Talking About a Revolution?
Submitted by Editor on Fri, 09/05/2008 - 11:59am.
Group Unveils ‘New Vision’ for Agriculture
Tracy Sutton
Zone Editor
SAN FRANCISCO — It’s tempting to dismiss Slow Food as a bunch of elitist artisan cheese geeks, but the foodies just flexed their considerable political muscle this Labor Day weekend in San Francisco at “Slow Food Nation” where 60,000 congregated for what was billed the “largest celebration of food in American history.”
The celebration was not without a political manifesto.
Calling for a radical overhaul of our current food and farm policy, organizers unveiled a “New Vision for a 21st Century Food, Farm & Agriculture Policy.” The declaration was drafted by a number of notable critics of agricultural policy, including a couple former USDA officials and two Midwestern farmers.
Speaking inside the rotunda in San Francisco’s City Hall, the framers expressed their ambition to gather 300,000 petition signatures, culminating with a final signing event in Washington, D.C. where the petition will be presented to Congress.
“Our current farm policy is a relic of the Dust Bowl,” said Michael Dimock of Roots of Change, and that these policies have had “unintended consequences” on our ecosystems and our food supply.
Slow Food Nation featured a huge consortium of lectures and events examining the changing face of farming. “We are looking at more changes in farming in the next 50 years than we’ve seen in the last 100,” said Fred Kirschenmann, a fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State.
The era of “cheap energy” is over, said Kirschenmann, and farming is “fossil fuel dependent” at every level from fertilizer to farm equipment. “Imagine a world in which oil is $300 a barrel. The current food crisis is the tip of the iceberg,” he predicted.
The agricultural productivity we’ve enjoyed in the last several generations can be explained not only through our technological advances, but because of a stable climate — and that climate is changing.
Kirschenmann asked, “What kind of agriculture will we have in this future? That’s what we have to imagine now... (These changes) will require the brightest, most dedicated farmers we’ve ever had.”
The declaration is a first step to push policymakers in a new direction to meet this future.
Good policy, said Dimock, will make farmers “heroes of the 21st century.”
