Changing the Food System
Trail #1 - Why the Food System Must be Changed
... outlines the issues of the industrial food-production and its outputs (supermarket food; global warming...). Traditional/ local food production systems, while not the problem, are also under considerable threat from it.
- Non-sustainable Farming
- Soil Damage: CO2 emissions
- Can Never Feed Whole World
- GMOs - By Hook or By Crook
- Degradation of Biodiversity
... investigates what can be done - when city-based community efforts to counter these impacts face overwhelming odds, and good-hearted intention through movements like Permaculture are stunted by land prices.
3. Can Never Feed Whole World
Issues…
There is a deeply unjust disconnect between food availability and quality.
One third of all food produced gets left or goes to waste — that’s enough to feed the world’s hungry four times over!
The struggle between Land stewardship vs. Livelihood began in earnest after WWII, when powerful chemical corporations (collectively called ‘Big-Ag’) started investing in on-farm productivity. Soon they were making claims of increased yields, and reduced toxic inputs to win sales and foster public support. Long-term these claims have proven false … generally their opposite is true, always with adverse complications.
Feed the World, by Ruining it?
Big-Ag currently produces around 30% of the world’s food. For it to capture even more market share would exponentially compound all the problems already caused by chemical-based, monocultural agriculture.
The only plausible solution calls for better soil fertility and increased biodiversity, not doing more of what has caused the damage.
Don't You Want to Feed the World? -- (6 mins.)
Small-scale, agroecological farms produce high yields
(2017 study; UK) -- Small farms are often viewed as an old fashioned anachronism – unprofitable, inefficient and not to be considered as serious contributors to food security or rural economic growth.
This video highlights how a diverse and vibrant sector of small farms is providing employment, attracting new entrants and incubating entrepreneurs.
To watch the related short films, visit Landworkers’ Alliance
A Matter of Scale -- [Part 1]
Download the full report, click here