Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

Eva and Laurie Ann:  what gowers get paid is a thorny issue, and has been a 
long time. Am I biased as a small grower myself? Yes. But sustainable 
commercial food production must first sustain the growers or we won't have 
any growers. Simple economics.

Here's what we're up against. At stores and fast food today the average 
family spends a record low of 10% of income on food - lowest of any people in 
history. The table is rigged against us politically with field crop price 
supports (our tax dollars) and much lower fuel prices for production and 
distribution than the rest of the world. Not to mention the cheaper 
"food-like substances" (Pollan) that fill the stores loaded up with sugar, 
salt, MSG, transfats, HFCS, HVP, excitotoxins, etc. all of which makes eating 
cheaper and deadlier. Think "supersize me", the video.

All these shortcuts let them sell stuff much cheaper. Take Acid-hydrolyzed 
vegetable protein, or HVP, produced by "boiling cereals or legumes, such as 
soy, corn, or wheat (all crops subsidized by government), in hydrochloric 
acid and then neutralizing the solution with sodium hydroxide. The resulting 
dark coloured liquid contains, among other amino acids, glutamic acid, which 
consumers are more familiar with in the form of its sodium salt, monosodium 
glutamate, or MSG. It is used as a flavor enhancer in many processed foods, 
and circumvents the necessity to add the controversial monosodium glutamate 
on the label."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid-hydrolyzed_vegetable_protein
See also the FDA recall list: Products Containing Hydrolyzed Vegetable 
Protein, Information current as of noon March 11, 2010, 153 entries in list 
(disguised MSG)
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/hvpcp/

Heinberg, the fossil fuel analyst, called for fifty million new growers - but 
will that happen at today's produce prices? Don't think so. Not till things 
get a lot worse out there. I'd feel better growing for the middle/lower 
income demographic, but as a retiree myself I can't afford it. Just no 
percentage in doing the same work for half the return. So we grow for flavor 
and repeat customers at high end markets here, and get $4-5 lb for tomatoes 
and our Giant Marconi roasting peppers get a dollar apiece, and so on. The 
same crowd that pays more for inferior flavor at Whole Paycheck, and seems to 
be more concious of health concerns, not just food borne outbreaks. We stress 
nutrient-dense foods are healthier, grown in healthy, remineralized soil. We 
believe you can tell nutritious food by the taste. And while we do have to 
get a return, we stress it's something wholly worthwhile and encourage others.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 3/14/2010 at 7:08 PM Eva wrote:

>Laurie Ann: If the farmers you buy from are "not making anywhere near
>what they are worth!" why not pay them more?
>
>How else will they be able to survive?
>
>
>
> Laurie Ann Powell wrote:
>
>> The article said:
>>
>> <<You may say, of course, that locavorism is far too expensive to feed
>> anyone who lives outside the privileged confines of Berkeley or
>> Brookline: Who can afford $3 tomatoes and $12 loaves of bread? But in
>> fact, the costs of the modern agriculture industry are far greater, and
>> more insidious, than the costs of returning to a more localized model of
>> farming would be.>>
>>
>> I find it very surprising that this would be the expectation. I think it
>> is only in places like Berkeley or Brookline that a local farmer would
>> try to get away with $3 tomatoes (or need to, because of the cost of
>> real estate).
>>
>> My local dairy charges only $3.75 for a gallon of whole raw milk (a tiny
>> bit cheaper than the grocery store puke), $2 pint for cream and a very
>> reasonable price for cheese by the pound. The vegetable farmer I visit
>> charges Wal-Mart prices or less for prime produce - and often gives me
>> free stuff they have excess of. My rancher checks several local meat
>> markets and prices his meat in the middle of the price spread.
>>
>> Unfortunately, these farmers are all on a very thin profit margin, and
>> are not making anywhere near what they are worth! However, their vision
>> and mission is to educate, model sustainability, and to provide clean
>> healthy food to those who care enough to make the trip. Their free
>> advice on local conditions for my own farming attempts are invaluable,
>> and has more than paid for the time and gas I spend getting there.
>>
>> Another surprise to me has been that my shopping is now _quicker_ even
>> though I make more stops. Dashing in and out of farm stands and small
>> storefronts with simple products is much faster and less wearying than
>> hiking the Wal-Mart parking lot, browsing long aisles of non-food, and
>> comparing prices between multiple brands.
>>
>> Just some thoughts. I do LOVE the term, however. Where's my bumper
>> sticker? :)
>>
>>
>> Laurie Ann
>>