Agricultural Reform in Context
Yes, as in all economic sectors, we have to redefine the mission of the agricultural sector and restructure the resource allocation ways and means, design and implement alternative technologies, distribution channels, and build or renovate and allocate to neighborhood outlets as part of a comprehensive plan and implementation plan.
The fundamental fulcrum is the transition from a Capitalist Economic System to a Cooperative Communitarian One with the basic mission of ecological economic redevelopment for the meeting of all peoples' needs that is inclusive, humane, equitable, altruistic, well-being oriented, and youth oriented (i.e. sustainable) and peaceful.
It can be done, but it will take the largest realization of solidarity that the human species ever. In essence, it will take an intentional evolution of the species to Homa Ecologica Cooperativo.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
Showing posts with label agriculture and food issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label agriculture and food issues. Show all posts
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
AgriBUSINESS
Unless they can mechanize every aspect of the food production process, which of course they can't, they will eventually run out of willing and able workers to do their inhumane production work. It will wither away, the effects on pricing will be just the beginning. There will be no food.
It is not surprising that the attempting to profit-maximize corporate slavers and their servile educational and technological grunts have a total disdain for humanity in any aspect of their agriBUSINESS. They probably operate as loss leaders in highly diversified mega-corporations that falsify their records to show profits that don't and increasingly can't exist, eventually in all sectors of their fictitious entities.
The plight of farmers that you describe does not surprise me. As you ride the bus through Iowa, without exaggeration, one of every three farmsteads is abandoned and that does not count the ones that have been torn down.
Agriculture has always been a form of slavery and like I said, the enslavers will push it to the point of impossibility and we will all starve, unless we freeze first.
Ah, life in the gluttonous Pink Car Nation...
In Peace, Friendwalkin', Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
It is not surprising that the attempting to profit-maximize corporate slavers and their servile educational and technological grunts have a total disdain for humanity in any aspect of their agriBUSINESS. They probably operate as loss leaders in highly diversified mega-corporations that falsify their records to show profits that don't and increasingly can't exist, eventually in all sectors of their fictitious entities.
The plight of farmers that you describe does not surprise me. As you ride the bus through Iowa, without exaggeration, one of every three farmsteads is abandoned and that does not count the ones that have been torn down.
Agriculture has always been a form of slavery and like I said, the enslavers will push it to the point of impossibility and we will all starve, unless we freeze first.
Ah, life in the gluttonous Pink Car Nation...
In Peace, Friendwalkin', Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
Monday, December 21, 2009
From a Discussion of Agriculture
Arable land, has always been precious, and from an anthropocentric view point, at least until our species began gardening and then farming.
However, farmers and farmworkers have been severely mistreated almost since the beginning of that evolution.
I point to Shay's Rebellion as a relatively recent example.
While I agree with your sentimental statement about work hard, love well (mixing oil and water?) and care for ourselves and others, I would reckon that you are just showing your underbelly and are sufficiently knowledgeable and experienced to understand that we must remain truely Cynical, and that in a way we may be damned if we do and damned if we don't concerning the reality that it might take fighting to overcome.
We all should know and understand that fighting just leads to more fighting and any hope of any race or nation that they are the Master Warriors is wrong, both from a perception and a reality.
Extinction comes from many strategies, and we as Homo Sapiens are on a many pathed linear trajectory towards exactly that. It will take nothing short of a conscious evolution of the whole world of men and women to the evolution of Homa Cooperativo to solve this piece and all the others necessary.
We live in a time when it is possible, unlike any time before, to communicate with each other. My sadness comes from the apparent fact that there is too much diffusion and triviality associated with that ability. Also, to restate the extinction claim, we are living in by far the most precarious time in the history of Man.
Much more than likely, the sins of agriBUSINESS will not yield with a simple loving plea. AgriBUSINESS like all the competitive Capitalist pursuits will probably try to run its course of genocide, ecocide, and suicide. As likely, farmers will wither away as their occupation will become so impossible and so distasteful that no one will enter it.
In Peace, Friendwalkin', Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
Friday, November 27, 2009
Land Reform in Venezuela (and Elsewhere?)
Two hundred peasants reported dead in Venezuela, partially because a State Forced (National Guard) Land Reform.
It is almost the opposite of early New England's Shay's Rebellion where the Capitalist backed "Militia" of the States of Massachusetts and Connecticut accompanied by local mercenary thuggery (police) killed and imprisoned farmers who wanted a fair deal and were not getting it.
Brings to mind the Conservatives', partially true (and when so or even not but hysterically propagandized, very virulent) counter to Marx's Labor Theory of Value (which I see as a subset of the French Physiocrats construct that nature is the source of all value). That is, Locke's Labor Theory of Property.
We, as Friends and Socialists should respect such up to the point that some, if not many, of the Capitalist persuasion view money as a tool and not simply (and fairly) a medium of exchange.
It should be very obvious to all that are willing to look on objectively that one of the biggest criticisms of Capitalism is the irrational (and inequitable) ways and means by which it allocates resources.
