The Farms and Food Debate
Last week,
The Los Angles Times ran an op-ed that should be of interest to all those involved in the countless farm and food related debates happening across the nation.
Titled “The Facts about Food and Farming,” the piece is an excellent examination of the farm policy debate that is useful for thoughtful people whether they come at issues from a conventional agriculture viewpoint, or those who advocate for a different production model.
By laying down a few ground rules for these debates, author Russ Parson identifies the pitfalls of both sides and shows that real reform will only be achieved by constructive conversations, not finger-pointing. He states,
“But the issues we're facing are not going to go away, and they are too important to be left to the ideologues. What I'd like to see happen in the next decade is a more constructive give-and-take, the start of a true conversation”
Russ is right. Farm and food issues are not going away. In fact, they are becoming increasingly urgent—and complex. The positive side of this development is the growing number of people becoming involved in these issues. The downside is that many of these people have already decided what they believe is right and are not willing to openly engage, listen, or much less compromise.
But it is compromise and constructive conversations that we need the most. Just as “issues facing agriculture today are much more complicated than lining up behind labels such as ‘local’ and ‘organic,’” it is also true that many new ideas are needed to meet the new challenges we face. Or as Parson says:
"Just because you've always farmed a certain way does not mean that you are owed the right to continue farming that way in the future…. What's past is past. Over the last 50 years, American farmers performed an agricultural miracle, all but eliminating hunger as a serious health issue in this country. But that battle has been won, and though those gains must be maintained, the demands of today -- developing a system that delivers flavor as well as quantity and does it in an environmentally friendly way --are different.”
Everyone eats; therefore everyone (whether they are interested or not) is affected by farm and food policy. At AFT, we have worked hard to be the vital link between the diverse interests debating the issues surrounding those policy decisions. Celebrating our 30
th year in 2010, and having worked on six federal farm bills, we know that real change happens when you bring diverse groups together and find solutions that highlight the best of all parties. And it comes from real action, like continued work on
improving the ;
creating demonstration projects that show farmers can manage nutrients without hurting their bottom line;
building conservation markets that reward farmers for their stewardship and provide new streams of income;
keeping farmers economically viable, and enhancing the local and regional food infrastructure in foodsheds across the nation. And of course, at the core of our mission:
developing the federal and local tools that protect our nation’s most precious resource, our working farm and ranch land.
In short, there is too much effort ahead to begin every conversation with yelling and shouting. For AFT at least, 2010 will be a year for constructive engagement designed to achieve meaningful action…or, as Mr. Parson says in his article’s tag-line:
“Let's not join one of the armed camps deeply suspicious of one another shouting past each other.”
Read Russ’ full article,
The Facts About Food and Farming
About the author: Dennis Nuxoll is Senior Director of Government Relations for American Farmland Trust
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Need more biodiesel made from chicken,hog,etc., waste products. That way the food supply would not be interrupted! Need much more farming in Tennessee! Need more leaders to help!
Please just know that there are more than a few who are concerned about sustainable farming practices. Of course we want the local farmers to flourish, but consumers have great fears about pesticide use, GMO usage (just because a chemical company says it’s okay doesn’t mean it is!) and a preference for organic produce and organically/humanely raised food animals.
You called for communication…just one person’s opinion…but there you have it
I’m not a farmer, just a consumer interested in what I eat, where it came from and how it’s raised. I applaud all farmers who strive for quality not just quantity and consider themselves stewards of the environment.
Would the government consider subsidizing farmers in ways that reduce the risks they see with converting to organic farming (like the cost of feed, for example)? That way consumers could pay a fair price to the farmers, for providing an ETHICALLY PRODUCED product, NOT one that is CONTAMINATING OUR HOME and poisoning our people.
No matter you religion or moral doctrine, how can we think it is OK to permit the use of these lethal chemicals?
I know our country was not founded on socialism, but just as we have ok’d MediCare and MedicAid, I am sure many would support a form of socialism that helps our domestic farmers, our earth, and our lives.
I agree with Joan. My preferred order of getting produce – 1) my backyard, grown organically, 2)seasonal, locally grown organics, 3)seasonal, locally grown not organic, 4) organic from far off, 5) the occasional thing we just can’t grow in MI, or in season in MI. As with energy policies, or economics (I think we learned this lesson the VERY hard way in the Detroit area!), we just can’t put all our eggs in one basket anymore. It just isn’t safe. And, as with energy and economics, diverse, SAFE and SUSTAINABLE seem to me to be the words/concepts we should focus on.
The whole system is groaning under the toxic load. The nitrogen, the cides and genetic contamina have poluted soil, water. air, animals and indead all life is perishing. The larger creatures are in pain.
In view of this, in view peak oil, and climate warming, it is time to begin giving serious thought to outlawing agriculture as we know it. It is being done and farmers need to be prepared -to be thinking about the consequences of doing it or not doing it.
Mechanically undisturbed soils are the only soils that are maintained and improved. We are applying herbicides to our woodlands and grasslands this is a practice that must be stopped.
This may be too naively sanguine a take on agriculture policy. The fact is that the big commodity buyers and food processors share none of the values that the writer articulates, and that most Americans share. They have a fundamentally amoral set of policy needs that care nothing for their impact human or ecological health. ADM, Cargill, Kraft, General Mills, Coca-Cola, and so forth are the legalized moral equivalent of drug dealers – it is not their concern what impact their products have; only that Americans are encouraged, even compelled via chemical addiction, to purchase the maximum amount. Their business model requires the individuals who work in these companies to willfully treat the outside world as a kind of game-platform virtual reality, without true moral standing. These companies must be confronted in the most stark, plain terms available, not benignly ignored while we carve out unoffensive, unobtrusive boutique sectors for farmers’ markets and grass-fed beef.
I absolutely agree with Joan. I will not support any farm bill that erodes sustainable and organic farming, in fact I will fight against it.
It has already been proved beyond question that organic/sustainable methods produce more nutrient rich and safer foods. Chemical farming depletes the soil as well as distributes insecticides throughout the food chain.
As for GMO foods, there is NOBODY who can say what effect these products will have had in another 20 years or so. They already show damaging effect to researchers other than those bought or paid for by the GMO manufacturers.
Joan and Lisa said it: Go Quality, Go Local.
Vegetables eaten on the East Coast need to be produced in NY and surrounding states, not trucked-in from the San Joaquin Valley. Do it this way and two issues — California’s water supply and jobs producing healthy food –are remedied.
Educate [to end] ‘all-you-can-eat’ restaurants/buffets.
We are having our produce coming from Mexico here in Arizona. When I lived in Northern Cali, the produce was “awesome”! Came back to Az and the produce is less quality and after the salmonella scare? Americans want food grown in AMERICA, but all of the corporations ( that AMERICANS made whom they are) betrayed them and sent their jobs out for slavery workers, and non-regulated pesticides/poisons and pollutions. It is “Poisonous Garbage” the food they sale us less quality for MORE money, as is ALL of the products they send to us from their slavery, child slaves, abuse, poisonous, pollutant factorys/farms.
Excellent reply, Joan. I’m with you – sustainable farm practices, organic food, no GMO’s, and humanely raised animals!
[...] The Western Farm Press highlighted an editorial by Los Angeles Times food editor Russ Parsons that called for a “more constructive give-and-take” between farmers and developers. Our own Dennis Nuxoll penned a response to Parson’ article last month in the Farmland Report- read it here. [...]
it is still better to adhere on organic farming because the fruits and vegetables does not contain those harmful chemicals.~*”