Don't Get Mad, Get GLAD: Sustainable Food Movements

This is part 6 of my research on global food movements entitled
GLOBALIZATION: It's what's for dinner

Global food movements making a difference:
SUSTAINABLE FOOD MOVEMENTS

The values of the organic farming movement with its commitment to sustainability, smaller farms, and no "additive" crops are reflected in other growing food movements. Farmers' Markets, which introduce primarily local organic growers to the consuming public, grew in the US from 1,755 in 1994 to 4,685 in 2008. [28]

The popularity of the Local Food Movement has also gained attention as the term "locavore" was chosen as the 2007 word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary. [29] A locavore is one who purchases foodstuff from within a 100 mile radius of home, which not only supports local businesses, but also reduces pollution and the consumption of fossil fuels as food transport is kept to a minimum.

The formation of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) also reflects this localizing trend as consumers contract with local farmers who agree to regularly deliver their products to them. From the first CSA in 1986, there are now more than 1,300. [30]

Local farming has also renewed interest in heirloom fruits and vegetables as seed and rootstock collections from the "old world" are recovered, providing beautiful and delicious alternatives to the limited selections in larger food chains. Such trends reflect a "food renaissance," as food markets of yesteryear, still common in less industrialized communities, are finding new life in the post-modern world.

In England, for example, the Borough Market, London's oldest fruit and vegetable market, dating back to 43 AD, has undergone exponential growth in the last 6 years. [31] This supports the 2004 findings of Richardson and Aguiar who, in their report on consumers and UK fast food companies, concluded that the primary attributes once guiding consumer behavior such as convenience and cost are no longer enough to represent the true desires of the consumer.

Findings indicate that in the UK there has been a shift of preferences "from satisfaction based on cheap food and speedy service to more emphasis on ingredients and taste." [32] In food choices, over 68% indicated they desire "lesser fat content," and over 41% desire "organic ingredients," along with "broader vegetarian selection," and "more use of local produce." As freshness and quality, organic and local, also become higher priorities in food selections for American consumers, such trends are expected in the US as consumers are now desiring to support local organic farmers and are becoming more interested in knowing where their food comes from and how it is grown. [33]

Another movement that embodies the value of sustainability through organic farming, but also embraces the importance of local food traditions is the Slow Food Movement. Though intentionally founded in 1986 by Carlo Petrini in Italy as a protest of the opening of a McDonalds near the Spanish steps in Rome, the movement seeks to "preserve the cultural cuisine and the associated food plants and seeds, domestic animals, and farming within an ecoregion." [34] In protecting the heritage of food, tradition, and culture from the wave of fast food, Slow Food looks for ways to defend biodiversity in the local food supply, spread taste education, and connect producers of excellent foods with co-producers through events and initiatives. [35] As US Today phrases it, "Slow Food aims to be everything that fast food is not." [36]

Based in Italy, the movement has now expanded globally to over 83,000 members in 122 countries. In the United States, the first Slow Food celebration and exposition occurred this year in San Francisco over Labor Day weekend with over 85,000 in attendance. [37] A Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture was also introduced to demand a healthier food policy for America. Though the Slow Food Movement is relatively new in the US, it has quickly taken root with chapters in nearly every state. As Americans are discovering that there are other choices besides fast food, they are taking responsibility, speaking out, and making choices for their health and for the environment.

Next week:
Plant-based diets

[28] "Farmers Market Growth: 1994-2008," USDA - Wholesale and Farmers, http://www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/farmersmarketgrowth.htm (accessed on December 16, 2008).
[29] Richard Pirog, "Local Foods: Farm fresh and environmentally friendly," World Book's 2009 Science Year (World Book Publishing, 2009), The Leopold Center, www.leopold.iastate.edu/research/marketing_files/WorldBook.pdf (accessed December 12, 2008), 135.
[30] Ibid., 138.
[31] Regine Lee, "Food Renaissance at London's Borough Market," Bay Area News Group, November 5, 2008.
[32] James Richardson and Luis Kluwe Aguiar, "Consumer Change In Fast Food Preference," International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, http://www.ifama.org/conferences/2004Conference/Papers/Richardson1004.pdf (accessed December 15, 2008).
[33] Pirog, 136
[34] "Slow Food," Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Food (accessed December 15, 2008).
[35] "Our mission," Slow Food, http://www.slowfood.com/about_us/eng/mission.lasso (accessed December 15, 2008).
[36] Cited on "What is slow food," Slow Food USA, http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/slow_food/ (accessed December 17, 2008).
[37] Slow Food Nation, http://slowfoodnation.org/ (accessed December 17, 2008).

Don't Get Mad, Get GLAD: Organic Farming

This is part 5 of my research on global food movements entitled
GLOBALIZATION: It's what's for dinner

Global food movements making a difference:
ORGANIC FARMING

Though One Planet Living is not specifically a global food movement, it exemplifies one of the most important principles in other movements - sustainability. Sustainability is defined as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs," [19] and nowhere is it more evident today than in the organic farming movement which has also been referred to as sustainable agriculture.


In the largest known survey of worldwide sustainable agriculture, Pretty and Hine note that sustainable agriculture, which is now a financially feasible option for farmers, makes "the best use of nature’s goods and services as functional inputs." [20] By integrating natural and regenerative processes, it minimizes the use of non-renewable inputs of conventional farming (pesticides and fertilizers), which are now known to damage the environment and harm the health of the farmer and the consumer.