When there was a virgin landscape to rape, it, Capitalism and its pretensions to the so-called “free market”, to many seemed like the most successful system in the history of man. But, now that we are on the other side of the peak of earthly finite resources, tragically aggravated by the preposterous supply-side experiment (which will be recorded as the over-supply side era blind to the tragic adverse affect on workers’, and eventually owners’, effective demand.), it should be clear to us all that a plan and implement modus operandi is necessary, and that Resource Allocation (RA) be a paramount topic of discussion and action.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
Peoples Equity Union
Eugene, OR, USA
It is almost the opposite of early New England's Shay's Rebellion where the Capitalist backed "Militia" of the States of Massachusetts and Connecticut accompanied by local mercenary thuggery (police) killed and imprisoned farmers who wanted a fair deal and were not getting it.
Brings to mind the Conservatives', partially true (and when so or even not but hysterically propagandized, very virulent) counter to Marx's Labor Theory of Value (which I see as a subset of the French Physiocrats construct that nature is the source of all value). That is, Locke's Labor Theory of Property.
We, as Friends and Socialists should respect such up to the point that some, if not many, of the Capitalist persuasion view money as a tool and not simply (and fairly) a medium of exchange.
It should be very obvious to all that are willing to look on objectively that one of the biggest criticisms of Capitalism is the irrational (and inequitable) ways and means by which it allocates resources.
When there was a virgin landscape to rape, it, Capitalism and its pretensions to the so-called “free market”, to many seemed like the most successful system in the history of man. But, now that we are on the other side of the peak of earthly finite resources, tragically aggravated by the preposterous supply-side experiment (which will be recorded as the over-supply side era blind to the tragic adverse affect on workers’, and eventually owners’, effective demand.), it should be clear to us all that a plan and implement modus operandi is necessary, and that Resource Allocation (RA) be a paramount topic of discussion and action.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
Peoples Equity Union
Eugene, OR, USA
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
With Respect to Food Policy and Programs
Dear AGRA Kenya and AGRA Ghana et al.
As brother/sister communities in a world of potential unity and cooperation dedicated to meeting the needs of people within the confines of a finite planet, I applaud your initiative.
At least one caveat: as we aim to move from industrialized oligarchies and Finance and Market dominated paradigms of Agriculture, so much the colonialist mentality of the "first world", to a world which is free from such domination where local needs are primary and ALL areas strive for relocalization of production and distribution of the food resource (and other necessities), remember the mission and basic principles of inclusion. humanity, equity, quality of life, environmental/public health and wellness, sustainability and peace.
You need to see your initiative as one consistent with a cooperative communitarian/mutualist/socialist world effort to wash off the irrational and self-serving shackles of Capitalist Market hegemony that enslaves the world over.
You must be sufficiently Cynical, in the truest sense of the word, and although Mr. Gates is often credited with being a great innovator (I am using a fabulous tool that he and MILLIONS OF OTHERS WHO YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD MENTIONED, NOR NEVER WILL, AND THEY WORK IN CUBICLED MINE-LIKE WORK TO MAINTAIN THIS GREAT COMMUNICATIONS ABILITY WHICH MAY BE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT HOPES THAT WE HAVE FOR THE FUTURE. IT IS MY HOPE THAT THESE WORKERS, MOSTLY THE DIRECT CONTACTS THAT I HAVE ARE IN INDIA ARE COMPENSATED WELL AND ENJOY A QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THEIR HARD, INTELLIGENT, and speaking from experience, WHAT CAN BE ALIENATING AND DEHUMANIZING WORK....
Anyway, the "first green revolution" was Financed by Ford and Rockefeller and USAID, with a partial good intention to feed the planet, but also with the intention to monopolize the means of production, inputs, etc.
Gates is MS-NBC/GE, he is the biggest Corporate Capitalist of our times, and one should approach his intentions with caution.
A good Friend bemoans that with all the mergers and acquisitions of the last generation, that we will soon be ONE BIG CORPORATION. My response is that Maybe that is close to what we need to be, but mind thee all, a company that is not-for-profit, and non-profit where it needs to be, and is dedicated to meeting the needs of all folks on the planet within the mission and principles that I have stated previously. And a company that can not allow unscrupulous operators to eschew their personal responsibilities
Mike Morin
As brother/sister communities in a world of potential unity and cooperation dedicated to meeting the needs of people within the confines of a finite planet, I applaud your initiative.
At least one caveat: as we aim to move from industrialized oligarchies and Finance and Market dominated paradigms of Agriculture, so much the colonialist mentality of the "first world", to a world which is free from such domination where local needs are primary and ALL areas strive for relocalization of production and distribution of the food resource (and other necessities), remember the mission and basic principles of inclusion. humanity, equity, quality of life, environmental/public health and wellness, sustainability and peace.
You need to see your initiative as one consistent with a cooperative communitarian/mutualist/socialist world effort to wash off the irrational and self-serving shackles of Capitalist Market hegemony that enslaves the world over.
