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  • From: Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Imperative to Innovate: Food Systems Change | John Ikerd.com
  • Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2016 11:50:41 -0400

Imperative to Innovate: Food Systems Change | John Ikerd.com
http://johnikerd.com/2016/10/the-imperative-to-innovate-keys-for-food-system-transformation/

The Imperative to Innovate: Keys for Food System Transformation
By johnikerd1 <http://johnikerd.com/author/johnikerd1/> October 19, 2016
<http://johnikerd.com/2016/10/the-imperative-to-innovate-keys-for-food-system-transformation/>
Uncategorized <http://johnikerd.com/category/uncategorized/>

The word “innovation” is so frequently misused, abused, and confused that
people may be tempted to avoid using it. In this respect, it is much like
the words “love” or “sustainability.” Although ambiguous in nature, such
words are essential to meaningful communication because they represent
basic ideas that are fundamental to human life. With respect to
“innovation,” I agree with Scott Burken who has researched and written
extensively on the subject: “If you must use the word, here is the best
definition: *Innovation is significant positive change*.”[i]
<http://johnikerd.com/2016/10/the-imperative-to-innovate-keys-for-food-system-transformation/#_edn1>
Thus, the imperative for innovation in the food system reflect the
necessity for *significant positive change* – meaning a fundamental
transformation in the current food system.

The questions posed for this panel include: “As Canada moves towards
developing a national food policy, how do we ensure it enables a healthy,
sustainable and equitable food systems across the country?” The imperative
for food system transformation is the challenge of sustainability which
includes health and social equity. In basic terms, sustainability is the
ability to meet the needs of the present without diminishing opportunities
for the future. Thus, a sustainable food system must meet the basic food
needs of all in the present while leaving equal or better opportunities for
those of future generations to meet their needs as well. No civilization or
nation that has failed to provide enough food for its people has been able
to survive. Given the global nature of today’s society, humanity cannot
survive without a sustainable global food system.

Technological innovation in the current industrial food system is widely
touted as the only logical means of meeting global food needs of the
future. However, this assertion reflects of blind faith in technology and
markets that ignores past and present reality. Contrary to popular belief,
the industrialization of food systems, while well-intended, has been an
absolute failure. It is promoted as the only logical means of providing
“food security,” meaning providing everyone with enough good food to
support healthy, active lifestyles. However, it is not meeting the basic
nutritional needs of many people, if not most, today and it is
systematically degrading and depleting the natural and human resources upon
which future generations ultimately must depend for food.

Industrial food systems are not sustainable.This bold assertion is
confirmed by a 2016 independent study by an International Panel of Experts
in Sustainability (IPES). After reviewing more than 350 studies documenting
the failures of industrial agriculture described the evidence as
“overwhelming.”[ii]
<http://johnikerd.com/2016/10/the-imperative-to-innovate-keys-for-food-system-transformation/#_edn2>
The study concluded: “Today’s food and farming systems have succeeded in
supplying large volumes of foods to global markets, but are generating
negative outcomes on multiple fronts: widespread degradation of land, water
and ecosystems; high GHG emissions; biodiversity losses; persistent hunger
and micro-nutrient deficiencies alongside the rapid rise of obesity and
diet-related diseases; and livelihood stresses for farmers around the
world.”[iii]
<http://johnikerd.com/2016/10/the-imperative-to-innovate-keys-for-food-system-transformation/#_edn3>

The challenge of sustainability is a “wicked problem” meaning a problem
arising within a complex, interconnected, dynamic system – such as a
natural ecosystem and human society. Such a problem can be solved only by
choosing a completely different system, which writer/philosopher Wendell
Berry refers to as *Solving for Pattern*. The failures of the industrial
food system are consequences of the inherent disharmony between the
*mechanistic* industrial systems of farming and food production and the
*organismic* social and ecological environment within which agri-food
systems must function. Systems of farming and food production for the
future must function as healthy living organs within the living organisms
or organizations of society and nature.

