watching my corn pop up in rows

The "maverick" is touting his disagreements with Washington establishment again. At least, that is what neo-cons and his campaign would like anyone watching the progress of the Farm Bill to believe. They are touting the fact that Obama is for the Farm Bill (never mind that he didn't actually vote) and that McCain is against it--so Obama is upholding the subsidies given to wealthy farmers and McCain is stepping in to prevent pork-barrel politics.

Now, if US citizens actually paid attention to the FB--which they should, considering it is a $370 billion package that encompasses everything from food production to prices to international aid to environmental conservation--they would not fall for the likes of David Brooks when he writes in the NYT that Obama is the one serving special interest groups.

First, let's break down this bill. According to CNN.com, $300 billion of the bill goes toward nutrition programs. $40 billion is for subsidies. And $30 billion is for environmental conservation. In no universe (save maybe those entrepreneurs minimally involved in farming who make nearly $1M and receive subsidies) is this bill a quality bill. It does nothing to change the industrial mindset of agriculture in this country. The conservation measures, although authorized in funding, will likely not receive the actual funds.

But to call McCain a maverick for voting against is to obscure truth about his motives. The primary problem with the FB is that--as Bush noted as he vetoed the bill--it hampers US farmers' access to foreign markets. McCain, above almost anything else, is an economic liberal who believes that markets should stay open and free at any expense. When the US subsidizes its farmers, it creates limitations in global trade. International law does not allow for subsidized agriculture to be traded freely.

For those who don't understand why unrestrained free trade in agriculture actually creates hunger rather than alleviates it, take the example of Mexico. Because of NAFTA, US farmers sell their corn in Mexico. However, due to the low cost of production of corn in the US, corn from here sells at a lower price. Considering the rural economy of Mexico, the price undercut forces many from work as farmers due to the lack of profit. Farmers can't compete, they move to the city, they don't earn money...it's a compounding process. And now prices for imported corn have increased due to the use of ethanol as an "alternative" fuel (don't get me started) and there is a lack of production within Mexico, so those that are poor cannot afford their traditional sustenance, the tortilla. Did you know that with beans, a tortilla makes a complete protein? Therefore, even if an individual is only able to obtain beans and tortillas, they can remain relatively healthy. However, due to the high price of corn and lack of supply, Mexicans are turning to processed foods such as Cup'o'noodles.

Advocating trade that is unabashedly free rather than fair does little to help anyone except corporations. It has far-reaching effects that change peoples' lives throughout the globe. While it would be wonderful if both McCain and Obama would speak out against the subsidies included in the Farm Bill, to laud McCain for voting against it only obscures the larger picture. The problem with this farm bill is not that it's doing too much for agribusiness, but rather it is doing too little.


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Now playing: Panic At The Disco - Folkin' Around
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Slow Down--Where Are You Taking Yourself Now?

I found a heroine.

Every movement needs its hero, and the local food movement has Alice Waters. She founded Chez Panisse in the 1970s and she is also the founder of the Edible Schoolyards program. She is all about local, fresh, being involved with the food. She also recognizes the necessity of atmosphere, about the way a place looks, about hominess, about having a place for people to come together.

She started CP when she was 27. 27! That's a year older than I. So what for me?

The more I read about food, about agriculture, about the environment, the more that I know that this is where my heart is. I know that I want to be part of the movement toward local food, to encourage people to buy from local producers, to realize what it is like to taste something picked a few hours ago or to have an egg that was just hatched this morning. The decrease in biodiversity worries me. The idea of agribusiness in our country shoving out small producers in other nations infuriates me.

So I have that much. I know what I love and and what makes me angry and what makes me passionate. And where do I go from there? Maybe I don't know yet. I know that I want to start a community garden. This city is has such little access to food. It also has so many empty lots. I'm sure it's tough to grow crops in this climate, but there must be something we can do. I know also I want to be involved in writing about this. I feel like I've been so focused on this vague dream of writing a novel when really, my skills lie in expositional writing. I love the research, I love the communication, I love organizing so that someone reads it and gets it.

Where will this all lead me? Again, I don't have to know yet. But I'm tired of it just being an idea in the back of my mind. Since I was little, I wanted to save the world and I wanted to write. I remember writing about the environment, in fact. When, if not now?

There are so many pieces to this. I'm going to have to really think hard about eating local...I pay attention, but sometimes I can't resist the Washington apples or California strawberries (although I'm still laughing about the sign in whole foods that told me that the watsonville strawberries might be damaged by the san diego fires). I need to learn how to keep one plant alive and see if I can do some container gardening. I want to get better at my cooking and learn to pay attention to each individual ingredient. And, of course, I feel this need to tell the world about it...probably starting here in this blog.
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Now playing: Jack's Mannequin - I'm Ready
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Distance Rips Us Further and Further Away

So today is Blog Action Day, with the theme centered on raising awareness of issues regarding the environment. It seems appropriate then that I write about something that I'm so passionate about...although I wasn't aware that there's actually a name for it until just a few months ago.

Agroecology: an ecological approach to agriculture that views agricultural areas as ecosystems and is concerned with the ecological impact of agricultural practices (http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/agroecology)

Getting closer with...
Agroecology: the science of sustainable agriculture; the methods of agroecology have as their goal achieving sustainability of agricultural systems balanced in all spheres. This includes the socio-economic and the ecological or environmental (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agroecology).

And what I find most interesting...
Agroecology: ecological knowledge is used to inform human management of nature for the production of natural products for human use in ways that minimize environmental impacts (http://envs.ucsc.edu/graduate/) because it adds another lens to look through: examine the deeper social processes through which the institutions that structure our social and ecological agendas have been constructed.

Clearly this can be a series of blogs rather than just one--maybe that's the point of this blog action day. So I'll start with one question for you to ponder--from where does the majority of your food come? This is a question that is popping up more and more in the consciousness of people in the US--from articles in the New York Times to best sellers such as The Omnivore's Dilemma and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Living Locally to the new Buy Local signage being displayed in Whole Foods stores.

Have you noticed? Do you pay attention? When you hit up the produce aisle, do you turn over the apples to see if they are from Washington or New Zealand, do you refuse to buy a peach when it's from Chile rather than Georgia, does it matter to you if your lettuce travels three thousand miles?

It should. In addition to the fact that the fresher your food is, the better it tastes (don't believe me? Eat peas straight from the vine or pick blackberries on the side of the road in August...do they really compare?), we are sending our food on near-pointless journeys in many cases. Why, in Louisiana, are my peaches coming from California??? In addition to the ridiculous amounts of fuel being used to truck these items across the land, we are also using oil to keep the trucks refrigerated and the storehouses cool.

I'm not saying I'm perfect, by no means. Sometimes I need those Driscoll's strawberries. But the fact is that, for the most part, the less your food has traveled the less impact it will have on the environment. What are some ways to find local foods? Grow it yourself, obviously. Shop at local grocers--they're more likely to carry regional foods (in Louisiana, that's Rouse's). Find your farmer's market. Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture, you get the freshest produce).

What are you doing to reduce your ecological footprint? Does your mouth know what your foot is doing?

More to come in the next few weeks...