→ Change we can stomach
Dan Barber, chef and co-owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, writes about (some of) the problems with current industrial agriculture.
For decades, environmentalists and small farmers have claimed that this is several kinds of madness. But industrial agriculture has simply responded that if we’re feeding more people more cheaply using less land, how terrible can our food system be?
Now that argument no longer holds true. With the price of oil at more than $120 a barrel (up from less than $30 for most of the last 50 years), small and midsize nonpolluting farms, the ones growing the healthiest and best-tasting food, are gaining a competitive advantage. They aren’t as reliant on oil, because they use fewer large machines and less pesticide and fertilizer.
In fact, small farms are the most productive on earth. A four-acre farm in the United States nets, on average, $1,400 per acre; a 1,364-acre farm nets $39 an acre. Big farms have long compensated for the disequilibrium with sheer quantity. But their economies of scale come from mass distribution, and with diesel fuel costing more than $4 per gallon in many locations, it’s no longer efficient to transport food 1,500 miles from where it’s grown.
I like the idea of a cooperative marketing organization for local farmers.
Chefs can help move our food system into the future by continuing to demand the most flavorful food. Our support of the local food movement is an important example of this approach, but it’s not enough. As demand for fresh, local food rises, we cannot continue to rely entirely on farmers’ markets. Asking every farmer to plant, harvest, drive his pickup truck to a market and sell his goods there is like asking me to cook, take reservations, serve and wash the dishes.
We now need to support a system of well-coordinated regional farm networks, each suited to the food it can best grow. Farmers organized into marketing networks that can promote their common brands (like the Organic Valley Family of Farms in the Midwest) can ease the economic and ecological burden of food production and transportation. They can also distribute their products to new markets, including poor communities that have relied mainly on food from convenience stores.
Similar networks could also operate in the countries that are now experiencing food shortages. For years, the United States has flooded the world with food exports, displacing small farmers and disrupting domestic markets. As escalating food prices threaten an additional 100 million people with hunger, a new concept of humanitarian aid is required.
I’m not entirely convinced about his conclusion, though.
Truly great cooking — not faddish 1.5-pound rib-eye steaks with butter sauce, but food that has evolved from the world’s thriving peasant cuisines — is based on the correspondence of good farming to a healthy environment and good nutrition. It’s never been any other way, and we should be grateful. The future belongs to the gourmet.
I am not sure that ‘truly great cooking’ is the point…
→ United Nations Brooklyn Farm Tour
It looks like another community garden is having an event this weekend. I recently received this from the Hattie Carthan Community Garden:
For two weeks in May, delegates from across the world will be visiting NYC as part of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. This is the first year of a two-year cycle in in which the United Nations sets its policies on sustainable development. Agriculture is one of the major themes before the Commission.
New york City is a model for innovative urban food systems and agriculture projects, and the City Farms Tour will highlight several sites in Brooklyn, including sights in [Bed-Stuy]. We invite you to come out and be part of this exciting moment, when community-based food projects in your district are receiving international attention.
FARM TOUR SCHEDULE FOR SATURDAY, MAY 10TH
10:30 – 11:30 am Hollenback Community Garden
460 Washington Avenue
Tour of garden, rainwater harvest system
and composting toilet
Contact: Cara Perkins
917.701.2875
hollenbackcommunitygarden@yahoo.com11:45 am – 1:45 pm Hattie Carthan Community Garden
654 Lafayette Avenue
Tour of garden, cooking demo facilitated by
community food educator, Yonette Fleming,
and global lunch made from local food
Contact: Yonnette Fleming
718.638.3566
hattiecarthangarden@yahoo.comThe Hattie Carthan Community Garden invites you to attend a “Wake Up! It’s Spring!” seasonal cooking demonstration facilitated by Yonnette Fleming, City Farms Trainer/Community Food Educator and author of A Time for Healing. Herbal beverages and seasonal foods will be available. This cooking demonstration is sponsored by the Independence Community Foundation and Green Guerrillas as part of the garden’s 2008 food security workshop series “Healthy and Wise.”
2:00 – 3:30 pm Bed-Stuy Farm, Brooklyn Rescue Mission
225 Bainbridge Street
Walking tour of the community, farm, food
pantry and farmers’ market site.
Contact: Rev. DeVanie Jackson
718.363.3085
brooklynrescue@msn.com3:45 – 5:15 pm East New York Farms
613 New Lots Avenue
Tour of farm highlighting youth program,
vermicomposting and urban beekeeping.
Contact info: David Vigil
718.649.7979 ext 12
david@eastnewyorkfarms.org
→ Added Value
Added Value is a non-profit organization promoting the sustainable development of Red Hook by nurturing a new generation of young leaders. We work towards this goal by creating opportunities for the youth of South Brooklyn to expand their knowledge base, develop new skills and positively engage with their community through the operation of a socially responsible urban farming enterprise.
