Control the food, control the people. I'm proud to say that that I've advocated to buy local for over 30 years..(I'm 55). I've helped start local farmers markets... Currently working on starting a large community garden in my rural Oklahoma area. I'm hoping to teach people to grow/raise/preserve their food! If we help people with knowledge & skill building..they are less dependent on Corporate America.
Loved this! Thank you for producing an excellent and hopeful documentary on how to address the results of decades of neoliberal lies and corporate greed. I'd love to see everyone watch this!
Joal Salatin and Greg Judy have shown how to do this in a sustainable, scalable and with very little to zero outside inputs. Best of all they make good money doing it.
Joel and Greg are doing much to demonstrate grass-fed/finished meat sustainability but don't forget Gabe Brown in SD. He is demonstrating how no-till grain farming is possible and profitable.
Yes, yes. There are a host of regenerative farmers and ranchers who use little to no inputs outside the farm gate, do not till, have diverse cover crops, create highly organic & carbon rich soil, and include grass-fed livestock for best benefits to soil. They run profitable, resilient operations. Understanding Ag is one great resource for info on regenerative farming in N. America.
2 роки тому+2
@@Lavasalsa1 I was going to say exactly that! Gabe is a great inspiration. But we must also include urban farming.
This myth needs to end. The amount of meat they produce per acre is laughable. It's really not hard to figure out, how many calories does an acre of grass produce...how many calories does an acre of corn produce. It's not even close, corn is way ahead, meaning less land. I think I saw a calculation on how many planets we would need to consume the current amount of beef using only grass fed and it was something like 4.5 earths.. It's all fancy marketing to get you to pay more.
Financial Times, I am disappointed you let USDA off the hook for driving small farms out of business. During the 1970s, Earl Butz was Secretary of Agriculture who crowed to family farms, “Get big or get out.”
I ripped out my lawn in the front yard and put in 30 ft by 4 ft cedar beds. Singed up for a free wood chip drop and mulched the ground around the beds. I have had so much abundance that I was able to share with neighbors and friends and the food bank. Taking matters into my own hands.
@@eagledice2008not everyone lives in an HOA.. it's something like 30% that do. Not to mention, most people have backyards where they can grow in even in an HOA.
decades ago there was a study that showed that 'Italian' backyard farming was far more energy efficient than corporate farming. Like solar the long term solution if each home supplies itself as much as possible.
That just doesn't work. Climate and soil quality is king, and not even close to everyone even HAVE backyards. There's a reason why *Italy* has it. Everyone trying to provide for themselves also causes food insecurity when it disincentives larger scale production that can better cope with crises like natural disasters, bad crop yield years, and plant diseases.
I"m one of the people that doesn't even HAVE a yard - like so many Canadian urban residents. The Government has systematically funnelled people into easily controllable and profitable (for the overlords) cities - and sytematically cut Canadians off from life in the hinterland. Almost everything outside the 'urban containment boundary' is either corporate controlled farmland or 'Crown Land' leased to forestry and mining corporations. A captive population makes a great 'market' - they have to pay, and pay more, or starve.
1000s of generations of humans grew their own food up until 1950s time frame when refridgeration was invented and then food came from a grocery store that bought it from mega farms....great system but it leaves all of us vulnerable to the food supply chain
Outstanding analysis of what it behind ever-increasing scale and intensification in the American food system. And, conversely what is driving small farmers out of business. Although some of this isn’t so blindingly obvious in the UK, many of the same factors are at work here too. This is the first penetrating and perceptive piece I have seen from the FT on food and agriculture, while it is generally so good on almost everything else. Rana Foroohar adds an important balancing perspective after the very upbeat section on vertical farming, but could also have added that once the pioneers crack the technology, which they appear to be doing, its very high-tech, factory characteristics, mean this sector too will be ripe for takeover by the corporations. She might also have added some balance on the piece about engineering plants to fix their own nitrogen. Yes, if it is successful, it could reduce production costs and also have some impact in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with nitrogen fertiliser production, transport and use. But at the same time, it will also make it easier for the continuation of exploitative cash cropping, which is degrading soils and biodiversity decline, when it really needs a return to mixed farming, where crops and livestock are genuinely integrated, and weeds, pests and diseases are controlled by balanced cropping rotations that include a grass and forage legume phase. That may be too big a step even to contemplate in the US at present, but ultimately it’s the only long term solution. Richard Young, Sustainable Food Trust
There is a big disconnect if you can't grow simple stuff in your back yard and if local farmers can't go to local farmers markets and also sell their meats...
@@CM-sy3to Dead wrong. Deregulation was the goal of globalization, i.e. if you can't deregulate your current environment, move it offshore. Unless you're talking about HOA not letting people grow a garden, there are very few US government regulations preventing people from growing a garden and selling it at farmers markets. I go to a farmers market evry weekend and see plenty of hard working small farmers, maybe put down the joint, turn off Joe Rogan, and get your hands dirty.
Great comment, thanks for the critiques. And yeah. Leaving the whole diversity of the ecosystem intact is the only way to sustain the ecosystem at the end of the day and technology should just support that, there isn't a substitute for that. Seems like that would be obvious. What are we trying to sustain other than the ecosystems themselves?
As a son of grandparents who were farmers for generations, I have grown up far removed from the fields and survived the city to be raised in the suburbs. Probably because I'm a child of the 60s, I have been a backyard gardener and small game grower since I served in the Marine Corps. I worked on a large, profitable plantation in the deep south as I paid my way through college. Thus, I have some experience in the evolution of modern agriculture. This first installment of a serious series about globalization and its impacts on humanity touched me profoundly. I learned, a long time ago, that whoever controls the food supply of a population also controls the people dependent upon it. In my experience, "Corporate citizens" are not just concerned with the efficiency of food monopolies; they are driven to keep control of the power that the money amassed brings by wielding the closed distribution of an essential component of life. In essence, they are merely food instead of drug "dealers". The uber-rich are not concerned that the masses purchase nutritious foods in perpetuity; they are myopically focused on short-term assured profits to line their coffers. In contrast, MAGA people, at a minimum, understand this type of manipulation at least subconsciously, but somehow they remain duped by the sway of an elite cynical, narcissistic multi-national confidence man. Therefore people with a hinterland mindset will likely never recover the goal of independence of body, mind, and spirit that made the United States united. Pity.