During the first 40 years of the 20th century, advances in biochemistry and engineering rapidly and profoundly changed farming in industrialized countries. Gas-powered vehicles, mechanized farms, hybrid seeds, and nitrogen fertilizer were embraced and became affordably abundant and developed for the conventional farming system. Technological advances during World War II accelerated all aspects of agriculture, with advances in large-scale irrigation, fertilization, and pesticides. In particular, two chemicals, ammonium nitrate and DDT, were repurposed for peacetime agricultural uses.

In 1944, the international campaign called the "Green Revolution" changed the face of farming practices around the world through the use of hybrid seeds, which were fed by chemical fertilizers, protected by pesticides, and harvested through large-scale irrigation and heavy mechanization in single crop farms. Beginning in Mexico with private funding from the US, traditional indigenous practices were soon replaced by a dependence on multinational corporations for supplies.

Agricultural diversity and local seeds would eventually be lost as farmers in the developing world bought the promise of better crops and increased revenue. Though there was initial success, over time soil nutrients were depleted; crops required more poison for protection and production; harvests produced less as the food quality declined. Within this farming climate the fast food movement took root in the US during the 1950s, and internationally beginning in the 1960s.

In their book, Hope's Edge, Frances Moore Lappé and daughter Anna tell the story of Navdanya, a movement in India, which, according to one of its leaders, "wants to retrieve indigenous food and drink from extinction through pleasure - and fast, before our taste buds are completely stolen by Pepsi and Coke." [21] According to the Lappés, Navdanya fears that Indians are being "sucked into this radical, experimental diet - the one spreading from America to the rest of the world, bringing with it heart disease, cancer, and diabetes." [22]

Farmers in India like those in Mexico bought into the Green Revolution and have been paying the consequence in terms of human health, environmental damage, and financial losses ever since. By empowering farmers with knowledge and skills, and reintroducing native seeds and resources to off-set the five to seven year transition as the soil is rebuilt, Navdanya is now changing the lives of farmers and communities through organic, indigenous farming practices and crops that were nearly lost.

How ironic that as India today reclaims its agricultural heritage, India a century ago is where the roots of the modern organic farming movement began. Conscious organic farming (as opposed to the agriculture of indigenous cultures, which "always employs only organic means," which Wikipedia correctly notes) began in the early 1900s through Rudolf Steiner's first comprehensive organic farming system in Germany in 1924, and the research by British botanist Sir Albert Howard who came to regard Indian farming practices as superior to conventional agriculture science. [23]

According to William Tate in 1994, there are three main phases of the international organic movement: (1) 1924-1970 = Struggle and financial difficulty as core works were written amid a hostile environment due to the rise of new conventional farming practices; (2) 1970-1980 = Key organic symbols were established, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements was founded (1972), 'green' awareness grew, and retailer outlets multiplied as customer awareness of the risks in conventional farming were raised and organic demand increased; and (3) 1980 on = Popular acceptance as national and international standards were set and governments introduced organic aid schemes for farmers. [24]

In their 2001 study, Pretty and Hine note, however, that though there has been "a very rapid spread" of sustainable agriculture in the last decade and considerable global recognition of the need for policies, in most countries, organic farming remains in the margins. [25] Only Cuba and Switzerland have given explicit national support for sustainable agriculture.

In the United States, organic farming is recognized as one of the fastest growing segments in U.S. agriculture with the market for organic products expanding and expected to continue its expansion as consumers are becoming increasingly aware about conventional farming and its impact on human health due to pesticide residues, and environmental health due to the loss of wildlife species and natural habitats, and rise of pollution and non-renewable resources. Michael Pollan’s poular 2006 book on organic agriculture, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, has also raised awareness about the realities in the industry.

Nationwide, organic food sales have grown 20 percent annually in the last eight years due to consumer demand. [26] In their book, the Lappés also tell the story of a Wisconsin farmer who transitioned to organic practices from farm chemicals which he says killed his father. "Consumers are smarter now," he says. "Once a week there's something in the paper about what's going on - hormones, pesticides, resistance to antibiotics. So the big food chains are responding. They are working with us to get organics into their stores. . . . because consumers have a vote and they're using it." [27]

Next week:
Other sustainable food movements

[19] "Sustainability," United States Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/Sustainability/ (accessed December 16, 2008).
[20] Jules Pretty and Rachel Hine, "Reducing Food Poverty with Sustainable Agriculture," Centre for Environment and Society, University of Essex, UK, http://www.essex.ac.uk/ces/esu/occasionalpapers/SAFErepSUBHEADS.shtm (accessed December 16, 2008), 11.
[21] Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé, Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet, First Trade paperback edition 2003 (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 2002, 148.
[22] Ibid., 148.
[23] "History of organic farming," Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_organic_farming (accessed December 16, 2008).
[24] William B. Tate, "The Development of the Organic Industry and Market: An International Perspective," in The Economics of Organic Farming: An International Perspective, ed. N.H. Lampkin and S. Padel (Oxon, UK:CAB International, 1994), 11.
[25] Pretty and Hine, 21.
[26] cf. Lappé and Lappé, 270 and "History of organic farming," Wikipedia.
[27] Lappé and Lappé, 270.