You must be sufficiently Cynical, in the truest sense of the word, and although Mr. Gates is often credited with being a great innovator (I am using a fabulous tool that he and MILLIONS OF OTHERS WHO YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD MENTIONED, NOR NEVER WILL, AND THEY WORK IN CUBICLED MINE-LIKE WORK TO MAINTAIN THIS GREAT COMMUNICATIONS ABILITY WHICH MAY BE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT HOPES THAT WE HAVE FOR THE FUTURE. IT IS MY HOPE THAT THESE WORKERS, MOSTLY THE DIRECT CONTACTS THAT I HAVE ARE IN INDIA ARE COMPENSATED WELL AND ENJOY A QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THEIR HARD, INTELLIGENT, and speaking from experience, WHAT CAN BE ALIENATING AND DEHUMANIZING WORK....
Anyway, the "first green revolution" was Financed by Ford and Rockefeller and USAID, with a partial good intention to feed the planet, but also with the intention to monopolize the means of production, inputs, etc.
Gates is MS-NBC/GE, he is the biggest Corporate Capitalist of our times, and one should approach his intentions with caution.
A good Friend bemoans that with all the mergers and acquisitions of the last generation, that we will soon be ONE BIG CORPORATION. My response is that Maybe that is close to what we need to be, but mind thee all, a company that is not-for-profit, and non-profit where it needs to be, and is dedicated to meeting the needs of all folks on the planet within the mission and principles that I have stated previously. And a company that can not allow unscrupulous operators to eschew their personal responsibilities
Mike Morin
Economic Paradigm Change and World Equity Union
Thanks for chiming in, Steve.
Yes, if only we knew 30 years ago, what we know now...
??????????????????
We did have much more of a window of opportunity before the disastrous inflationary onset of supply side economics.
Repopulating farmland with smaller farms and a unified world policy of moving towards self-sufficiency in all regions needs to occur.
Two major obstacles to our potential for human progress are:
1.) The resistance that the greedy and self-interested holding what they believe to be a competitive advantage in a genocidal, ecocidal, suicidal economic game manifesting itself in either honestly naive, but more likely disingenuous "free-market/invisible handed" fanaticism...who refuse to come forward to cooperate with a plan and implement modus operandi based on human needs and the reality of a finite planet.
2.) The terrible inflation caused by the supply side economics generation which has driven the cost of real and capital assets outside the reach of almost all, who might want to take an economic risk within a mythical entrepreneurial opportunities environment (e.g. buy and operate a small farm).
The only solution that I see to this latter problem is the formation of a world equity/assets unions which would allow us to write off the inflated "market rates" to the level where a new generation of communitarian/mutualist/socialist commerce can be started.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
World Peoples' Equity Union
Eugene, OR, USA
(541) 343-3808
Yes, if only we knew 30 years ago, what we know now...
??????????????????
We did have much more of a window of opportunity before the disastrous inflationary onset of supply side economics.
Repopulating farmland with smaller farms and a unified world policy of moving towards self-sufficiency in all regions needs to occur.
Two major obstacles to our potential for human progress are:
1.) The resistance that the greedy and self-interested holding what they believe to be a competitive advantage in a genocidal, ecocidal, suicidal economic game manifesting itself in either honestly naive, but more likely disingenuous "free-market/invisible handed" fanaticism...who refuse to come forward to cooperate with a plan and implement modus operandi based on human needs and the reality of a finite planet.
2.) The terrible inflation caused by the supply side economics generation which has driven the cost of real and capital assets outside the reach of almost all, who might want to take an economic risk within a mythical entrepreneurial opportunities environment (e.g. buy and operate a small farm).
The only solution that I see to this latter problem is the formation of a world equity/assets unions which would allow us to write off the inflated "market rates" to the level where a new generation of communitarian/mutualist/socialist commerce can be started.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
World Peoples' Equity Union
Eugene, OR, USA
(541) 343-3808
Friday, August 21, 2009
The Plan with Agriculture as the Focus
Response to John Russell
Hi John,
Sorry, it took so long to get back with thee...
The fundamentals of an ecological economic redevelopment plan, while embracing relocalization for food and other necessities does not preclude the concept of comparative advantage, which as you have described would lead the folks in your area to specialize in grass fed meat and dairy.
To us, since 1976, it has always been a paradigm of "towards self-sufficiency" in food production. Inter-community and inter-regional trade can be sustained IF the USA and others will dedicate and commit and realize an 80% reduction in personal automobile use in the next 20 to 40 years, by rebuilding neighborhoods, and reallocating goods and services, to make it so that almost all (there will be rural exceptions) can get what they need within walking distance of their homes.
