Reclaim the stolen harvest - re-localising agriculture, economies and community

Reclaim the stolen harvest - re-localising agriculture, economies and community

Those of you in Australia who visit a health food store on a regular basis may have come across a free magazine called "Living Now". In this month's edition (August 2006) I just read a fabulous article about the increasing importance of reviving urban agriculture in these days of rising fuel prices and subsequent food costs. The author, Amadis Lacheta, speaks with a passion about the things in life that are so valuable and which we as a society have taken for granted but which are now becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Things like clean water, nature places in our cities, fresh organic food, biological diversity, cultural diversity and harmony.

Lacheta highlights the need to increase our awareness of food production and to get back in touch with our food and where it comes from. To recognize the 'true cost' of our food, both economic and social and to work towards reclaiming the growing of food as a community activity.
Lacheta quotes Indian Activist Vandan Shiva who wrote,
"The time has come to reclaim the stolen harvest and celebrate the growing and giving of good food as the highest gift and most revolutionary act." From this quote, Lacheta is reminded of the ancient link between people and food, our ancestors who understood the importance of the 'sacred connection between the land and those who live from it' and the importance of people as caretakers of the earth protecting and saving biological diversity for generations to follow. As he says, "This ongoing, patient and crucial endeavour now provides us with the wealth of food varieties that we have the pleasure of eating." He warns that over the years, increasingly since the mass production of food started with the Industrial Revolution, we have significantly eroded away biodiversity of fruits and vegetables so that we're now eating only one or two varieties of these foods which are often genetically modified and grown simply for disease-resistance and appearance, NOT taste. On this subject, Lacheta quotes Sandor Katz who says,

"Cultural practices such as languages, beliefs and food (including fermentation) are incredibly diverse. But that rich diversity is threatened by the expansion of trade into a unified global market. Local identity, culture and taste are subsumed by the ever-diminishing lowest common denominator." Lacheta goes on to paraphrase Katz who laments "our urbanised society, cut off from the process of growing food and accustomed to buying food that has already been processed in a factory." Think about the proliferation of 'pre-packaged' and 'pre-chopped vegetables' at the major supermarkets! Many of these preparations are aimed at time-poor, working consumers but they really only help to proliferate the general apathy and laziness of our society when we must buy our vegetables pre-chopped rather than do it ourselves!
Lacheta quotes poet and philosopher Wendell Berry who said,

"Both eater and eaten are thus in exile from biological reality and the result is a kind of solitude, unprecedented in human experience in which the eater may think of eating as first a purely commercial transaction between him and a supplier, and then as a purely appetitive transaction between him and his food."

I'm reminded of multi-national corporations such as Monsanto who are trying against mass opposition to create a seed bank whereby the wolrd's major crop growers must buy their seed from Monsanto which is genetically modified to be sterile. This thus forces the growers to buy more seed from Monsanto as seed will not be available anywhere else in such large quantities. What this means is the effective end of crop diversity on this planet. If you want to grow a different variety of corn in a mass planting for example, you can't. That is why seed-saving groups around the world are so important because they protect our crop and plant diversity. It is thanks to groups like the Digger's Club in Australia who save and nourish heirloom seeds and crops so that we can all enjoy diverse and tasty fruit and vegetables, some varieties of which have been in Australia since first settlement.

Food for the inhabitants of the Western World mean a visit to the local multi-national supermarket for fruit and vegetables that have been pre-packaged and sprayed, genetically modified and artificially stored for up to a year. "Fresh" is a misnomer. Some of the apples we eat have been in cold storage since last season!

I was made aware of this issue first-hand recently when I grew my own mushrooms. I went to Bunnings and got a mushroom grwoing kit which produced a bumper crop. Having bought mushrooms from the supermarket in the past, I noticed how long they kept in a brown paper bag in the fridge. Up to two weeks in some cases.

So, I harvested my own mushrooms and literally within an hour of picking, if I didn't put them in a paper bag in the fridge, they dried up and went brown on top. They only last a few days in the fridge in this way before they dry out. Can you imagine what they must spray on the supermarket mushies to keep them that long???

Back to Lacheta's article. He says,
"As important as preserving genetic diversity and organic farming practices are, even more important is the cultivation of local food and its complement, local economies. Many sources now argue that agriculture in its industrial form is the single most destructive human activity to the environment."

Lacheta highlights the 'true' cost of our food and reminds us that the days of cheap food may soon be over as the increasing costs of rising fuel, lack of water, long-distance transportation and storage, genetically modified crops and global warming all take their toll on the world's and particularly Australia's agricultural industries.

Discussion of 'peak oil' theory escalates as many theorists around the world begin to speculate that the total amount of oil that can be exracted and utilised will have reached its maximum from this time forward. "This descent in cheap energy availability will most likely be haphazard - it could be gradual or abrupt."

So what does this mean for our future? Lacheta proposes that we will probably see a return to a way of life before the Industrial Revolution where food production was on a small, localised scale and communities grew enough for their own needs in a sustainable fashion, without mass use of pesticides and using time-onoured organic farming methods. 'Permaculture - permanent agriculture' will become the farming norm whereby growers recognize the importance of "our dependance on the earth for all of our needs" where we work "in symbiotic relationship (with the earth) rather than dominance and exploitation."

To achieve this goal will require progressive forward planning - the return to market gardens and community plots, fuit and vegetable gardens in schools, the return to urban agricultural enterprises. Like the small-scale urban farms that our parents grew up with in the outer suburbs of Brisbane and that have been lost to developers over the last 20-30 years.

The most inmportant message, aside from the doom and gloom regarding the rising cost of fuel and food is this -

You can do your bit to feed yourself and your family by growing food in your backyard or apartment simply and sustainably . A raised garden bed of 4 x 2 metres will be enough to feed a family of four all-year-round. Fruit trees can be planted in pots, as can herbs. A pumpkin or melon vine can be planted along a fence or garden wall. Potatoes can be planted in old tyres, a bathtub (with a plughole) or in a straw-bale plot as I have done (see next blog post). It's not difficult to feed yourself, just a little time and effort but the rewards are outstanding! Your family will thank you for it and you will have taught your children valuable life lessons about the value of food, and good gardening skills.

Certain extracts and quotes in this article have been reproduced from the original - PP 12-14, "Living Now" Magazine, August 2006, Victoria, Australia.

About the Author
Gabrielle Edwards is an organic skincare expert who writes articles for various health and beauty e-zines and environmental websites. She is an avid environmentalist with a passion about organics and sustainable living. She is keen to raise awareness of the plight of our earth and how we can live more sustainably upon it. You can visit her website at - www.skinorganicsonline.com