The problem is inevitable as long as capitalism is allowed to be our ideology. Many people have always understood this issue intuitively, the problem is the millions the billionaires spend trying to divert our attention. That's what MAGA, and all reactionary fascist movements are born from is the need for Capital to defend itself as the inevitable collapse and uprising forms from the nature of contradictions and exploitation in a capitalist system. Neo-liberals like to pretend there isn't a coherent definition of fascism, because it indicts capital, but the socialist movement has always known what it is. It consolidates power behind a strong man that serves corporate interest through the romanticizing of nationalism and cultural myths. It serves to shift the alienation and anger away from capital and corporations and onto internal and external scapegoats so they can consolidate power to "fight" the enemy and under that excuse they destroy and pillage wealth from one place or people to give it to the loyal and consolidate power. That destruction allows for a synthetic new opportunity for "growth" for the loyal to stave off the contradiction of infinite growth in a finite environment. That's why socialism and fascism are permanent and clear enemies. They are both reactions to the breakdown of capitalism at it's inevitable end. One indicts capitalism and advocates for evolving beyond commodified production owned by a few to community production owned by the workers and community. The other exists only to destroy that idea by any means and maintain control of the people through control of production and the extraction of wealth created by the workers. The problem we have in this country is they have succeeded in destroying the collective memory of our society for alternatives in socialist ideas, and completely indoctrinated every person and our media to assume capitalism as the norm and defend it without knowledge or critique. And they will kill as many of as as they need to to make sure it stays that way as they have in the past.
Self Reliance.... 1. Plant a food forest 2. Install water catchment (use solar or ram pump to pump water into raised tank for storage and gravity feed) 3. Install solar power and GEO THERMAL heating/cooling systems
No such thing as a food forest. Forests grow timber, orchards grow food. Years of life and thousands of dollars I've seen wasted by people tricked by so-called permaculture designers into this f,f, scam.
I grew up on a small family dairy farm. A farm in my backyard? Yes, please! Not only is it VERY good to be close to food production, but animals usually make better neighbours than people do.
I'm a Brit living in Switzerland, and the 2 things these countries farms have in common, is inappropriate agricultural land area for the populations they need to support. The UK has the sea and fishing, while the alps are used for grazing cattle, but these differences are eclipsed by the mentality of the populous, and the government support framework that allows independence of the Swiss model... Companies in Switzerland have to (at their expense) hold a minimum of 6 months supply of goods that can't be domestically produced (like coffee). This shielded the country from supply shocks. But the love of the people of "made in Switzerland" and their willingness to spend on it, despite the proximity of 3 soft border, cheap food nations to the north, west and south is what keeps the system functioning, hand in hand with government subsidies. When people value their communities over their personal consumption, they will flourish. But the trick is in enabling people to make choices... Food poverty removes choice, just as monopolistic control removes selection.
I agree that the trick consists of people, more specifically consumer behavior. Where and how they spend their money is important to sustain healthy farms. As important as being politically engaged in politics at all levels. It’s amazing what happens at the local level.
And the laws around "contraband" which included cheaper food items from across those three soft borders . You can't bulk buy cheap meat ( months supply) and bring it back home in Switzerland .
12 percent of income on food is ridiculously low. Americans don't realise how lucky they are. Also, if people paid for the value of food that's produced sustainably and grown for maximum nutrition, not maximum profit, we would all be spending way more. As an Australian farmer, it annoys me when I hear people who know nothing of growing food complain about the cost of food when it is already way too cheap. It can be hard to make a living as a farmer due to the retail monopolies setting prices for us.
Stop selling the food to the large companies and only grow enough of certain foods to support the area you grow in. Choose of who you support with your produce Thank you for feeding our future 💖
Exactly. People are in for a shock when oil runs out and that leads to production costs increasing. The times we live in rely heavily on hydrocarbons being unlocked. I'm in the UK, some food is ridiculously cheap.
@@Youcanttouchmyhandle you think it’s that easy when it not . If a farmer sign a contract with corporate it’s usually a long term which those farmers grandfather sign . If they try to break that contract the corporation will take their land or freeze its money .
this video and many others like it are proof that we are seeing the beginning of shift in consciousness around how we produce and consume food. No doubt, It'll be the greatest revolution and innovation of our time
When I see good videos like this I usually take my time to appreciate the experts who make these videos possible, it's not easy to help a lot of people make money
Absolutely amazing film I’m a farmers daughter from the Uk I love these American farmers they need our support, we need to produce local and support each other locally, it saves on the environment, nutrients and community. And brings back community I love you guys
This was interesting. I was vegetarian for 15 years and have now been wfpb vegan for the last 15 ongoing years. I appreciate that you included the land degradation and loss of biodiversity. I have over 2,000 sg ft of native perennial plants, no chemicals or fertilizers, and we mow only two times a year. I think we should do the best we can, protecting birds (lights out, window protection, limit pesticides) and other beings. Restoration should be a top priority, do as much as we can. Will we collectively work together?
Why would people work collectively together? We don't have a homogeneous or cohesive society anymore. 60 years of leftism and neoliberalism has destroyed that.
I can appreciate where your at, but a pure, clean farm is an ecosystem, and ecosystems are a combination of many species of plants, animals and insects, mostly kept in tact by ruminates.
@@LtColDaddy71 but don't forget that on a truly diverse farm there is way less need for ruminants. When the soil becomes healthy from years of regenerative ag techniques, and proper care is taken not to turn over the soil, keeping cover crops all year round in the soil, using a machine to cute the crops, using worms to increase the biodiversity of the soil, you don't need so many ruminants as we have today.
@@mayap6055 mechanically terminating / mowing when you can have animals do it for you, and fertilize by upping the value of the green manure in their rumens doesn’t seem right to me. One thing we need is diversity of ruminants. Super heavies in very small numbers, and many many lightweights that will marble up better on grass. Close the feedlots, keep them on grass. Also, why is the US rejecting sheep / lamb. Goat, it’s really good as well.
@@LtColDaddy71 Ruminants have nothing to do with the 'definition' of a clean farm or an ecosystem for that matter. That's just your own personal opinion, but it is not inherently true. Not by a long shot. Although such animals might serve a measure of usefulness, they are not intrinsic to a productive, sustainable food production system.
Indoor farming for large-scale food production? The energy required to artificially control the climate will nullify the gains and put stress on energy production sources. Looks like plenty has plenty of stakes in this film.
