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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Growing sustainable models

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Growing sustainable models
  • Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 02:37:16 -0700 (PDT)

We live in a consumer society. This means that the consumer decides the
future shape of farming by the choices she makes in the shop. Neither the
government nor the corporations have the power to change the status quo.
They do have the power to influence public opinion, but in the end, they are
just as powerless to change things as we are.

For example, if the sales director of a food corp. comes to the conclusion
that 10 to 20 percent of his customers will not buy his product if it
contains GMOs, that is a strong incentive to be GMO-free for this company.
No company is going to risk loosing so many customers, especially, since the
price advantage for GMOs isn’t all that great on the purchasing side.

This means that we don’t need to convince everyone. A third of all consumers
in favor of sustainable farming are more than enough to effect a change.
This change is not going to come overnight. If it does, it will be a process
that takes place over several years or more likely several decades. That is
a timeframe which will give growers enough time to change to sustainable
methods provided they start early enough. Even if there are times when
demand exceeds supply, in a market economy, the two will balance each other
out over time. A lot of farming knowhow has been lost in the change from
traditional to industrial farming, and farmers used to farming by RoundUp
will find it difficult to change back, but provided there is a market for
sustainable produce it can be done.

Like you guys, I’m getting too old to keep on banging my head against the
wall, but the raving and ranting about the government and the corporations
that is so popular among alternative farming circles is not just beside the
point but even counterproductive because it reinforces the fanatical image
many people have of alternative farming.

The reality of climate change and environmental degradation is slowly sinking
into the public awareness. It is not possible not to be shocked by the oil
gusher in the Gulf, the floods in Pakistan or the wildfires in Russia. The
importance of a biologically active soil is already harder to communicate,
but when their own health starts to deteriorate most people will start to
listen. The problem really is how to make a watertight case for the relation
between a healthy soil and a healthy body. Members of this list may
understand that there is a relation, either because of their own experience,
intuition or because of one or the other study Paul so diligently broadcasts
via the list. But if there is one scientific study to prove one thing, there
will be plenty of other studies to prove the exact opposite. What is the
non-scientist to make of that? What makes matters worse is that the
opposition isn’t sleeping either: prominent members of the food
or big Ag establishment make regular announcements to the effect that
organic veggies are not healthier than conventional ones and that there is no
difference between conventional and GMO produce. Who is the public going to
believe: the director of a public authority with half a dozen academic titles
to his name, or the fanatical raving from the alternative farming scene?

To most consumers the environmental disasters are still at a safe distance,
and we all believe that it can’t happen in our own backyard. We all share to
a lesser or greater extent in the IGNORANCE and GREED that is driving this
planet into the ground. But once disease is starting to eat away at our own
body, things take on another degree of urgency. What we need is solid
statistical data to proof the relation between industrially produced food and
the degenerative disease that are on an increase in most industrial countries.

Dieter Brand
Portugal








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