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We want to hear from you! Click the comment button at the bottom to add your thoughts... ___________________________________ I would love to see everybody committed to giving back over the holidays by committing themselves to an organic, cruelty-free, and locally harvested meal. For people to find one, I suggest they find a food co-op in their area, a farmers’ market, and/or buy directly from a local farmer. These things, along with purchasing Fair Trade products, will increase the food and financial security of the farmers we have to be thankful for, and lead to a lesser carbon footprint. Shawn Wozniak North Carolina A&T State University, USA Agricultural Economics
Most of us living in our cozy urban houses far away from the country are ignorant of how food crops are grown and don't really care if they are safe or not. We just want go to the supermarket to buy food without feeling concerned about the world food crisis and whether millions of people in poor nations are starving or not. I have seen how tons of foodstuffs have been wasted among comfortable urban dwellers in developed nations who are wallowing in excesses, and abusing the environment as their waste spills over and pollutes the air we breathe from New York City to London to Paris to Lagos. A mite of the amount of dollars to be spent on Halloween treats would be like manna from heaven to a starving refugee child in Darfur. But do they care that nobody knows it is another Halloween in Darfur? May God help us to see beyond our mouth? Michael Chima E. Bonny Island, Nigeria I think that the future of food—due to the various environmental problems and the situation of peak oil—will owe a lot to permaculture designs and to the establishment of forest gardens throughout the world. Pedro di Girolamo Santiago, Chile Ecovision Project If vertical farming is given more public attention, it alone could usher in a period of community involvement and urban agriculture. A city that can provide for itself in terms of food might reshape global food policies due to a nation's influence in the world's agricultural economy. An adoption of such a project could also raise the quality of living of all class groups—if promoted throughout the urban environment and not just the well-to-do sectors. If a major super-power becomes a model for this interesting structure, it could be adopted worldwide and stem off hunger issues in any industrialized and developing nations, with the proper support. Jorge Posada Torres New York, New York, USA
Lester R. Brown, President Earth Policy Institute Washington, DC, USA Agriculture is related directly to food production. While food is one of the basic necessities of mankind, its satisfaction is yet to be observed in sub-Saharan African states. All the states are managed according to the political interest. Therefore, food security and agricultural development were never given priorities in budget allocations. The cash crops, which are the main foreign exchange earnings, are always given priority, whereby the peasant farmers are always neglected and the ordinary class of man suffers. Agriculture and poverty are very much interrelated because capital is the determining factor. To own a piece of land requires capital, farm implements, fertilizers, and modern farming techniques. Adan Halkano Malicha Kenya
I wholeheartedly support the local/organic foods movement and make sustainable food consumption a significant part of my life (and budget). However, some characteristics of the movement are persistently elitist. It's great that high quality organic fruits and vegetables have become widely available, but they are completely unaffordable to anyone on a limited budget. The quality of non-organic produce also differs from neighborhood to neighborhood, even in the same city. The wealthier neighborhoods have clean, well-stocked produce, but the same supermarkets in poorer neighborhoods have terrible selections and much of the produce is spoilt. I think the food movement needs to expand its horizons to make better food available for everyone. Alex G. Comment to the OneWorld blog
Roshani Kothari Washington, DC, USA Until the 20th century, agriculture has always been a subsistence level industry. Mechanized and large-scale farming, improved methods, seeds, irrigation, and crop care have enabled mankind to achieve a breakthrough. However, small farmers in underdeveloped countries still continue to live a hand-to-mouth existence. Economic imbalance and topographic conditions will continue to perpetuate the existence of marginal farmers. Subsidies from government organizations and extension of facilities like education, loans, irrigation, and cheaper power can help. Genetically modified foods present a lot of promises as well as unpredictable problems. Whether and how these genetically modified crops and foods can disrupt the delicate ecological balance attained over millennia of years cannot be understood over a small timeframe. Although enough food is produced in the world to feed everyone, millions still go hungry and malnourished in various pockets of the globe due to the vagaries of weather conditions and geo-political disturbances. Having global food supply chains to feed everyone should be our prime priority. Dolphi D. Mumbai, India