A truly great presentation of exposing the hidden truth of our modern economic world, how we may head back to monarchy like situations once again in the cover of democracy . very much correct vision of our future is portrayed...deglobalise at least in our food supply chains....
Great to see a doc on this topic from a more mainstream perspective, but I think you guys really missed an opportunity here to showcase the potential of small-scale regenerative agriculture. Go to a permaculture farm and show the absolute abundance we can share with the land!
My late father is small time farmer it's extremely hard work and very little money in it,,.. most urban dwellers don't even think farmers exist... what they usually knew that if you want food you can order it or go to the market...
Your 1/2 yard can produce enough food for 5-6 people for the whole year....plant fruit trees, berry bushes, strawberries, grape vines, asparagus, etc.......YOU can do it. turn your YARD into a FOOD FOREST
I don't see how the monopoly won't still be an issue or gmo won't be. You do realize that we don't have to modify crops to turn into a self fertilizing plant when we already have that with companion planting & cover crops, etc. This was a very interesting video & I look forward to the other's.
Allowing foreign corporations to purchase farmland and large food processing companies in one's own country is not helping food security or small farmers start out. We've got an aging farmer problem in the US that is driven out by government policies and decisions.
Would have been fantastic to have heard of some mention of combating food waste - fixing a big hole in the bucket - feeding unavoidable food waste to pigs would also help. Excellent video, really impressed with FT documentaries.
Freedom only exists if YOU control your food/water/energy... 1. Stock up on food now, 2. Plant a food forest on your property, 3. install water catchment system, 4. install solar generator, 5. arm yourself to protect yourself and family
@New Tunes For Old Logos Mark Shepard has proven that scale works. Also, the Financial Times did a piece on the stupid vertical farming which doesn't come close to the output of New Forest Farm.
@New Tunes For Old Logos in his book he outlines how he produces more calories per acre than conventional farming. He produces one tenth the output of any one crop but he's growing like 20 different crops at once.
@New Tunes For Old Logos the book is really good, especially if you do any sort of gardening pr farming on your own. It inspired me to buy some land and plant some tree
Wow! I haven't read your paper in years. I have to say I never expected this kind of film from you...very happy to see you pushing the truth. Thank you!
Wow this is such good news, the Financial Times behind this amazing video, the world will change when the people sitting on the pension funds and the billions of billions understand this and put their money to support a new economic and food system! Congrats to whoever proposed this inside FT! Bravo, and cheers from Argentina😍
kudos! i totally support Joe policy. although large commercial poultry company do make sense too but small farmer should be given equal competitive environment to thrive.
Farmers have the best place to raise a family. Nice statement and we need population growth. The Hydroponics segment identified the Labour / Land / Capital mix as it is, has priced Land out of the formula leading to Capital Intensive farming. I have two points from this. First, Land is not properly priced to facilitate a healthy society. The second is that I feel the produce grown from healthy land is "Better" then something grown in a controlled environment. The DARPA lady talks about playing with plants using science. How would one swap the Nitrogen bacteria from Legumes to other plants? Ya, science can do almost anything these days; however, same with my second point on hydroponics, I'd like to see the soil bacteria and fungal network do their work. Studying how these symbiotic relationships work is fantastic but man taking control of this thinking they understand all the nuances is a bit arrogant. What I'm not seeing in this episode but hope the follow up episodes covers is the movement for smaller family farms. Permaculture and a number of techniques within its envelope is not covered. The movement of people away from the Cities into the wilderness to "Homestead" not addressed. Corporations and the wealthy have managed to create multiple monopolies, facilitating different needs of our lives. In turn, they have created laws to obstruct others from entering or disrupting them. The undertone within this episode starts to peal back some layers and I thank you for providing this aspect within this episode.
It is possible that some of these points of yours will be addressed in the remaining episodes. I hope. BTW, your last point is true in nearly all aspect of business, not just agriculture.
Food should not be exported for profit; it should be sold domestically & locally first, and the "leftovers" or "extras" to be sold overseas or to whoever needs them...
@@gregorymalchuk272 We don't cause starvation in other places, they cause their own due to bad farming methods or over grazing. We have been helping people around the world by giving them food. But To really help fix their problem is to help them farm, and regenerate their forest and irrigation systems. This is the real fix. So later, they provide their own food by farming on their own land.
I think that it is great that more and more people are awakening, and realizing that we need to rethink our food system. About the way to do it, seems to me that the solutions proposed in this video, Vertical farms, and GMOs, keep the same problem. Control and profit in the hands of a few and lack of resilience. I've been researching about this for a few years and, in my opinion, permaculture can be a better solution. Thanks for the video. All the best.
I like Molly Jahn's idea of GMO. Select genes that makes plants disease/pest resistant in order to reduce or don't use pesticides while also improving the land. This is what GMO should be not how Monsanto does it.
We can feed our own communities the key words are " WE " and " Can " encourage and support your local growers ! Look for ways to give them the resources and supplies they need .
Farmers who grow real organic food for us to eat are true treasures. Corporate modern industrialized farmers are poison lots. They are dying out because we know who they are now, And will avoid them like the plague.
Congrats you all are going in the right direction. The answer and solution for food crises starts when people stop producing their own food, like in the old days everyone had their own supplies of potatoes, fruits and vegetables. Lets rethink about the old ways America..... urbanization its not the answer
These videos are the first thing that I have seen since the 2016 election…….that is giving me hope that it was all for something and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Regulation is how they concentrate power, regulation is why they are monopolies, regulation is what is keeping the little guy down. Wolves in sheeps clothing offer regulations as protection. Those regulations will be written by the monopolies and promised by the politicians as tools to protect little guys from monopolies.
85% of the population lives in cities. Fed by mass agriculture with health conditions running rampant. Imagine what diversity of food could offer for health alone. Local food is the key. Consumers have the power.
Stay on the subject. Small family farms are endangered. But there is hope. They are better than the corporations in many way.
2 роки тому+3
There should have been more emphasis on urban farming, backyard farms, and less on these high-tech solutions. Can a plant which has never grown in soil and never felt the sun, be really healthy? We need to look at the question of plant vitality. I am sure that factory plants cannot have the same vitality as plants raised in soil with incredible micro- and macro-biodiversity . To compare the factory plants with Central Valley as the only comparison is too simplistic in light of the enormous impulse for home gardening/homesteading which ias happening at this time.
There is definitely more potential for an immediate return on investment by utilizing all of the places a grass monoculture is considered mandatory and turning them into food-producing spaces.
