Feed Africa, Feed the World

            In a video that I watched in one of my agriculture classes, I saw many interesting points about a polyculture in agriculture.  Hugh Grant, the CEO of Monsanto Inc. said that a monoculture would produce the most food.  But Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, said that a polyculture would be a more sustainable practice for African nations trying to establish a food economy.

            In my opinion, a monoculture of food is a step that is too big for Africa.  Africa is a nation that has been based on its old agriculture styles.  Pollan believes that the farmers are already there, so it would make sense to utilize them.  An increase in local food market is the key to a successful community.

The next thing to do would be to support the market for these foods.  While the farmers are in competition with the import commodities, they cannot win the consumer.  Especially in the places of extreme poverty, the people can only get cheap food.  In order to support these farmers we should only import food only while the local farmers are not producing food.  This way, the farmers can make a profit and not starve while waiting for it to grow.  BUT, in a complete model, the truly sustainable model should be able to produce food year round.  There are ways to grow food for the summer months as well as for the winter months.  In addition, one can preserve food for the winter months as well.

In this model however, the farmers must be able to save seeds (to keep expenses down) and to raise livestock.  The African farmers already know how to farm in a sustainable farm but farmers must have access to information and resources.  Secondly, it would be good if they had competition that they could truly compete with (more than one market and more than one buyer).

I feel that Hugh Grant’s method could work, but it would be too hard on the African nations.  Firstly, because the corporate nature of the industrial farming.  Some farmers would industrialize and begin growing more crops thereby becoming “successful”.  However this would create even more hardship on the farmers who do not follow the industrial process as Monsanto Inc.  Local agriculture would die out and the only food source would be in supermarkets at higher prices than before.  You must remember that the people in these areas are poor and were buying commodity food at low prices.

            Michael Pollan’s model, would help the people to slowly fix the food problem in Africa.  By producing local food, Africans can have cheap, quality food.  So it just seems logical to me that when the world begins supporting local agriculture that it simply fixes many problems in one sweeping blow.

Cool ideas for signs to put around the place

• WORMS ARE WELCOME!

• BEWARE: DOG HAS LICKER LICENCE

·         THE VIEW IS GREAT

ADMISSION’S FREE

WON’T YOU SHARE

MY PORCH WITH ME?

·         DON’T WAKE THE BEAR. HE GETS CRANKY.

·         NO, I CAN’T GO TO HELL; SATAN STILL HAS THAT RESTRAINING ORDER ON ME.

·         GONE FISHIN. BACK AT DARK THIRTY.

·         IF YOU’RE NOT THE LEAD DOG, THE VIEW NEVER CHANGES.

·         AND REMEMBER, THE PLURAL OF GUN IS “ARSENEL.”

·         BOOZE AND WORK DON’T MIX. PREVENT ACCIDENTS—QUIT WORK!!!

·         IF EVERYTHING ISN’T BLACK AND WHITE, I SAY WHY THE HELL NOT?!! –John Wayne

·         INSANITY IS HEREDITARY. YOU GET IT FROM YOUR KIDS!

·         AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.

·         WEEDS

·         MORE WEEDS

·         TALL WEEDS

·         IF I CAN’T BE A GOOD EXAMPLE AT LEAST LET ME BE A WARNING.

·         GOD ANSWERS KNEE-MAILS.

·         NO SOLICITING

WE FOUND JESUS

WE LOVE OUR VACUUM

WE GAVE AT THE OFFICE

AND MY KID IS SELLING THE SAME CRAP YOU ARE!

·         INSTANT HUMAN, JUST ADD COFFEE

·         YOU CAN’T SCARE ME. I’M A TEACHER!

Comment what you think about these. And add more of your own ideas!!!

It it the Farm Bill or Food Bill???

            The next time you hear about the U.S. Farm Bill, pay attention.  Many do not like to listen to anything close to being agricultural related.  It does not surprise me when after a hundred years of agriculture legislation, people do not know where their food comes from because when it comes to farming, agriculture, and the country, people tend to turn a deaf ear.

            I say that everyone should know where their food actually comes from, because agriculture equals food.  Food equals life.  People need to listen to the farm bill.  Michael Pollan, the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and In Defense of Food, says that it shouldn’t be called the Farm Bill, it should be called, “The Food Bill.”

            There is a new movement in the United States, it involves people who are tired of eating unhealthy food and want to make a difference in their community by providing farm fresh food to locals.  No more shipping food from other countries to eat, these people want real food.  From Community Supported Agriculture to Farmer’s Markets, the slow food movement is in with almost no help at all from the government.  Up until recently, the organic food movement has had no help at all to get on its feet.

            Let’s talk about the Farm Bill.  It is created by an agricultural committee made up of politicians and agribusiness lobbyists.  Now before you go pointing fingers at the lobbyists, remember that when you point a finger, you have three pointing right back at you.  The leading agribusiness lobbyist in the nation is Farm Bureau Insurance.  I am a member of Kentucky Farm Bureau.  The only problem with this picture is the fact that the entire farm bill is made to support commodity farms in an industrial model.  What is that model? CAFO’s, corn, and soybeans.  Come on people, there is more to farming and growing food than that.

            What do corn and soybeans do for farmers? It is a crisis in the U.S. that dates back to the forties.  Farmers produce so much corn and soybeans that they flooded the market with it.  This drove the prices down so much that farmers couldn’t make a profit anymore.  The government then began to subsidize farmers for their products.  Soon, farmers found that the more they grew, the more subsidies they got.  So now they grow more and more and drove the price of grain lower and lower in the market.

            Of course, for the owner in the CAFO business, this is a dream come true.  Confined Animal Feeding Operations can now buy their animal feed at such a low price they can afford to waste it.  So with that expense out of the way, who’s to say that a CAFO manager is not going to spend his extra money on more animals to increase the profits?

            The end result? A cheap one dollar commodity hamburger made from cheap commodity corn and soybeans.  Where do you get it?  McDonalds and every other fast food chain in the nation. Folks, this isn't food, in fact it's the most unhealthy item ever created by man.

If it were not for the government putting millions of dollars into it every year, industrial agriculture would fall flat on its face. Its time for reform in America. It's time for sustainability. It's time for the government to stop pumping money into an economy and to start helping the economy to sustain itself. It’s time for people to remember what agriculture really is for: food.