Organic Agriculture of the Future & Beyond.

‘Organic’ - Of or relating to an organism, a living entity. Wikipedia.

The role & importance of organic farming practices & certification to the future sustainability of agriculture, is one that needs to be constantly re-addressed & re-assessed, as words lose meaning over time when over-used- in this corporate biggest is best, nature-deficit-disorder pre-apocalyptic world. Bill Mollison the father of Permaculture says it succinctly ...the greatest change we need to make is from consumption to production, even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If only 10% of us do this, there is enough for everyone. Hence the futility of revolutionaries who have no gardens, who depend on the very system they attack, and who produce words and bullets, not food and shelter.- Bill Mollison. The system needs to change from within & this is how sustainable organic agriculture must look in the future if it is to truly be a change & a system that sustains.

As Wendell Berry said We cannot be free if our food sources are controlled by someone else. (Lovell, p.141; 1994). I like that. Sovereignty & freedom are noble goals & ones which are deemed almost out of reach by too many humans these days. So commodified & encorporated are we. My vote is for a return to traditional values & life-styles, where we grow & eat our own organic local food together with our families…or as grandma used to call it food. My thesis is that we could never trust those who produce food as commodity with such a haphazard respect for, & profound disrespect for life on all levels on this planet. And why would we chose such a path (again) anyway? Corporate farming is not sustainable. Period.

What are we really talking about when we mean ‘organic’...? Is it simply a certification, a label to be bought & sold by big corporations? Coca Cola? Nestle? A new spin? A lie? Big corporations who (don’t forget), value their profit margin & are not concerned with human/ animal/ plant/ planet health or harmony…clearly. Billions of pounds of genetically modified corn mountains, high fructose corn syrup galore, glyphosate & Atrazine use- write that point in indelible ink all across the sky for those with eyes to see. Or should it be something more meaningful, more spiritual, more about integrity, healthy humans, animals, plants, eco systems, community? Healthy fishes & waters? Harmony? Is there a spirit to all of this? Should it encorporate a notion of empowerment to the people? That their food was now not just highly processed lifeless modified processed chemicals super perforated with petroleum residue & containing usually polypropylene glycol. Could organic mean that people somehow also get to take back some power? Through a return to basic common sense, a return to the ‘country’, a different way of life, a return to ‘grow your own’. A way of life that was bastardized by those who wanted to usurp the people from the country in the early part of the last century, to make them into consumers (slaves)…kinda like the batteries in the Matrix. We power the system…sort of unknowingly for the most part. Enough! If boys become girls in the midst of all of this, is that ok? If those who created Round-up are now selling organic food, I don’t belive it! The organic nature of that food is meaningless. It’s time for re-invention of the re-invention.

Organic for the future should be about empowerment, locally grown, healthful, nutritious food, local markets, farm stands, small & sustainable operations…. constantly circling & re-investing money & business in the local market, not unlike how Gene Logsdon describes the Amish community in Living at Nature’s Pace. That is empowering for the people & the community; a beautiful vision for the future. Not more enslaving of the masses by big corporations with big logos & cynical advertising. Retail therapy, fast food….fast life, death? I for one don’t want to eat something that is labeled ‘organic’ that comes from Coca Cola… It’s sort of a contradiction in terms. It’s a lie. And the organic movement of the future should be about taking power back, not being enslaved by the shopping trolley, the Safeway. [sic]. Food is not something that should be produced en masse, by large corporations, to make money. It should be produced by the local community, for the local community…pulled from the earth & eaten…with all of it’s nutrition intact & with the life-force still in it.

I understand Chuck Benbrook’s argument in ‘The debate continues – local, scale, values, & finding common ground’, I truly do. He wants his daughter to be able to afford organic food…for organic food to be brought to the masses…in Walmart. But he’s missing the point entirely. It doesn’t work that way. Firstly -Those corporations are about power & money, & food is not a commodity. As a society we have lost the value & the heart & the soul of just about everything. It’s important to work to re-invent ourselves as holistic beings who are empowered, who grow our own food, who are part of a nourishing community of people, where food is a communal event, involving life-giving celebration. Bringing organic to Walmart misses the point. So what then? We encourage the masses to buy organic? (through careful marketing?). They are still enslaved. And what exactly does ‘organic’ mean then? It’s still a mass produced commodity that we drive our car to purchase, that we need, that has very little life-force or none at all. So what? Nothing has changed in that case. We need a total re-invention. Control-alt-delete & de-frag BIG TIME. Now re-boot! Anything else is cynical, half-hearted, & meaningingless.

Bigger is not always better….the ‘organic’ farming I want to succeed cannot be reproduced on enormous corporate farms. …Producing great food gives us enormous power. (Wendy Baroli from www.newfarm.org. 2006.) I totally agree with Baroli, ‘organic’ should be about life & not about money. Life should be about empowerment & celebration & evolution… not about corporation & commodification & limitation. Otherwise, we need a new word to catch the meaning…because organic & sustainable are redundant words now. If Nestle produces organic food, we truly need a new lexicon. Organic is about life, living entities – the food, the animals, the planet & the people, & having a respect for all of them. Organic agriculture of the future should contribute to this dance of life, & be all about empowerment -local, home grown healthy community…...the greatest change we need to make is from consumption to production, even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If only 10% of us do this, there is enough for everyone (Mollisson.) …and not all about making money.

To life...& love, not dollars & shove.