Bell County Food Desert?

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Is Bell County, KY a food desert?  The definition of a food desert is an area or region in which no food is produced locally. So the answer is yes, Bell IS a food desert and the only choices for the residents are Fast-Food and Chain Store Supermarkets. No wonder the residents of Bell County aren’t eating healthy!

Someone has to say it, so here goes: Bell County does not have a locally based food economy. Sure, we have great agrarian zones, and several of our citizens claim that their profession is “farmer,” but why is it that fresh and local Bell County produce is not available? I ask a lot of questions (some of which has no answer) to get you to open your mind, and think about the importance of a local food economy.

“So why don’t the chain stores and supermarkets count as a local food economy?”—You may ask. Well the answer is simple. For starters, these giant food distributors import food from out of the region. Secondly, the money they make from the imported food is sent out of the area to a corporation who runs the chain stores. This is ideal for a capitalist on Wall Street, but not very great for the struggling local economy.

Let’s talk solutions. The only way to combat a cash swallowing monster is simply refuse to feed it. Residents of Bell County need to find ways to spend our money more locally. Food is probably the number one item bought by a household, so it would make more sense to buy your food locally. However, Bell does not sell local food! So it is up to you, me, and the leaders of Bell County to make that change.

My idea is that two Farmer’s Markets should be started in Bell County (one in Middlesboro and one in Pineville) with the hopes that farmers and farm businesses can begin to produce one or more products to sell locally. The business rule is that if there is a market for an item, there will be someone there to provide it. Farmers and Ag Businesses need to be enticed to take advantage of a food market. If anything, they can do it for the money. All the other pros to starting a Farmer’s Market will take care of themselves, such as the increased revenue in the local economy, healthier food choices, and agriculture education for both kids and adults alike.

Talk with your extension agent, local politician, or teacher (if you are in school), and explain the benefits of a locally-based food economy.

Disclaimer: I am not a supporter of Occupy Wall Street, but rather a local citizen who believes that people should educate themselves about who is really taking their best interests at heart.

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.

Genetic Engineering: Good or Bad? You decide!

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         What do you think of when you hear the phrase “genetically modified?” Is it good things? Is it bad things? What pictures come to mind? Do you see pigs that produce methane free manure? Do you see cattle that grow to enormous proportions? Try something along the lines of corn that produces its own pesticides.  These are real examples of what scientists are doing to food products in the agriculture industry.

                Let’s talk about the product changes that are considered to be in the light side on the black & white scale of ethics.  The author, Alyssa Opar, in her article (http://t.co/7MBYsvJ) explains that in the plum tree industry, there has beenan arch-enemy that threatens to put an end to all things purple and delicious: the PPV virus. It has already taken out several plum orchards across Europe, and has threatened to take a hold in the United States. Since there is no spray or cure for the virus, scientists turned to genetic engineering to solve the PPV problem. They inserted the virus into a plum genome and voilà! You have plum trees of the exact same breed and hardiness, with one exception: the PPV virus cannot affect them.  The author explains that some environmentalists have been against the genetic modification of plum trees, apple trees, etc. for the resistance to viruses because they are afraid that the GM trees will cross pollenate with wild non-GM trees nearby. The scientists say that there is no danger of any bad changes to the wild because the cross-pollination would actually cause new trees in the wild to become resistant to viruses as well and cause the wild trees to become better off in the long run. “It’s not something I would lose sleep over.”

                Now let’s talk about GM products that are little found a little in the gray part of the ethics scale. Scientists get into shades of gray when they begin to create products that would cause damage to people, the environment, and to the economy.  Let’s take corn that produces its own pesticides for example. There is a line of corn that produces Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which is an organic pesticide that works very well in killing worms, monarch butterfly caterpillars, and other pests that would destroy crops. Sounds good, right? Well wrong. There is a little known fact in the agriculture community that when you overspray your crops, or keep a certain pesticide present in a crop for too long, the pests and critters will quickly evolve and soon become resistant to that pesticide. Since the release of Bt corn, there have already been reports of Bt resistant monarch butterfly caterpillars and other pests. The organic food community is in turmoil, because Bt spray is the best organic line of defense against pests. Once Bt is gone, organic farmers will have a harder time managing their crops. 