I've been a 100 percent organic gardener for decades using only heirloom seeds. Very few people in the United States give a second thought about their food, as long as they get enough of it (witness the current trend to obesity). The Monsantos of the world need to be thrown out of business. The frankenfoods that they're trying to foist on an unsuspecting world constitutes criminal activity. They've recently been banished from India because it was discovered that sheep grazing on their genetically manipulated cotton were dying. It's the same genetic manipulation they're applying to soybeans, corn, etc. It’s also been proven in laboratory tests that their GM potatoes cause liver damage. Walker Bennett Sedona, Arizona, USA Hunger means lack of food for a long period of time, causing illness or death. A main cause of hunger is climate change. When there are less rains and high temperatures, it shortens the growing season, which will reduce crop yields. Climate change can also bring flood and drought, which affects the productivity of crops when there is unpredictable rainfall. It also causes rising sea levels. The future of small farming in developing countries is in disarray because there is little or no aid to practice mechanized agriculture, or to use modern technology for farming. Because of this, small farmers cannot meet the production of their countries, not to talk of the world in general. Fagbenro Oluwafemi Adebayo Fadama II Project Abeokuta, Nigeria There are many factors that define sustainability, but that inevitably come into conflict with each other. Is it right to prevent the development of GMO crops, when genetic modification can hold the promise of increasing crop yields for subsistence-level farmers? We spend proportionally less of our incomes on food than ever before in history, but does that make it okay to force that economic argument on a family of four living on $20,000 a year? Better for what, and okay for whom? When does the environment trump poverty as the more important issue, or vice versa? Sustainability in its broadest sense must be defined in a way that takes into account intersecting social issues. If we use "organic" as shorthand to hook people into the movement, we need to recognize that it's a double-edged sword, because doing so collapses all those diverse values into just those represented by organic farming. Creating a food movement that is sustainable in every way, not only in environmental terms but also in economic and social terms, will require give-and-take between the various values we care about. Lydia Poon Comment to the OneWorld blog
Seth Shames Ecoagriculture Partners Washington, DC, USA Our current agriculture is not sustainable. We truck food thousands of miles and keep it in refrigerated storage for prolonged periods. We require annual injections of chemical fertilizers (from petroleum) to keep it going. Our soil is less and less fertile. Fertilizer runoff enters oceans where it causes overgrowth of algae leading to vast oxygen-depleted "dead zones." The average family uses as much energy and releases as much carbon into the atmosphere from buying food in a supermarket as it would were it to go out and buy another SUV. But countries, like Cuba, have shown they can be totally self-reliant in vegetable production using organic agriculture techniques. If more people were involved in local food production, it would be a boon not only to the environment but also to health and well-being as gardening can be a very rewarding activity, which produces something of obvious value to the people involved. Bill Boteler Comment to the OneWorld blog
Jeffrey Allen New York, New York, USA I do not agree with genetically modified foods and do not support this technology. I try not to purchase such foods. I prefer locally grown organic foods because I know I am actually supporting the environment and my community on earth by eating these foods, not to mention my own health. Small farmers could be more supported. Local supermarkets and big chains could buy from the farmers in their areas. Local consciousness is lacking when we're dealing with national chains. Saturday markets in my home town are a source of personal inspiration. Anonymous comment to the OneWorld blog ** Questions? Responses? New ideas? Add your thoughts below!  PERSPECTIVES HOME: Farm to Table
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"Indigenous Foods"Author:
Christina Santini
Time: 01/10/2007 10:48
Comment: “As a columnist for Cultural Survival, an organization promoting the rights, voices and visions of indigenous peoples, I would like to highlight the role of indigenous foods in the discussion of foods from ‘Farm to Table.’ Issues of hunger and access to nutritious food are certainly pressing, but it is equally important to promote native foods and traditional methods of food preparation. Food is a key element in the continued survival of indigenous cultures. As a basic human need, it is naturally integrated into the rhythms of daily life touching patterns of socialization and interaction with the natural environment, among many others. Let’s celebrate and learn from the wisdom of traditional peoples.”
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