Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Our practices must return to regenerative methods that work with natural processes, instead of against them. We’ve knocked things so far out of balance that the road back to health will be challenging, but the sooner we get to it, the better.
The heart of the conflict between real solutions and false ones is no different here than with other sectors. The false solutions in each sector are aimed at maintaining current power relations. The real ones are aimed at rescuing ecosystems and leading to a better world for all humans and other life forms.
How could local authorities raise their game and start to shift the balance towards more local food resilience? There are a few pointers towards a more radical approach. One is the way that many have declared climate emergencies and begun to work with citizen groups to find new ways forward.
#BristolFoodKind is a campaign to create a community of acts of kindness through food during the lockdown. This community is sharing practical ideas about how you can buy food, reduce waste and grow from home, in a way that is considerate to yourself and your community at a time of crisis.
Instead of de-coupling human civilization from nature, we need to live in and by nature. We are fooling ourselves and betray the rest of the living by pretending we are a species that doesn’t need the rest of the living – after all we are nature.
So, will the apparition at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel actually represent an oncoming train that heralds the re-establishment of the globalised industrial model? Or might it be the beginnings of a renaissance of food systems which truly serve the public interest?
Once we have emerged out of this crisis, governments around the world need to unlock the barriers to change to create an international trade policy that supports farmers who use environmentally sound practices and provides all people with a healthy and nutrient-rich diet.
But planting hemp and making a living at it can be two different endeavors. My new book American Hemp Farmer blueprints possibilities for independent farmers like myself who’d like to do both, particularly on their own land.
I have been thinking about that time in this current crisis: What does the future post-COVID-19 hold for small farms? Where will the small farm fit into the economy, or, more to the point, which economy will the small farm fit into? Because, like history, an economy ain’t static.
This tiny virus has struck at the core of humanity, exposing our collective flawed behaviours and habits. It has highlighted just how interconnected we all are; how we are not simply individuals but all part of an intricate and delicate ecosystem.
In many respects the pandemic highlights long-standing food problems. If we are to avert not just this food crisis but the next one as well, deeper changes to the current system are needed. We must redesign the relationships between food producers, processors, retailers, and consumers so as to shorten supply chains and create more slack in the system.
Now is a great time to think ahead a little further than tonight’s meal, plan to leave something on the shelf for others, and support our local farmers. I’m making the trip to my favorite pastured farm tomorrow.