The IPES report agrees: “What is required is a fundamentally different
model of agriculture based on diversify­ing farms and farming landscapes,
replacing chemical inputs, optimizing biodiversity, and stimulating
interactions between different species, as part of holistic strategies to
build long-term fertility, healthy agro-ecosystems and secure livelihoods.
Data shows that these systems can compete with industrial agriculture in
terms of total outputs, performing particularly strongly under
environmental stress, and delivering production increases in the places
where additional food is desperately needed. Diversified agroecological
systems can also pave the way for diverse diets and improved health.”[iv]
<http://johnikerd.com/2016/10/the-imperative-to-innovate-keys-for-food-system-transformation/#_edn4>

The new post-industrial pattern for food production is already apparent in
farming systems such as agroecology, permaculture, nature farming, and
holistic management. Organic, ecologic, and biodynamic farming are more
common systems in the U.S., and are particularly promising as integral
parts of sustainable local food systems. Admittedly, the challenge of
agri-food sustainability is formidable, but it is not insurmountable. At
critical points of leverage, small, doable actions can lead to large,
seemingly impossible effects – like the small “trim tab” that turns the
rudder of a ship, can cause the whole ship to change direction.[v]
<http://johnikerd.com/2016/10/the-imperative-to-innovate-keys-for-food-system-transformation/#_edn5>

I believe the first step toward systemic innovation in the food system will
begin at community level, in communities that accept the “right to food” as
a basic human right. Markets are fundamentally incapable of providing food
security. Markets produce food for those with enough money to buy enough
good food, which excludes the poor and hungry. Charities and impersonal
government programs have never filled the gaps left by markets. I have
proposed a “Community Food Utility” as a means of ensuring “enough good
food for all.” Public utilities are established to provide specific “public
services.” They are commonly used in the U.S. to provide water, sewer,
electricity, natural gas, communication systems, and other essential
services. Existing public utilities ensure universal access to essential
services. Community Food Utilities would not only ensure universal access
to food but would also ensure that everyone has enough good food to meet
their basic needs – as an essential public service. A community food
utility would no more socialist or anti-American than today’s public water
systems, sewer systems, and electric utilities.

Critics of industrial agriculture thus far have focused primarily on the
negative ecological and social impacts of industrial agriculture. However,
the failure to provide food security is perhaps its greatest failure. The
organic and local foods movement also tend to be viewed as elitist. The
sustainable agriculture movement will never be taken seriously until begins
meeting the challenge to meet the basic food needs of all in the present,
as well as preserving equal opportunities for the future. Local commitments
to eliminating hunger and malnutrition could well be the public issues
needed to bring widespread public support for systemic innovation in the
agri-food system. Local commitments to “community food security” could
provide the leverage or “trim tab” needed to move beyond agri-food
industrialization to sustainability.

However, the persistence of hunger and growing ecological and societal
degradation are ultimately reflections of our collective *lack of caring*.
Returning to my third ambiguous but important word, *love.* If we truly
loved our neighbors and our fellow human beings in global society, we
wouldn’t be wasting food and burning fuel in our cars that could have fed
the hungry. If we believed in the inherent goodness of humanity and the
other living things of the earth, meaning if we truly loved the whole of
life, we would work together and find ways to protect the things of nature
upon which the future of humanity depends. The defenders of the industrial
agri-food status quo are economically and politically powerful. The only
power on earth strong enough to bring about the essential innovations and
transformation in the global food system is the power of love.

John Ikerd

End Notes:

[i]
<http://johnikerd.com/2016/10/the-imperative-to-innovate-keys-for-food-system-transformation/#_ednref1>
Scott Burken, “The best definition of innovation,”
http://scottberkun.com/2013/the-best-definition-of-innovation/ .

[ii]
<http://johnikerd.com/2016/10/the-imperative-to-innovate-keys-for-food-system-transformation/#_ednref2>
Andrea Germanos, “’Overwhelming’ Evidence Shows Path is Clear: It’s Time to
Ditch Industrial Agriculture for Good*”** Common Dreams, *Thursday, June
02, 2016,
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/06/02/overwhelming-evidence-shows-path-clear-its-time-ditch-industrial-agriculture-good?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork

[iii]
<http://johnikerd.com/2016/10/the-imperative-to-innovate-keys-for-food-system-transformation/#_ednref3>
IPES – Food, International Panel of Experts on Sustainability, *From
Uniformity to Diversity: A paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to
diversified agroecological systems, **June 2016,*
http://www.ipes-food.org/images/Reports/UniformityToDiversity_FullReport.pdf

[iv]
<http://johnikerd.com/2016/10/the-imperative-to-innovate-keys-for-food-system-transformation/#_ednref4>
IPES –Food, *From Uniformity to Diversity.*

[v]
<http://johnikerd.com/2016/10/the-imperative-to-innovate-keys-for-food-system-transformation/#_ednref5>
John Ikerd, The Economic Pamphleteer, “How do we ensure good food for
all?” *Journal
of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development*. First column,
August 2016, – second column, forthcoming.
http://www.agdevjournal.com/current-issue/664-ikerd-column-good-food-for-all.html?catid=230%3Acolumn



  • [permaculture] Imperative to Innovate: Food Systems Change | John Ikerd.com, Lawrence London, 10/20/2016

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