            So you decide! Should we shun Genetic Engineering? Or should we embrace it with open arms? Or should we allow GM into our society but only with certain ethical boundaries?

Comment below and let me know what you think.

Related articles

• Scientists refute Greenpeace claim that genetically modified corn caused new insect pest (sciencedaily.com)

Community Support of Clover Creek Farm???

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As I am sitting here in my dorm room at the University of Kentucky, I have realized that I have way too much free time. Number one, I have become bored enough to look up articles on sustainable agriculture without some professor mandating that I do so for some essay. And Number two, I am here writing this article for my blog. Normally, I have so much studying and homework, I can’t even catch up on Facebook let alone BlogSpot.  But as a student, I am so not complaining.

If you are a teenager or college student, you might be going, “well, if you have so much free time, why aren’t you out at some frat party? Or out drinking with friends? Isn’t that what you do when you’re in college?” And really, I’ve actually asked myself that a few times.

In truth, I don’t really do the party scene. I guess it was just bred out of me because my parents most definantly never go partying (except every year to go to a Farm Bureau Christmas Party). My social scene is probably more along the lines of “lets grab a couple Pepsi’s/coke, a pepperoni/cheese pizza, and a movie/bonfire.” Just choose one of each of these three choices, and you have a respectable date/night out/party/evening.

You’re probably still wondering why I’m still spending time writing this. Well the thing is that I’ve been thinking a lot about my farm and what the goals of Clover Creek Farm should be. I’m not talking about short term goals like buying a new tractor or building a new barn.  I’m talking about a goal that is more long term. It is a goal that I really need help with; not only from my family, but with help from customers and friends.

When I listen to presentations from extremely successful organic farms and C.S.A.’s (Community Supported Agriculture) the thing I hear most is that their goal is to provide a healthier, fresher, friendlier alternative food to the community………….wow. Really? That is you’re ultimate goal? Your first and foremost goal is NOT to make enough money to sustain yourself? Well, the answer is yes, but only if it is achieved on the way.

It’s no secret that Bell County is full of citizens who utilize welfare and food stamps.  But one of the things that baffled me a few years ago is that people don’t use those food stamps to buy healthy food.  When the Middlesboro Farmer’s Market was in full swing in mid-summer, the Farmer’s Market council decided that it would be a good idea to purchase an EBT machine. That way, people could use debit cards and food stamps to buy farm fresh produce.  But, at the end of the season, even with all of the advertising that we did, we only snagged ONE person to use their Food Stamps!

The young lady that used her food stamps at the Market had a baby on her hip and a little one holding her free hand. What caused her to use her food stamps? Well, she had no cash, but the huge homegrown strawberries caught her children’s eyes.  They were enough to make anyone’s mouth water!

I began to wonder: with so many Bell County folks with food stamps, why the scarcity at local food marts? Slowly, it dawns on me. When a person has low income, the first thing to come to mind is to begin making better financial decisions. This means, while grocery shopping, keeping an eye on the price and only purchasing items that are cheap. It’s a preconceived notion that the cheaper priced items you buy, the more that you can afford. There’s only one problem: the cheaper food lacks good nutrition!

Even with food stamps, Americans still carry this notion. Junk food fills up their buggies and by the time they reach the fresh produce aisle, they have a full buggy.  It doesn’t help that Grocery Stores take advantage of this either.  The price of junk food is SO cheap! The cheaper it is, the more likely you are to buy more of it, and thereby spending more!

This 2011 season, I hope that you will support your local farmers and growers.  Like I said before, I need help from the community.  If people change their eating habits and decide, “Hey, I want a fresh homegrown tomato for my sandwich today!” then my work here with this blog will be complete.  Support local Farmer’s Markets and if you don’t have the ability to drive to one every Saturday, then entice me to your area by starting a Market in your area (someday, I hope to have a Farmer’s Market in Pineville).

Thanks for reading,

Richard Mason

rmason0016@kctcs.edu

First post!

Here is my first post! I'm Richard Mason and I live on Clover Creek Farm! We are located in Bell County, Kentucky near Pineville.  We raise homegrown produce and beef cattle.  Recently we bought some Jersey cows for milk.  We have been trying to take advantage of Farmer's Markets around the southeast Kentucky area.  Post a comment if you have any questions!