The Path of Progress from Commercial Food Systems to Freed Food
The Old Paradigm | When Food is Greed
Agriculture } contributes to geo-engineering, supports chemical companies, dependent on fossil fuels, machinery, crop rotation, soil depletion, deforestation, hybrid seeds, genetically modified organism, pesticides, toxins, single purpose landscapes, paid pollinators & colony collapse of bees.
A destructive Open System with high inputs, low outputs and ecological destruction. Low pay for farmers and poisonous expensive food for people.
Supply Chain } middle men whom drive inflation for their own profit at the expense of consumers. Food is picked pre-prime & out of season, dressed in excessive packaging or waxes to ‘preserve freshness’, marked with confusing labels that promote green-washing, hauled long distances, dependent on fossil fuels, machinery, contributing to environmental pollution and food is exposed to contaminants, pests, and rodents.
How far does food travel on it’s journey from producer to consumer?
Grocery Store } Corporations with excessive bureaucracy, who earn money for shareholders at the expense of consumers. They create complicated contracts with suppliers. Grocery Stores use excessive resources such as heating and cooling, fluorescent lights, toxic cleaning products, plastic bags, and excessive packaging. They sell poison food products, misleading and confusing labels that promote greenwashing and false adages. The super store disposes of food product in unethical ways: throwing supposedly expired food in the dump rather than donating it to food shelters, compost, or animals. The grocery store promotes urban sprawl; consumers often must visit various specialty stores in order to complete shopping. Some stores sell only processed and toxic food, creating food deserts where people are left with no choice but to buy whatever non-foods are being sold to them- such as fast foods at mini-marts and corner markets.
Seventy Percent of processed foods in the USA contains GMO ingredients such as corn, sugar beets or soy. In the USA 95% of the nation's sugar beets, 94% of the soybeans, 90% of the cotton and 88% of the feed corn are GMO, according to the 2011 International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications report.
Consumer } People then eat out-of-season, non-local, poisonous food, fast-food, creating huge amounts of trash, imported and exported foods travel very long distances, food wastes go to the landfill, throws away seeds and scraps that could be composted. Humans hoard food by supporting large super stores stocked that are stocked with excessive supply. Toxic ingredients are molded and coerced into creating the illusion of being nutritious. This junk food is poisonous and consumption of junk food contributes to health problems. Processed food manufacturers support mystery ingredient chemical companies and also markets for greed and gluttony.
The New Paradigm | When Food is Freed
Regenerative Landscapes: encouraging beauty, inspiration, education, freedom, food, forage, transpiration, sanctuary.
Agriculture } Natural Farming } Feral Food } Wild Food
A regenerative Closed System with low inputs, high yield and ecological rejuvanation.
Substantial pay for farmers and nutritious and affordable food for people. Natural farming utilizes simple methods, using few tools, no-tillage, natural mulch and compost, nitrogen fixing trees, plant guilds, transpiration, climate-relevant species, ollas and swales for irrigation, food forests, companion crops, heirloom & open source, seed saving and sharing, natural pest mitigation, pollinator gardens, natural bee stewarding, bioremediation, mycelium and fungi forests, gleaning, foraging.
A closed system with low input and a high yield.
Supply Chain } Farmer’s Markets } Grower’s Guild } Community Supported Agriculture
True cost of food considers the triple bottom line : people, planet, profit. Food travels more direct, from grower to patron. Food is ripened in the field, shared locally, using renewable resources such as natural compost. Innovation and technology supports energy efficient solutions, such as the geodesic dome, stacking functions and the ‘lazy’ farmer approach. “make hay when the sun shines”. Packaging is re-usable, minimal or non-existent. Produce is in-season, local, culturally relevant. Labeling is honest, accurate, easy to understand. Accreditations such as ‘organic’, non-GMO, and fair trade are truthful and easy & affordable for the farmer or producer to apply for. Farmers support environmental regeneration, reforestation, habitat restoration. Soil rejuvination grows food that supports healthy micro-biome of people and planet.
Local food and slow food connects producer to consumer and transforms community.
Grocery Store } Member- Owned Co-Operatives } Community Supported Sustenance
What is a Co-Op? What is a co-op?
“Simply put, a cooperative is a special form of business owned and managed by the people who provide and/or use the goods and services that the business provides. They pool resources to satisfy a common need and provide these goods and services as economically and efficiently as possible.
A co-op is a business that is owned by the people who use it.”
https://www.obpeoplesfood.coop/about.html
Co-Operative business is member owned, and profits are re-invested into the Co-Op, the community and non-profits initiatives. Co-Ops provide micro-loans for new businesses or people who do not have access to capital. Co-Ops offer creative money-lending solutions, such as investing money into business that is then allowed to repay their loan with product that the Co-Op then can sell to recuperate monies lent. See this example : https://www.nusendafoundation.org/programs/co-op-capital
Co-Ops offer products, direct from producer to consumer thus making it possible to eliminate ‘the middle man’. Farmer-direct, Artisan-direct means less imports. Co-Op markets have the freedom to invest in renewable resources, natural cleaning products, re-usable containers and bags. When people are able to vote with their dollar and influence purchasing power of independent markets, they uphold standards and dedication to healthful food and vibrant communities. Conscientious business are free to implement creative solutions to managing waste, such as composting or donating produce to farmers so that it can be used for animal feed. Multipurpose building design can house a community room, community gardens and edible landscaping, a sharing library, and a deli where near-expiring food is rescued and sold as prepared foods at a discounted rate providing the community with affordable and convenient yet nutritious meals.
Consumer } Food-Sovereign } Hunter Gather
People then eat in-season, local, nutritious, from scratch, slow—food, proper labeling & ingredient transparency, where waste is up-cycled, composted or donated, farm-to-fork, shares food, saves seeds, healing and healthy, creates community, natural home products, natural self care, wild crafted herbal.
Further: we plant food forests today, fostering more forage tomorrow.
Let us protect our wild spaces, sharing wild food with each other and restoring the wild and vibrant human condition.
medicine.