The terrible squandering of fossil fuel use for wasteful consumer automobile forays across and throughout the sprawlscape in search of their daily needs and many unnecessary consumer wants (the latter a result of the loss of community and resultant meaningless lives) is a large opportunity cost relative to transport for necessary trade, and for the other more important applications of fossil fuel use such as solar assisted home heating, cooking, hot water, drying, and the generation of electricity. Also, fossil fuel inputs into agricultural systems (while phasing such out to the greatest, or least optimal, extent possible) needs to be a much higher priority use of fossil fuels than the personal automobile.
Still, I strongly believe in the need to move towards veganization of diets for health and pollution reasons. I say towards because my personal experience has proven to me that when my work is mostly physical that I do need to eat a bit of meat occasionally to maintain my strength and body weight. On the other hand, eating meat every day is a recipe for disease and sickness, especially among the sedentary (among whom meat ingestion should be strongly discouraged). Milk products are important for children.
The evolution of these things and the repopulation of rural areas with the appropriate small farm technologies, labor, equity, and products (coupled with the maximization of "urban" gardening) will not evolve via a process of "invisible hands". It will only happen in a timely manner, if it is part of a consensual plan and implement economy based on a consensus of world unity and cooperation founded on the principles of inclusion, humanity, equity, environmental health and wellness, quality of life, sustainability, and peace.
Thanks for writing.
Q. (By Gil Scott (Martin Luther Kin)): What's the word?
A. (By John Lennon (Martin Luther Kin)): The word is love, the word is good.
All People Kin.
In Peace, Friendship, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
Hi John,
Sorry, it took so long to get back with thee...
The fundamentals of an ecological economic redevelopment plan, while embracing relocalization for food and other necessities does not preclude the concept of comparative advantage, which as you have described would lead the folks in your area to specialize in grass fed meat and dairy.
To us, since 1976, it has always been a paradigm of "towards self-sufficiency" in food production. Inter-community and inter-regional trade can be sustained IF the USA and others will dedicate and commit and realize an 80% reduction in personal automobile use in the next 20 to 40 years, by rebuilding neighborhoods, and reallocating goods and services, to make it so that almost all (there will be rural exceptions) can get what they need within walking distance of their homes.
The terrible squandering of fossil fuel use for wasteful consumer automobile forays across and throughout the sprawlscape in search of their daily needs and many unnecessary consumer wants (the latter a result of the loss of community and resultant meaningless lives) is a large opportunity cost relative to transport for necessary trade, and for the other more important applications of fossil fuel use such as solar assisted home heating, cooking, hot water, drying, and the generation of electricity. Also, fossil fuel inputs into agricultural systems (while phasing such out to the greatest, or least optimal, extent possible) needs to be a much higher priority use of fossil fuels than the personal automobile.
Still, I strongly believe in the need to move towards veganization of diets for health and pollution reasons. I say towards because my personal experience has proven to me that when my work is mostly physical that I do need to eat a bit of meat occasionally to maintain my strength and body weight. On the other hand, eating meat every day is a recipe for disease and sickness, especially among the sedentary (among whom meat ingestion should be strongly discouraged). Milk products are important for children.
The evolution of these things and the repopulation of rural areas with the appropriate small farm technologies, labor, equity, and products (coupled with the maximization of "urban" gardening) will not evolve via a process of "invisible hands". It will only happen in a timely manner, if it is part of a consensual plan and implement economy based on a consensus of world unity and cooperation founded on the principles of inclusion, humanity, equity, environmental health and wellness, quality of life, sustainability, and peace.
Thanks for writing.
Q. (By Gil Scott (Martin Luther Kin)): What's the word?
A. (By John Lennon (Martin Luther Kin)): The word is love, the word is good.
All People Kin.
In Peace, Friendship, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Local/Regional Agriculture, Building, & Education
Hi Susan,
It is a pleasure to converse with thee.
The primary source of nitrogen fertilizer is from the air, synthesized by burning, preferably natural gas because it is the petrochemical that burns the cleanest.
I had a seasonal job once delivering fertilizer to mostly dairy farms in Western New England. The alternative source of nitrogen was blood meal (yes, from slaughter houses). Now, we both know about legumes and their nitrogen fixing capabilities and crop rotation, but I'm wondering how that would be applied to organic gardening and extended organic gardening (that is what I call true organic farming). I don't know. Many years ago (about thirty give or take a few), I subscribed to Rodale's Organic Gardening and Farming Magazine (among many others) and had in my posession their Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. I used to know more about such things back then or at least had an excellent reference material at my fingertips.
Corvallis, eh? The Aggie School. Let's put them to work. They have a very healthy "Urban Farm" at the U of O, here in Eugene. But honestly, it is a garden, not a farm.
An interesting story about Corvallis. I almost went to school there for a second Bachelor's degree in Construction Engineering and Management (my first Bachelor's degree was in Environmental Studies. Part of my family comes from the building trades.). But, when I studied the curriculum at OSU, I recognized that it was strictly geared toward "heavy construction" (i.e. roads, bridges, dams, power plants, institutional buildings, large scale development, etc). My interest was along the lines of "light construction" (i.e. passive solar design and construction, retrofitting, carpentry, greenhouses, adapting common community space, solar water heating, etc.). I decided not go, there were other reasons, but that was the primary one.
