This article, written for children’shealthdefense.org, as site that advocates the importance of healthy organic food for children, they describe how systems of small farms are better suited to provide food for the world thant the current large scale conventional method.
The author, Jonathan Latham Ph.D , begins by offering a critique of the current methods of data gathering that are used to calculate the total food output of the world. He describes the innacuracies of the current system in a paper called “The Myth of A Food Crisis”. In this study he points out how flawed the current methods are, resulting in a gross underestimation of our actual food supply on earth. There is no global shortage in food, a point that has been used to justify many large-scale conventional agricultural operations. This “food shortage” is also used to justify the development and use of Genetically engineered organisms, commonly referred to as GMO’s.
Afterwards he explains that it has become increasingly obvious through the works of many scientists, that a transformation of our food systems is really the only way out of this current climate crisis. We cannot continue to produce food unsustainably.
He takes it a step further and suggests that the blatant disregard for data and human health suggests that the Agricultural industry is steeped in corruption. These are not companies that exist to supply food to the world as they claim, but rather they are part of a capitalistic web of corporations that purpetuate the myths of food shortage for their massive finacial benefits.
Editor’s Note
This is a powerful article and I encourage you to read the whole thing. However in this note I want to point out some of our solutions.
Sustainable Agriculture is the greatest fear of these big agricultural corporations because it takes the power and the money away from them and returns it to the hands of the farmers. Knowledgeable sustainable farmers are able to use what naturally occurs in their area to build soil fertility and are able to grow enough food to feed their communities. Models for these systems are readily available, and resources are in-depth. Books on Organic Farming, Permaculture, Biodynamic, Regenerative, Natural and other sustainable farming methods provide any interested person the information they need to start growing their own food.
A self-reliant, healthy life can be provided for all if people began to detach themselves from the conventional systems put in place to profit off of us.