More government is not the answer it is the problem. Big government and big corporations have combined to create this problem. Grow food local and encourage the local sources for protein and vegetables. My wife and I started a Farmers Market and a community garden. We are doing our share to change the system.
The big farms got big because of government regulations. It was BIG GOVERNMENT under Nixon who created mega farms under farm policy that regulated the small farmers out of business. They had the option of selling out or having to invest in "safety" measures like bulk milk tanks for dairy farmers that would take a decade of work to pay for.
I feel that I have just fallen in love with the idea of farming... im not sure How i would feel about it in practice. We have 2 alloments and a few birds and i love it, farming on a big scale is a game changer!
Excellent at explaining the problems, what a shame you missed the solutions. Regenerative agriculture and permaculture offer so much more than these gizmo-driven, high tech propositions. The history of agriculture shows that the more we fight with nature, the more problems we create. There is a movement that is tackling these problems in ways that are good for both humans and the planet - but the companies in this film ain't it.
Food forests in every yard and park. Seeds and soil inputs tax free. Subsidies for local food production and distribution. Plant and seed swaps. Free municipal compost delivered to local depots. Collected paper and cardboard made available for lasagna or no dig gardening. In general attack the problem with policy at the local level.
Rana - this was a really well made film. Really enjoyed it and hope that you continue to make such films and start to bring out some real issues that are causing the structiral issues within our economy. So thanks again! P.S. - Just borrowed your book Homecoming to read alongside as I watch this 3 part series.
GoldBankker Prairie Mimosa Research is developing a variety of Nitrogen fixing legumes. Regenerative agriculture will not be optional when you can't access traditional agriculture.
Very interesting. Especially the part about DARPA funding genetic modification of plants so they become better adapted and need less chemical additives (fertiliser).
The current system has got us to mono crops and chemicals. It would be much better for people to eat local and seasonal and worry so much about the blemishes.
I am not all impressed. I think these lab based approaches were causes of problems and we are following similar approaches to fix them. We think we understand science better than nature, but we mostly apply single dimensional approach where as nature works in multidimensional way. Yes biological based farming is the ultimate thing but do not try to produce biologies in the labs. Let nature do that based on the need of each ecosystem. Our job should be to understand natural ways as much as possible so that we refrain from throwing spanner in nature's spinning wheel. Remember there no one microbe capable of producing miracle, it is a diverse set of numerous micro-organisms that help produce quality stuff. Natural stuffs are proven, do not replace them with lab based products.
Your tech indoor farmer is wrong. Does he realize how extractive mining and toxic metals were mind and land in Africa was permanently damaged and destroyed for his experiment? Simple local land farming will never be replaced. Land stewardship is a career of the future. Other countries are not ignorant. Warehouse farming is in for a rude surprise when India no longer wants to support western extraction.
America taking about globalisation killing agriculture is a bit rich considering how isolated it is from the rest of the world through tariffs and non tariff barriers, especially subsidies, which the Americans use as if they're going out of style
Very interesting video, much of this I was already aware of. What I am doing is on a small scale. I have filled my personal home’s backyard with fruit trees, berry bushes, and a large veggie garden (and a compost area). I may also add a chicken coop soon since it’s allowed. My vacation rental has a greenhouse that I’m converting to an educational experience about gardening and home food production so guests can learn if they want to. I’ve also got indoor hydroponic gardening systems (one expensive pretty one and one,rather ugly, cheap DIY version).
1 acre of land can produce up to 50,000 lbs of food. Humans eating 3 lbs of food a day would need 1,000 lbs per year per person...America could quickly work as a nation to get back to self reliance by planting fruit trees and many other kinds of FOOD producing plants.
How comes these people consistently vote in politicians who are all about deregulation and small government, which automatically leaves the field open for big corporations?
This efficent food supply chain is the reason why Americans are spending 12% on food instead of 50%. Yes I too believe monoculture big agri firms are part of problem. But you can't dismantle system without providing alternative. Now talk about globalization, it was great idea. More efficient companies will win. China didn't take USA jobs because nobody in USA wants a job which pay less than $5. It is high paying service sectors jobs that aren't available to Americans because USA has opened door for immigrants without any realization of downward push on wages.
Me and millions of Americans have been saying this since the 70s. It's not just food It's everything
It is finally happening ✌️
Well thanks to the internet, youtube, people are finally getting "clued in", sure wasn't "public school" that got us here.
hundreds of millions around the world have been saying it since the rise of capitalism.
Control the food, control the people.
I'm proud to say that that I've advocated to buy local for over 30 years..(I'm 55).
I've helped start local farmers markets...
Currently working on starting a large community garden in my rural Oklahoma area. I'm hoping to teach people to grow/raise/preserve their food!
If we help people with knowledge & skill building..they are less dependent on Corporate America.
❤👍
Trying for the same and much respect for your commitment over time. Local food equals local culture which equals Place and intracultural diversity.
@@hhwippedcream thank you
Most folks have directives from their lifeline
Hope you reach out to films gardening in the are. Ask about needs and preclusions. You rock!
Loved this! Thank you for producing an excellent and hopeful documentary on how to address the results of decades of neoliberal lies and corporate greed. I'd love to see everyone watch this!
Joal Salatin and Greg Judy have shown how to do this in a sustainable, scalable and with very little to zero outside inputs. Best of all they make good money doing it.
Joel and Greg are doing much to demonstrate grass-fed/finished meat sustainability but don't forget Gabe Brown in SD. He is demonstrating how no-till grain farming is possible and profitable.
Yes, yes. There are a host of regenerative farmers and ranchers who use little to no inputs outside the farm gate, do not till, have diverse cover crops, create highly organic & carbon rich soil, and include grass-fed livestock for best benefits to soil. They run profitable, resilient operations. Understanding Ag is one great resource for info on regenerative farming in N. America.
@@Lavasalsa1 I was going to say exactly that!
Gabe is a great inspiration. But we must also include urban farming.
I was thinking the same thing. Not a mention of regenerative agriculture in this video.
This myth needs to end. The amount of meat they produce per acre is laughable. It's really not hard to figure out, how many calories does an acre of grass produce...how many calories does an acre of corn produce. It's not even close, corn is way ahead, meaning less land. I think I saw a calculation on how many planets we would need to consume the current amount of beef using only grass fed and it was something like 4.5 earths.. It's all fancy marketing to get you to pay more.