Instead, I studied Planning and Economics and eventually got a MBA. How many socialists can say the latter?
It would be nice to put Corvallis, Eugene, UC Davis, and the like (AND COOPERATIVE EXTENSION), regional and inter-regional cooperation as favored contrasted with State, to work in helping the transition to a true organic agriculture, rather than an absurd, inhumane, inequitable, and unhealthy agribusiness of today.
Same for the building trades and related industriousness, and our transition to a fundamental demand side management plan with respect to natural resources, particularly fossil fuels, of course coupled with the concerns of inclusion. equity, humanity, quality of life, and yes, peace, elusive peace.
What think?
Mike Morin
Eugene
It is a pleasure to converse with thee.
The primary source of nitrogen fertilizer is from the air, synthesized by burning, preferably natural gas because it is the petrochemical that burns the cleanest.
I had a seasonal job once delivering fertilizer to mostly dairy farms in Western New England. The alternative source of nitrogen was blood meal (yes, from slaughter houses). Now, we both know about legumes and their nitrogen fixing capabilities and crop rotation, but I'm wondering how that would be applied to organic gardening and extended organic gardening (that is what I call true organic farming). I don't know. Many years ago (about thirty give or take a few), I subscribed to Rodale's Organic Gardening and Farming Magazine (among many others) and had in my posession their Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. I used to know more about such things back then or at least had an excellent reference material at my fingertips.
Corvallis, eh? The Aggie School. Let's put them to work. They have a very healthy "Urban Farm" at the U of O, here in Eugene. But honestly, it is a garden, not a farm.
An interesting story about Corvallis. I almost went to school there for a second Bachelor's degree in Construction Engineering and Management (my first Bachelor's degree was in Environmental Studies. Part of my family comes from the building trades.). But, when I studied the curriculum at OSU, I recognized that it was strictly geared toward "heavy construction" (i.e. roads, bridges, dams, power plants, institutional buildings, large scale development, etc). My interest was along the lines of "light construction" (i.e. passive solar design and construction, retrofitting, carpentry, greenhouses, adapting common community space, solar water heating, etc.). I decided not go, there were other reasons, but that was the primary one.
Instead, I studied Planning and Economics and eventually got a MBA. How many socialists can say the latter?
It would be nice to put Corvallis, Eugene, UC Davis, and the like (AND COOPERATIVE EXTENSION), regional and inter-regional cooperation as favored contrasted with State, to work in helping the transition to a true organic agriculture, rather than an absurd, inhumane, inequitable, and unhealthy agribusiness of today.
Same for the building trades and related industriousness, and our transition to a fundamental demand side management plan with respect to natural resources, particularly fossil fuels, of course coupled with the concerns of inclusion. equity, humanity, quality of life, and yes, peace, elusive peace.
What think?
Mike Morin
Eugene
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
(Updated) Agriculture and Food Issues
Hi Folks,
Since being the catalyst and one of the principal organizers of a four day conference, "Towards Self-Sufficiency", on local, regional and world food issues in 1976 (in the Amherst, MA area), I have had an interest in what you are now calling "food security".
I expand the concept of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to the idea of regional/local community/worker hybrid cooperatives or at very least cooperating independent businesses. We need to vertically and horizontally integrate all down the line and across business sectors, with respect to growing, distribution, recycling organic wastes and educating about the need and benefits of relocalization, including equity and humanity with respect to workers and humanity with respect to animals, and responsibility with respect to the environment, with respect to eating healthily, and with respect to minimizing packaging. We also need to diversify risks relative to other necessities and our overall plans to rebuild our neighborhoods to make them walkable.
If we can't get direct cooperation and friendly participation from Capitalists who can be arrogant, self-serving, and dishonest about their historic and their perception and presumption of continuing "competitive advantage", then we surely need to be aware just how severe the competition will be, and we all better pull together with great solidarity, one way or another.
With regards to rice, are you aware that by flooding and farming wetlands to grow rice, we destroy the areas where FISH, birds and other critters spawn and sometimes make their home? Food for thought (pun intended)!
Also think about the use of planting/harvesting greasy machinery or defecating beasts and the use of any sort of fertilizer and competitive species control, be it non-organic or mythically organic, and their effects on the wetlands and associated riparian and ocean environments.
If you're one of these "back to human power" warners or advocates, think about just how hard that labor is/would be...
I suggest that we advocate the ingestion of "dryland" grasses (e.g. wheat, corn, rye), excluding alcohol products, minimizing processing, and packaging, and IF we make all the other necessary demand side management and transition away from tobacco and alcohol and corn syrup beverages, and we radically reduce the amount of land dedicated to meat production, and radically reform said industry, THEN we should consider the use of biofuels as a small part of our supply side energy program.
Community Supported Agriculture
I am really, for the most part, borrowing the name Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) (or maybe I'm lifting it).
