudson Valley Harvest serves food stores such as Whole Foods Market and FreshDirect, and universities such as The New School in New York City.
When asked what a good food system looks like, Alward says, “I think it’s one filled with information. The most effective tool is information. Let the consumers decide.” To this end, the company emphasizes transparent labeling that not only identifies both product and producer, but also includes information on proximity and processing.
Hudson Valley Harvest has grown from about 10 partnerships with farmer friends to more than 50 farms harvesting more than 6,000 acres. Seasonality and year-round availability were big challenges at first, but by embracing technology for frozen foods and reinventing infrastructure, the company has scaled their business model and achieved greater operating efficiency. “We found very early on that, as a start-up, we weren’t built for mainstream stores right away,” says Alward. “[We therefore] went to small independent stores where the owners were present.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