Financial Times, I am disappointed you let USDA off the hook for driving small farms out of business. During the 1970s, Earl Butz was Secretary of Agriculture who crowed to family farms, “Get big or get out.”
It's a 44 minute video that does not gloss over the cozy relationship between corporate American and it's government. I was rather impressed.
You can’t blame the USDA. You have to look at who was the Executive (aka President) in charge when these policies were implemented.
I’m a firm believer that the Great Depression was designed to bankrupt the family farmers. It’s been down hill since.
I ripped out my lawn in the front yard and put in 30 ft by 4 ft cedar beds. Singed up for a free wood chip drop and mulched the ground around the beds. I have had so much abundance that I was able to share with neighbors and friends and the food bank. Taking matters into my own hands.
The HOA's in America are wild I hope you survived them 🤣
Nice story 👌 👏 👍 😅
@@combatmedic91-b76 True story, got about 50 pepper plants and 30 tomato plants as starts right now to go out in the garden in a couple more months
@@eagledice2008not everyone lives in an HOA.. it's something like 30% that do. Not to mention, most people have backyards where they can grow in even in an HOA.
decades ago there was a study that showed that 'Italian' backyard farming was far more energy efficient than corporate farming. Like solar the long term solution if each home supplies itself as much as possible.
There's no going back to that without collapse.
@@theuglykwan why?
That just doesn't work. Climate and soil quality is king, and not even close to everyone even HAVE backyards. There's a reason why *Italy* has it.
Everyone trying to provide for themselves also causes food insecurity when it disincentives larger scale production that can better cope with crises like natural disasters, bad crop yield years, and plant diseases.
@@Hjernespreng You totally don't get it. Italian back yard refers to Toronto. growing your own is to decentralize. same as Solar, wind, geo etc...
I"m one of the people that doesn't even HAVE a yard - like so many Canadian urban residents. The Government has systematically funnelled people into easily controllable and profitable (for the overlords) cities - and sytematically cut Canadians off from life in the hinterland. Almost everything outside the 'urban containment boundary' is either corporate controlled farmland or 'Crown Land' leased to forestry and mining corporations. A captive population makes a great 'market' - they have to pay, and pay more, or starve.
1000s of generations of humans grew their own food up until 1950s time frame when refridgeration was invented and then food came from a grocery store that bought it from mega farms....great system but it leaves all of us vulnerable to the food supply chain
This documentary is an absolute Masterpiece. Thank you Rana Foroohar!!
Outstanding analysis of what it behind ever-increasing scale and intensification in the American food system. And, conversely what is driving small farmers out of business. Although some of this isn’t so blindingly obvious in the UK, many of the same factors are at work here too. This is the first penetrating and perceptive piece I have seen from the FT on food and agriculture, while it is generally so good on almost everything else. Rana Foroohar adds an important balancing perspective after the very upbeat section on vertical farming, but could also have added that once the pioneers crack the technology, which they appear to be doing, its very high-tech, factory characteristics, mean this sector too will be ripe for takeover by the corporations. She might also have added some balance on the piece about engineering plants to fix their own nitrogen. Yes, if it is successful, it could reduce production costs and also have some impact in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with nitrogen fertiliser production, transport and use. But at the same time, it will also make it easier for the continuation of exploitative cash cropping, which is degrading soils and biodiversity decline, when it really needs a return to mixed farming, where crops and livestock are genuinely integrated, and weeds, pests and diseases are controlled by balanced cropping rotations that include a grass and forage legume phase. That may be too big a step even
to contemplate in the US at present, but ultimately it’s the only long term solution. Richard Young, Sustainable Food Trust
There is a big disconnect if you can't grow simple stuff in your back yard and if local farmers can't go to local farmers markets and also sell their meats...
It isn't deregulation, it is big government regulation that makes it illegal or financially impossible to grow ones own food and sell the public.
@@CM-sy3to Dead wrong. Deregulation was the goal of globalization, i.e. if you can't deregulate your current environment, move it offshore. Unless you're talking about HOA not letting people grow a garden, there are very few US government regulations preventing people from growing a garden and selling it at farmers markets. I go to a farmers market evry weekend and see plenty of hard working small farmers, maybe put down the joint, turn off Joe Rogan, and get your hands dirty.
Great comment, thanks for the critiques. And yeah. Leaving the whole diversity of the ecosystem intact is the only way to sustain the ecosystem at the end of the day and technology should just support that, there isn't a substitute for that. Seems like that would be obvious. What are we trying to sustain other than the ecosystems themselves?
Your property SHOULD have...
1. Food forest (fruit trees, berry bushes, bee hives, worm bins, chickens, etc...)
2. Fish farm/fish pond (each state should encourage fish farming )
3. aquaponics, hydroponics, etc.....
4. solar generator, gasifier, wood burning stoves, geo thermal energy...
Trying to avoid use of gas and chemicals …..
Compost and water collection. And sinking water into the land with rain garden or swales.
@Tim's & Liam's~ Koi, Reptiles, Turtles & Fishies pneumonia?
Or as much of it as you can do - not everyone has a property big enough for it all. Even city people can grow a few boxes of salad.
As a son of grandparents who were farmers for generations, I have grown up far removed from the fields and survived the city to be raised in the suburbs. Probably because I'm a child of the 60s, I have been a backyard gardener and small game grower since I served in the Marine Corps. I worked on a large, profitable plantation in the deep south as I paid my way through college. Thus, I have some experience in the evolution of modern agriculture. This first installment of a serious series about globalization and its impacts on humanity touched me profoundly. I learned, a long time ago, that whoever controls the food supply of a population also controls the people dependent upon it. In my experience, "Corporate citizens" are not just concerned with the efficiency of food monopolies; they are driven to keep control of the power that the money amassed brings by wielding the closed distribution of an essential component of life. In essence, they are merely food instead of drug "dealers". The uber-rich are not concerned that the masses purchase nutritious foods in perpetuity; they are myopically focused on short-term assured profits to line their coffers. In contrast, MAGA people, at a minimum, understand this type of manipulation at least subconsciously, but somehow they remain duped by the sway of an elite cynical, narcissistic multi-national confidence man. Therefore people with a hinterland mindset will likely never recover the goal of independence of body, mind, and spirit that made the United States united. Pity.
The problem is inevitable as long as capitalism is allowed to be our ideology. Many people have always understood this issue intuitively, the problem is the millions the billionaires spend trying to divert our attention. That's what MAGA, and all reactionary fascist movements are born from is the need for Capital to defend itself as the inevitable collapse and uprising forms from the nature of contradictions and exploitation in a capitalist system.