Maybe it would be better to come up with a new name like, Locally and Regionally and Inter-regionally Community Supported Agriculture (LARIRCSA) ;-) .
"Conventional" CSAs are well intentioned in that they strive to have community members share the risks associated with farming with the farmers. Fair enough, and my plan shares that objective. However, the problem with CSAs and buying your food by the pound is that early in the season, you'd probably get more strawberries than you can eat (unless you have the luxury time and resources to make jam), there are varieties of tomatoes so those can be stretched out over at least part of the growing season, but most crops tend to come to fruition in relative batches, so the variety in food boxes probably is not optimal. I'm not a farmer, and have limited experience with gardening, so correct me if I'm wrong.
Secondly, mixed cropping implies more labor-intensive farming, really extended gardening. While such a system would be much more healthy from many perspectives, it would be difficult for farmers employing such methods to compete with conventional farms.
Third, there are distribution issues. Who is responsible for getting the food box from the farmer to the "member"? It would be uneconomical for the farmer(s) to be responsible for the distribution, and it defeats the purpose of demand-side management relative to "consumer" activity to have the members drive all the way to the farm. Now, if members live in close proximity, then this would not be a concern.
Fourth, in places like Oregon, and even more northern climes, the harvest season is very short. It, like the growing season can be extended slightly, perhaps, by building hot houses, but only slightly.
Fifth, the extra planning involved would probably be too cumbersome for farmers.
I envision, and it may be happening (I don't know), farmers within regions and from different regions forming unions to gain control over the distribution of their products, working with cooperating truckers, warehouse handlers and associated cooperating retail outlets (perhaps incorporating pre-order systems (wouldn't electronic systems be helpful)), in a system of community/worker hybrid cooperative associations.
Similarly, relationships could be built relative to the recycling of organic wastes (of course, the objective would be to minimize such, as it would be to minimize packaging).
Now, the issue of seasonal farm workers needs to be dealt with. Migrant farm working should be eliminated. Seasonal workers need to be accommodated to their needs during the off-seasons, so that they can have the quality of life of a sedentary community. Again, I don't know the status of such a proposal. Maybe it is already happening... Certainly, a year-round living wage, equity inclusion, and educational programs so that the young can assume more progressively responsible and more highly compensated roles in the food system will need to occur.
Since being the catalyst and one of the principal organizers of a four day conference, "Towards Self-Sufficiency", on local, regional and world food issues in 1976 (in the Amherst, MA area), I have had an interest in what you are now calling "food security".
I expand the concept of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to the idea of regional/local community/worker hybrid cooperatives or at very least cooperating independent businesses. We need to vertically and horizontally integrate all down the line and across business sectors, with respect to growing, distribution, recycling organic wastes and educating about the need and benefits of relocalization, including equity and humanity with respect to workers and humanity with respect to animals, and responsibility with respect to the environment, with respect to eating healthily, and with respect to minimizing packaging. We also need to diversify risks relative to other necessities and our overall plans to rebuild our neighborhoods to make them walkable.
If we can't get direct cooperation and friendly participation from Capitalists who can be arrogant, self-serving, and dishonest about their historic and their perception and presumption of continuing "competitive advantage", then we surely need to be aware just how severe the competition will be, and we all better pull together with great solidarity, one way or another.
With regards to rice, are you aware that by flooding and farming wetlands to grow rice, we destroy the areas where FISH, birds and other critters spawn and sometimes make their home? Food for thought (pun intended)!
Also think about the use of planting/harvesting greasy machinery or defecating beasts and the use of any sort of fertilizer and competitive species control, be it non-organic or mythically organic, and their effects on the wetlands and associated riparian and ocean environments.
If you're one of these "back to human power" warners or advocates, think about just how hard that labor is/would be...
I suggest that we advocate the ingestion of "dryland" grasses (e.g. wheat, corn, rye), excluding alcohol products, minimizing processing, and packaging, and IF we make all the other necessary demand side management and transition away from tobacco and alcohol and corn syrup beverages, and we radically reduce the amount of land dedicated to meat production, and radically reform said industry, THEN we should consider the use of biofuels as a small part of our supply side energy program.
Community Supported Agriculture
I am really, for the most part, borrowing the name Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) (or maybe I'm lifting it).
Maybe it would be better to come up with a new name like, Locally and Regionally and Inter-regionally Community Supported Agriculture (LARIRCSA) ;-) .
"Conventional" CSAs are well intentioned in that they strive to have community members share the risks associated with farming with the farmers. Fair enough, and my plan shares that objective. However, the problem with CSAs and buying your food by the pound is that early in the season, you'd probably get more strawberries than you can eat (unless you have the luxury time and resources to make jam), there are varieties of tomatoes so those can be stretched out over at least part of the growing season, but most crops tend to come to fruition in relative batches, so the variety in food boxes probably is not optimal. I'm not a farmer, and have limited experience with gardening, so correct me if I'm wrong.
Secondly, mixed cropping implies more labor-intensive farming, really extended gardening. While such a system would be much more healthy from many perspectives, it would be difficult for farmers employing such methods to compete with conventional farms.
