Notes of Interest
Biopiracy : Michael Pollan : Water Usage : GMOs I : GMOs II : Farm Film
Food Prices and Backyard Gardening
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An excellent article, “ Monocultures, Monopolies, Myths...and the Masculinization of Agriculture” ( aislingmagazing.com) by Dr. Vandana Shiva, expresses great concern over the alarming trend of biotech companies to patent ancient seed as their own invention.
Dr. Shiva summarizes, using as an example, “the neem which our mothers and grandmothers have used for centuries as a pesticide and fungicide. ... This phenomenon of biopiracy through which western corporations are stealing centuries of collective knowledge and innovations carried out by third world women is now reaching epidemic proportions. ... Delta and Pine Land (now owned by Monsanto) and the USDA have established a new partnership through a jointly held patent for seed which has been genetically engineered to ensure it does not germinate on harvest thus forcing farmers to buy seed at each planting season. ... The patriarchal minds behind these innovations would stunt nature so they themselves profit economically while biodiversity, longterm sustainability and indeed small farmers' lives are destroyed.” top
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Another excellent article, titled “ The Way We Live Now. Why Bother?” by Michael Pollan, came by way of email in April.
Pollan describes how Al Gore’s “ An Inconvenient Truth” scared him, but how puny he felt the suggestions for change were at the end of the movie. He muses, “There are so many stories we can tell ourselves to justify doing nothing.” In this long article he talks about Wendell Berry and Adam Smith and the ways we’ve built our current society on fossil fuel. Then Pollan gets into his own solution to climate change, which is to plant a vegetable garden. He points out this uses “the original solar technology: calories produced by means of photosynthesis. … Photosynthesis still works so abundantly that in a thoughtfully organized vegetable garden (one planted from seed, nourished by compost from the kitchen and involving not too many drives to the garden center) you can grow the proverbial free lunch—CO2-free and dollar-free. … Consider too your compost pile, which shrinks the heap of garbage your household needs trucked away even as it feeds your vegetables and sequesters carbon in your soil. … You begin to see that growing even a little of your own food is, as Wendell Berry pointed out 30 years ago, one of those solutions that, instead of begetting a new set of problems, … actually begets other solutions. You quickly learn that you need not be dependent on specialists to provide for yourself—that your body is still good for something and may actually be enlisted in its own support. … At least in this one corner of your yard and life, you will have begun to heal the split between what you think and what you do, to commingle your identities as consumer and producer and citizen.”
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This information comes from “ Matters of Scale” in the March/April 2008 issue of World Watch magazine. It lists the amount of water (in gallons) required to produce the following:
- A 10-minute shower: 25
- A slice of bread: 10.6
- An apple: 18.5
- A hamburger: 634
- A glass of wine: ¼
- A glass of beer: 19.8
- A cup of coffee: 37
- A glass of milk: 52.8
- A cotton shirt: 713
- An Indian-made Tata Motors Nano automobile: 16,510
- A U.S.-made Chevrolet Malibu: 511,042
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So many articles making the rounds these days have to do with global warming, the global food crisis, and biofuels. However, genetic engineering and GMOs are still lively topics. Joshua Machinga sent us an article, “ How Media Is Pushing GM Crops,” by John Mbaria, in the May 26, 2008, issue of The East African newspaper.
This long article includes an overview of global reaction to GMOs and then states, “Last week, the Chicago Tribune reported that the United States government is using the prevailing global food crisis to promote the use of genetically modified crops, particularly in Africa. Recently, the paper said, the US had proposed a $770 million package to ease the global crisis. However, Bush had subsequently directed the USAID to spend $150 million of the money ‘on development farming, which would include the use of GMO crops.’ The paper also reported that the Bush administration has been trying to ‘persuade European nations to lift their objection to the use of GMO crops in Africa.’ … Indeed, biotech multinationals appear to be designing GM varieties specifically for particular African countries. For instance, on May 3, 2006, the head of Monsanto’s Kenyan subsidiary, Kinyua M’Mbijiwe, revealed that the US-based giant had developed a GM maize variety for the Kenyan market.”
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This next article ( www.yourtv20.com/greenlife/26179704.html) was emailed to us by Moses Mukongo, another of our African colleagues, but it concerns GMOs much closer to (Ecology Action’s) home:
The Straus Family Dairy Farm was established in Northern California in 1941. “In 1994 the farm became the first certified organic dairy west of the Mississippi River. … Last year Straus began testing his purchased certified-organic feeds. He found that one out of every three batches of certified organic corn had some contamination from GMOs, ranging from trace levels up to 6 percent contamination. Straus decided to act, starting a non-GMO program that requires all feed and ingredient suppliers to submit the results of a strip test analysis prior to shipment of the feed or ingredient. ‘I started this program in order to safeguard my livelihood as an organic farmer,’ said Straus. ‘Our requirements are causing other companies to sit up and take notice.’”
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The Spring 2008 issue of The Community Farm mentions a new film promoting local, organic agriculture.
The short film from Chris Bedford, “The Organic Opportunity: Small Farms & Economic Development”, tells the story of Woodbury County, Iowa’s innovative economic development campaign centered on the development of local organic agriculture. The film is designed to be used with Chambers of Commerce, economic development organizations, elected officials, farmers, and consumers—anyone interested in discovering the positive impact a local food system grounded in organic agricultural practices can make on a community’s economic, environmental and physical health. The 26-minute film can be ordered for $30 from localharvest.org.
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We’ve been hearing from various sources that more people than ever are growing food in their backyards. These two articles from the May 15, 2008, edition of the Christian Science Monitor agrees that this is so:
- From the article “As Food Prices Shoot Up, So Do Backyard Gardens” by Alexandra Marks and Patrik Jonsson: “With gasoline prices soaring and food costs not far behind, the number of Americans planning to grow their own backyard vegetables this year is up sharply. Gardening organizations, seed wholesalers, and local nurseries are all reporting hikes in the number of people buying vegetable seeds and starter plants. Food prices rose 4 percent in 2007 and the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts they will rise another 4.5 to 5.5 percent in 2008, which means the current boom in grow your own culture will most likely gain even more momentum. The trends of landscaping are shifting with sales decreasing in ornamentals and lawn care and sharply increasing for fruit trees, seeds and vegetable starts. For those without backyards, in many communities, there is the option of community gardening in designated neighborhood green spaces, and most
community gardens across the nation are experiencing longer waiting lists than ever before.”
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Of course it is not just the United States experiencing hikes in food costs. The second article, “New crop of gardeners in plush London suburbs,” by Mark Rice-Oxley highlights the community gardens in Kingston, England. One gardener commented that when she first broke ground on her plot four years ago, “the place was almost derelict. Now there is a waiting list of 30 for plots.” The homegrown low-mileage diet is a revived passion with great abundance and delicious rewards: sun-warmed tomatoes straight off the vine, working side by side with family and neighbors, sharing seeds and crops, and helping to ease the burden on the pocketbook.
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