Neo-liberals like to pretend there isn't a coherent definition of fascism, because it indicts capital, but the socialist movement has always known what it is. It consolidates power behind a strong man that serves corporate interest through the romanticizing of nationalism and cultural myths. It serves to shift the alienation and anger away from capital and corporations and onto internal and external scapegoats so they can consolidate power to "fight" the enemy and under that excuse they destroy and pillage wealth from one place or people to give it to the loyal and consolidate power. That destruction allows for a synthetic new opportunity for "growth" for the loyal to stave off the contradiction of infinite growth in a finite environment.
That's why socialism and fascism are permanent and clear enemies. They are both reactions to the breakdown of capitalism at it's inevitable end. One indicts capitalism and advocates for evolving beyond commodified production owned by a few to community production owned by the workers and community. The other exists only to destroy that idea by any means and maintain control of the people through control of production and the extraction of wealth created by the workers. The problem we have in this country is they have succeeded in destroying the collective memory of our society for alternatives in socialist ideas, and completely indoctrinated every person and our media to assume capitalism as the norm and defend it without knowledge or critique. And they will kill as many of as as they need to to make sure it stays that way as they have in the past.
Self Reliance....
1. Plant a food forest
2. Install water catchment (use solar or ram pump to pump water into raised tank for storage and gravity feed)
3. Install solar power and GEO THERMAL heating/cooling systems
The production of solar panels also uses a lot of resources that are harmful
Adapting your gardens to your climate and conditions can help
No such thing as a food forest. Forests grow timber, orchards grow food. Years of life and thousands of dollars I've seen wasted by people tricked by so-called permaculture designers into this f,f, scam.
I grew up on a small family dairy farm. A farm in my backyard? Yes, please! Not only is it VERY good to be close to food production, but animals usually make better neighbours than people do.
I'm a Brit living in Switzerland, and the 2 things these countries farms have in common, is inappropriate agricultural land area for the populations they need to support. The UK has the sea and fishing, while the alps are used for grazing cattle, but these differences are eclipsed by the mentality of the populous, and the government support framework that allows independence of the Swiss model... Companies in Switzerland have to (at their expense) hold a minimum of 6 months supply of goods that can't be domestically produced (like coffee). This shielded the country from supply shocks. But the love of the people of "made in Switzerland" and their willingness to spend on it, despite the proximity of 3 soft border, cheap food nations to the north, west and south is what keeps the system functioning, hand in hand with government subsidies.
When people value their communities over their personal consumption, they will flourish. But the trick is in enabling people to make choices... Food poverty removes choice, just as monopolistic control removes selection.
I agree that the trick consists of people, more specifically consumer behavior. Where and how they spend their money is important to sustain healthy farms. As important as being politically engaged in politics at all levels. It’s amazing what happens at the local level.
And the laws around "contraband" which included cheaper food items from across those three soft borders . You can't bulk buy cheap meat ( months supply) and bring it back home in Switzerland .
12 percent of income on food is ridiculously low. Americans don't realise how lucky they are. Also, if people paid for the value of food that's produced sustainably and grown for maximum nutrition, not maximum profit, we would all be spending way more. As an Australian farmer, it annoys me when I hear people who know nothing of growing food complain about the cost of food when it is already way too cheap. It can be hard to make a living as a farmer due to the retail monopolies setting prices for us.
Stop selling the food to the large companies and only grow enough of certain foods to support the area you grow in.
Choose of who you support with your produce
Thank you for feeding our future 💖
Exactly. People are in for a shock when oil runs out and that leads to production costs increasing. The times we live in rely heavily on hydrocarbons being unlocked. I'm in the UK, some food is ridiculously cheap.
@@Youcanttouchmyhandle you think it’s that easy when it not . If a farmer sign a contract with corporate it’s usually a long term which those farmers grandfather sign . If they try to break that contract the corporation will take their land or freeze its money .
@@Youcanttouchmyhandle Did you even watch the video?
@@bigzclipz5104 thank you for sharing this information 💐
...nice job from Joe Sinclair who Directed, Filmed & Edited this excellent programme - well done!
this video and many others like it are proof that we are seeing the beginning of shift in consciousness around how we produce and consume food. No doubt, It'll be the greatest revolution and innovation of our time
When I see good videos like this I usually take my time to appreciate the experts who make these videos possible, it's not easy to help a lot of people make money
I would blame myself if I heard of an opportunity like this and let it go to waste, please am interested how can I do business with him
Absolutely amazing film I’m a farmers daughter from the Uk I love these American farmers they need our support, we need to produce local and support each other locally, it saves on the environment, nutrients and community. And brings back community I love you guys
A superb and a must-see documentary explaining the gravity of food globalisation. Excellent work, well done !!!
Agree…couldn’t have said it better.
I say cut off the rogue nations until they're ready to play nice, as it were.
look like some kind of systematic genocide of small farmers probably trying to put them into extinction. scary though.
This was interesting. I was vegetarian for 15 years and have now been wfpb vegan for the last 15 ongoing years. I appreciate that you included the land degradation and loss of biodiversity. I have over 2,000 sg ft of native perennial plants, no chemicals or fertilizers, and we mow only two times a year. I think we should do the best we can, protecting birds (lights out, window protection, limit pesticides) and other beings. Restoration should be a top priority, do as much as we can. Will we collectively work together?
Why would people work collectively together? We don't have a homogeneous or cohesive society anymore. 60 years of leftism and neoliberalism has destroyed that.
I can appreciate where your at, but a pure, clean farm is an ecosystem, and ecosystems are a combination of many species of plants, animals and insects, mostly kept in tact by ruminates.
@@LtColDaddy71 but don't forget that on a truly diverse farm there is way less need for ruminants. When the soil becomes healthy from years of regenerative ag techniques, and proper care is taken not to turn over the soil, keeping cover crops all year round in the soil, using a machine to cute the crops, using worms to increase the biodiversity of the soil, you don't need so many ruminants as we have today.
@@mayap6055 mechanically terminating / mowing when you can have animals do it for you, and fertilize by upping the value of the green manure in their rumens doesn’t seem right to me.
One thing we need is diversity of ruminants. Super heavies in very small numbers, and many many lightweights that will marble up better on grass. Close the feedlots, keep them on grass.
Also, why is the US rejecting sheep / lamb. Goat, it’s really good as well.