Third, there are distribution issues. Who is responsible for getting the food box from the farmer to the "member"? It would be uneconomical for the farmer(s) to be responsible for the distribution, and it defeats the purpose of demand-side management relative to "consumer" activity to have the members drive all the way to the farm. Now, if members live in close proximity, then this would not be a concern.
Fourth, in places like Oregon, and even more northern climes, the harvest season is very short. It, like the growing season can be extended slightly, perhaps, by building hot houses, but only slightly.
Fifth, the extra planning involved would probably be too cumbersome for farmers.
I envision, and it may be happening (I don't know), farmers within regions and from different regions forming unions to gain control over the distribution of their products, working with cooperating truckers, warehouse handlers and associated cooperating retail outlets (perhaps incorporating pre-order systems (wouldn't electronic systems be helpful)), in a system of community/worker hybrid cooperative associations.
Similarly, relationships could be built relative to the recycling of organic wastes (of course, the objective would be to minimize such, as it would be to minimize packaging).
Now, the issue of seasonal farm workers needs to be dealt with. Migrant farm working should be eliminated. Seasonal workers need to be accommodated to their needs during the off-seasons, so that they can have the quality of life of a sedentary community. Again, I don't know the status of such a proposal. Maybe it is already happening... Certainly, a year-round living wage, equity inclusion, and educational programs so that the young can assume more progressively responsible and more highly compensated roles in the food system will need to occur.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Expanded "Community Supported Agriculture"
Expanded "Community Supported Agriculture"
I am really, for the most part, borrowing the name Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) (or maybe I'm lifting it).
Maybe it would be better to come up with a new name like, Locally and Regionally and Inter-regionally Community Supported Agriculture (LARIRCSA) ;-) .
"Conventional" CSAs are well intentioned in that they strive to have community members share the risks associated with farming with the farmers. Fair enough, and my plan shares that objective. However, the problem with CSAs and buying your food by the pound is that early in the season, you'd probably get more strawberries than you can eat (unless you have the luxury time and resources to make jam), there are varieties of tomatoes so those can be stretched out over at least part of the growing season, but most crops tend to come to fruition in relative batches, so the variety in food boxes probably is not optimal. I'm not a farmer, and have limited experience with gardening, so correct me if I'm wrong.
Secondly, mixed cropping implies more labor intensive farming, really extended gardening. While such a system would be much more healthy from many perspectives, it would be difficult for farmers employing such methods to compete with conventional farms.
Third, there are distribution issues. Who is responsible for getting the food box from the farmer to the "member"? It would be uneconomical for the farmer(s) to be responsible for the distribution, and it defeats the purpose of demand-side management relative to "consumer" activity to have the members drive all the way to the farm. Now, if members live in close proximity, then this would not be a concern.
Fourth, in places like Oregon, and even more northern climes, the harvest season is very short. It, like the growing season can be extended slightly, perhaps, by building hot houses, but only slightly.
Fifth, the extra planning involved would probably be too cumbersome for farmers.
I envision, and it may be happening (I don't know), farmers within regions and from different regions forming unions to gain control over the distribution of their products, working with cooperating truckers, warehouse handlers and associated cooperating retail outlets (perhaps incorporating pre-order systems (wouldn't electronic systems be helpful)), in a system of community/worker hybrid cooperative associations.
Similarly, relationships could be built relative to the recycling of organic wastes (of course, the objective would be to minimize such, as it would be to minimize packaging).
Now, the issue of seasonal farm workers needs to be dealt with. Migrant farm-working should be eliminated. Seasonal workers need to be accommodated to their needs during the off-seasons, so that they can have the quality of life of a sedentary community. Again, I don't know the status of such a proposal. Maybe it is already happening... Certainly, a year-round living wage, equity inclusion, and educational programs so that the young can assume more progressively responsible and more highly compensated roles in the food system will need to occur.
I am really, for the most part, borrowing the name Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) (or maybe I'm lifting it).
Maybe it would be better to come up with a new name like, Locally and Regionally and Inter-regionally Community Supported Agriculture (LARIRCSA) ;-) .
"Conventional" CSAs are well intentioned in that they strive to have community members share the risks associated with farming with the farmers. Fair enough, and my plan shares that objective. However, the problem with CSAs and buying your food by the pound is that early in the season, you'd probably get more strawberries than you can eat (unless you have the luxury time and resources to make jam), there are varieties of tomatoes so those can be stretched out over at least part of the growing season, but most crops tend to come to fruition in relative batches, so the variety in food boxes probably is not optimal. I'm not a farmer, and have limited experience with gardening, so correct me if I'm wrong.
Secondly, mixed cropping implies more labor intensive farming, really extended gardening. While such a system would be much more healthy from many perspectives, it would be difficult for farmers employing such methods to compete with conventional farms.
Third, there are distribution issues. Who is responsible for getting the food box from the farmer to the "member"? It would be uneconomical for the farmer(s) to be responsible for the distribution, and it defeats the purpose of demand-side management relative to "consumer" activity to have the members drive all the way to the farm. Now, if members live in close proximity, then this would not be a concern.
Fourth, in places like Oregon, and even more northern climes, the harvest season is very short. It, like the growing season can be extended slightly, perhaps, by building hot houses, but only slightly.
Fifth, the extra planning involved would probably be too cumbersome for farmers.
I envision, and it may be happening (I don't know), farmers within regions and from different regions forming unions to gain control over the distribution of their products, working with cooperating truckers, warehouse handlers and associated cooperating retail outlets (perhaps incorporating pre-order systems (wouldn't electronic systems be helpful)), in a system of community/worker hybrid cooperative associations.
Similarly, relationships could be built relative to the recycling of organic wastes (of course, the objective would be to minimize such, as it would be to minimize packaging).
Now, the issue of seasonal farm workers needs to be dealt with. Migrant farm-working should be eliminated. Seasonal workers need to be accommodated to their needs during the off-seasons, so that they can have the quality of life of a sedentary community. Again, I don't know the status of such a proposal. Maybe it is already happening... Certainly, a year-round living wage, equity inclusion, and educational programs so that the young can assume more progressively responsible and more highly compensated roles in the food system will need to occur.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Agriculture and Food Issues
Agriculture and Food Issues
Hi Folks,
Since being the catalyst and one of the principal organizers of a four day conference, "Towards Self-Sufficiency", on local, regional and world food issues in 1976 (in the Amherst, MA area), I have had an interest in what you are now calling "food security".
I expand the concept of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to the idea of regional/local community/worker hybrid cooperatives or at very least cooperating independent businesses. We need to vertically and horizontally integrate all down the line and across business sectors, with respect to growing, distribution, recycling organic wastes and educating about the need and benefits of relocalization, including equity and humanity with respect to workers and humanity with respect to animals, and responsibility with respect to the environment, with respect to eating healthily, and with respect to minimizing packaging. We also need to diversify risks relative to other necessities and our overall plans to rebuild our neighborhoods to make them walkable.
If we can't get direct cooperation and friendly participation from Capitalists who can be arrogant, self-serving, and dishonest about their historic and their perception and presumption of continuing "competitive advantage", then we surely need to be aware just how severe the competition will be, and we all better pull together with great solidarity, one way or another.
With regards to rice, are you aware that by flooding and farming wetlands to grow rice, we destroy the areas where FISH, birds and other critters spawn and sometimes make their home? Food for thought (pun intended)!
Also think about the use of planting/harvesting greasy machinery or defecating beasts and the use of any sort of fertilizer and competitive species control, be it non-organic or mythically organic, and their effects on the wetlands and associated riparian and ocean environments.
If you're one of these "back to human power" warners or advocates, think about just how hard that labor is/would be...
I suggest that we advocate the ingestion of "dryland" grasses (e.g. wheat, corn, rye), excluding alcohol products, minimizing processing, and packaging, and IF we make all the other necessary demand side management and transition away from tobacco and alcohol and corn syrup beverages THEN we should consider the use of biofuels as a small part of our supply side energy program.
Hi Folks,
Since being the catalyst and one of the principal organizers of a four day conference, "Towards Self-Sufficiency", on local, regional and world food issues in 1976 (in the Amherst, MA area), I have had an interest in what you are now calling "food security".
I expand the concept of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to the idea of regional/local community/worker hybrid cooperatives or at very least cooperating independent businesses. We need to vertically and horizontally integrate all down the line and across business sectors, with respect to growing, distribution, recycling organic wastes and educating about the need and benefits of relocalization, including equity and humanity with respect to workers and humanity with respect to animals, and responsibility with respect to the environment, with respect to eating healthily, and with respect to minimizing packaging. We also need to diversify risks relative to other necessities and our overall plans to rebuild our neighborhoods to make them walkable.
If we can't get direct cooperation and friendly participation from Capitalists who can be arrogant, self-serving, and dishonest about their historic and their perception and presumption of continuing "competitive advantage", then we surely need to be aware just how severe the competition will be, and we all better pull together with great solidarity, one way or another.
With regards to rice, are you aware that by flooding and farming wetlands to grow rice, we destroy the areas where FISH, birds and other critters spawn and sometimes make their home? Food for thought (pun intended)!
Also think about the use of planting/harvesting greasy machinery or defecating beasts and the use of any sort of fertilizer and competitive species control, be it non-organic or mythically organic, and their effects on the wetlands and associated riparian and ocean environments.
If you're one of these "back to human power" warners or advocates, think about just how hard that labor is/would be...
I suggest that we advocate the ingestion of "dryland" grasses (e.g. wheat, corn, rye), excluding alcohol products, minimizing processing, and packaging, and IF we make all the other necessary demand side management and transition away from tobacco and alcohol and corn syrup beverages THEN we should consider the use of biofuels as a small part of our supply side energy program.
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