@@LtColDaddy71 Ruminants have nothing to do with the 'definition' of a clean farm or an ecosystem for that matter. That's just your own personal opinion, but it is not inherently true. Not by a long shot. Although such animals might serve a measure of usefulness, they are not intrinsic to a productive, sustainable food production system.
This documentary is an absolute masterpiece‼️Job well done, FT👍
Thank you so much for creating these wonderful programs! I would definitely share them with my friends and family 🙏😇
This documentary is very enlightening. This is what my ears long for.
A fascinating film.
Exceptionally well-produced, and even if you foresaw this predicament, thought provoking
Indoor farming for large-scale food production? The energy required to artificially control the climate will nullify the gains and put stress on energy production sources. Looks like plenty has plenty of stakes in this film.
I wish they made the farms vertical and keep the housing horizontal with all the earthquakes, floods, and other global warming related events.
Excellent program
it can be really perplexing when people sound so confident talking about something they clearly don't fully understand.
Finally! Someone who knows what the Boston Tea Party was really about.
A truly great presentation of exposing the hidden truth of our modern economic world, how we may head back to monarchy like situations once again in the cover of democracy . very much correct vision of our future is portrayed...deglobalise at least in our food supply chains....
Great to see a doc on this topic from a more mainstream perspective, but I think you guys really missed an opportunity here to showcase the potential of small-scale regenerative agriculture. Go to a permaculture farm and show the absolute abundance we can share with the land!
Anyone interested in this should read/listen to "The Omnivor's Dilema".
My late father is small time farmer it's extremely hard work and very little money in it,,.. most urban dwellers don't even think farmers exist... what they usually knew that if you want food you can order it or go to the market...
You have earned my subscription . Brilliant documentary .
Your 1/2 yard can produce enough food for 5-6 people for the whole year....plant fruit trees, berry bushes, strawberries, grape vines, asparagus, etc.......YOU can do it. turn your YARD into a FOOD FOREST
I don't see how the monopoly won't still be an issue or gmo won't be. You do realize that we don't have to modify crops to turn into a self fertilizing plant when we already have that with companion planting & cover crops, etc.
This was a very interesting video & I look forward to the other's.
Allowing foreign corporations to purchase farmland and large food processing companies in one's own country is not helping food security or small farmers start out. We've got an aging farmer problem in the US that is driven out by government policies and decisions.
This. Spot on.
Would have been fantastic to have heard of some mention of combating food waste - fixing a big hole in the bucket - feeding unavoidable food waste to pigs would also help. Excellent video, really impressed with FT documentaries.
Another excellent Financial Times production. Very enlightening.
Freedom only exists if YOU control your food/water/energy...
1. Stock up on food now, 2. Plant a food forest on your property, 3. install water catchment system, 4. install solar generator, 5. arm yourself to protect yourself and family
No mention of Permaculture farming? Why?
I was wondering that also. No mention of Regenerative agriculture either.
@New Tunes For Old Logos Mark Shepard has proven that scale works. Also, the Financial Times did a piece on the stupid vertical farming which doesn't come close to the output of New Forest Farm.
@New Tunes For Old Logos no problem!
@New Tunes For Old Logos in his book he outlines how he produces more calories per acre than conventional farming. He produces one tenth the output of any one crop but he's growing like 20 different crops at once.
@New Tunes For Old Logos the book is really good, especially if you do any sort of gardening pr farming on your own. It inspired me to buy some land and plant some tree
Wow! I haven't read your paper in years. I have to say I never expected this kind of film from you...very happy to see you pushing the truth. Thank you!
Wow this is such good news, the Financial Times behind this amazing video, the world will change when the people sitting on the pension funds and the billions of billions understand this and put their money to support a new economic and food system! Congrats to whoever proposed this inside FT! Bravo, and cheers from Argentina😍
kudos! i totally support Joe policy. although large commercial poultry company do make sense too but small farmer should be given equal competitive environment to thrive.
Farmers have the best place to raise a family. Nice statement and we need population growth.
The Hydroponics segment identified the Labour / Land / Capital mix as it is, has priced Land out of the formula leading to Capital Intensive farming. I have two points from this. First, Land is not properly priced to facilitate a healthy society. The second is that I feel the produce grown from healthy land is "Better" then something grown in a controlled environment.
The DARPA lady talks about playing with plants using science. How would one swap the Nitrogen bacteria from Legumes to other plants? Ya, science can do almost anything these days; however, same with my second point on hydroponics, I'd like to see the soil bacteria and fungal network do their work. Studying how these symbiotic relationships work is fantastic but man taking control of this thinking they understand all the nuances is a bit arrogant.
What I'm not seeing in this episode but hope the follow up episodes covers is the movement for smaller family farms. Permaculture and a number of techniques within its envelope is not covered. The movement of people away from the Cities into the wilderness to "Homestead" not addressed.
Corporations and the wealthy have managed to create multiple monopolies, facilitating different needs of our lives. In turn, they have created laws to obstruct others from entering or disrupting them. The undertone within this episode starts to peal back some layers and I thank you for providing this aspect within this episode.
It is possible that some of these points of yours will be addressed in the remaining episodes. I hope. BTW, your last point is true in nearly all aspect of business, not just agriculture.
Extraordinary content….
Thanks FT for this documentary.
Thank you for spending the time to create and share this content awareness 🙏🏾
Food should not be exported for profit; it should be sold domestically & locally first, and the "leftovers" or "extras" to be sold overseas or to whoever needs them...
Agree
Ha right. We grow vegetables here in florida but pay the same price like someone in canada. 🤷🏻♀️ What gives? World trade agreements?
So, cause mass starvation in the developing world?
@@gregorymalchuk272 We don't cause starvation in other places, they cause their own due to bad farming methods or over grazing. We have been helping people around the world by giving them food. But To really help fix their problem is to help them farm, and regenerate their forest and irrigation systems. This is the real fix. So later, they provide their own food by farming on their own land.
This is outstanding. Very insightful and the focus should be on people not corporate profits.
Superb work!
I think that it is great that more and more people are awakening, and realizing that we need to rethink our food system. About the way to do it, seems to me that the solutions proposed in this video, Vertical farms, and GMOs, keep the same problem. Control and profit in the hands of a few and lack of resilience. I've been researching about this for a few years and, in my opinion, permaculture can be a better solution.
Thanks for the video. All the best.
I like Molly Jahn's idea of GMO. Select genes that makes plants disease/pest resistant in order to reduce or don't use pesticides while also improving the land. This is what GMO should be not how Monsanto does it.
The reason they didn’t mention Joel Salatin and they like is because he wants less regulation not more.
Very good documentary l Will see It again, l wish the Best for these people that want a big country, l am from Venezuela
OKay i am motivated about the fact that vertical farming factory can be a game changer in typical agriculture in the world.
I wish everyone could see this.
Thanks much for the excellent reporting!
Great content we need more of it
We can feed our own communities the key words are " WE " and " Can " encourage and support your local growers ! Look for ways to give them the resources and supplies they need .
Farmers who grow real organic food for us to eat are true treasures. Corporate modern industrialized farmers are poison lots. They are dying out because we know who they are now, And will avoid them like the plague.
Brilliant! Hope to see more like this!
Congrats you all are going in the right direction. The answer and solution for food crises starts when people stop producing their own food, like in the old days everyone had their own supplies of potatoes, fruits and vegetables.
Lets rethink about the old ways America..... urbanization its not the answer
These videos are the first thing that I have seen since the 2016 election…….that is giving me hope that it was all for something and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
I don't know who needs to hear this but stop saving all your money. Venture into Investing some, if you really want financial freedom.
Investing for today is priceless because tomorrow isn't promised, crypto secures a better tomorrow.
Thanks for a new knowledge of farming.
Great video....
Control your food, you control your destiny 😊
Regulation is how they concentrate power, regulation is why they are monopolies, regulation is what is keeping the little guy down. Wolves in sheeps clothing offer regulations as protection. Those regulations will be written by the monopolies and promised by the politicians as tools to protect little guys from monopolies.
Finally someone points it out.
85% of the population lives in cities. Fed by mass agriculture with health conditions running rampant. Imagine what diversity of food could offer for health alone. Local food is the key. Consumers have the power.
Stay on the subject.
Small family farms are endangered.
But there is hope.
They are better than the corporations in many way.
There should have been more emphasis on urban farming, backyard farms, and less on these high-tech solutions. Can a plant which has never grown in soil and never felt the sun, be really healthy? We need to look at the question of plant vitality. I am sure that factory plants cannot have the same vitality as plants raised in soil with incredible micro- and macro-biodiversity . To compare the factory plants with Central Valley as the only comparison is too simplistic in light of the enormous impulse for home gardening/homesteading which ias happening at this time.
There is definitely more potential for an immediate return on investment by utilizing all of the places a grass monoculture is considered mandatory and turning them into food-producing spaces.
More government is not the answer it is the problem. Big government and big corporations have combined to create this problem. Grow food local and encourage the local sources for protein and vegetables. My wife and I started a Farmers Market and a community garden. We are doing our share to change the system.
The big farms got big because of government regulations. It was BIG GOVERNMENT under Nixon who created mega farms under farm policy that regulated the small farmers out of business. They had the option of selling out or having to invest in "safety" measures like bulk milk tanks for dairy farmers that would take a decade of work to pay for.
I feel that I have just fallen in love with the idea of farming... im not sure How i would feel about it in practice. We have 2 alloments and a few birds and i love it, farming on a big scale is a game changer!
Wow I love farm amazing and fantastic IAM thankful about that thanks GOD bless Us
Excellent at explaining the problems, what a shame you missed the solutions. Regenerative agriculture and permaculture offer so much more than these gizmo-driven, high tech propositions. The history of agriculture shows that the more we fight with nature, the more problems we create. There is a movement that is tackling these problems in ways that are good for both humans and the planet - but the companies in this film ain't it.
Food forests in every yard and park. Seeds and soil inputs tax free. Subsidies for local food production and distribution. Plant and seed swaps. Free municipal compost delivered to local depots. Collected paper and cardboard made available for lasagna or no dig gardening. In general attack the problem with policy at the local level.
Awesome video. Thanks for doing it. Really interesting & good editing. I kind of came away thinking it should have been slightly longer.
Good Knowledge
This is why we need our farmers and ranchers . we need to change our laws not change the food
Check out the work of Richard Perkins in Sweden- small scale but profitable models of regenerative agriculture
Rana - this was a really well made film. Really enjoyed it and hope that you continue to make such films and start to bring out some real issues that are causing the structiral issues within our economy. So thanks again! P.S. - Just borrowed your book Homecoming to read alongside as I watch this 3 part series.
This is not de-globalisation - it is simply a revision of what globalisation and how it operates.
GoldBankker Prairie Mimosa Research is developing a variety of Nitrogen fixing legumes. Regenerative agriculture will not be optional when you can't access traditional agriculture.
Very interesting. Especially the part about DARPA funding genetic modification of plants so they become better adapted and need less chemical additives (fertiliser).
Joel Salatin is the men teaching substainable and profitable small farming.
The current system has got us to mono crops and chemicals. It would be much better for people to eat local and seasonal and worry so much about the blemishes.
I am not all impressed. I think these lab based approaches were causes of problems and we are following similar approaches to fix them. We think we understand science better than nature, but we mostly apply single dimensional approach where as nature works in multidimensional way. Yes biological based farming is the ultimate thing but do not try to produce biologies in the labs. Let nature do that based on the need of each ecosystem. Our job should be to understand natural ways as much as possible so that we refrain from throwing spanner in nature's spinning wheel. Remember there no one microbe capable of producing miracle, it is a diverse set of numerous micro-organisms that help produce quality stuff. Natural stuffs are proven, do not replace them with lab based products.
Awesome...
Your tech indoor farmer is wrong. Does he realize how extractive mining and toxic metals were mind and land in Africa was permanently damaged and destroyed for his experiment? Simple local land farming will never be replaced. Land stewardship is a career of the future. Other countries are not ignorant. Warehouse farming is in for a rude surprise when India no longer wants to support western extraction.
America taking about globalisation killing agriculture is a bit rich considering how isolated it is from the rest of the world through tariffs and non tariff barriers, especially subsidies, which the Americans use as if they're going out of style
Very interesting video, much of this I was already aware of. What I am doing is on a small scale. I have filled my personal home’s backyard with fruit trees, berry bushes, and a large veggie garden (and a compost area). I may also add a chicken coop soon since it’s allowed. My vacation rental has a greenhouse that I’m converting to an educational experience about gardening and home food production so guests can learn if they want to. I’ve also got indoor hydroponic gardening systems (one expensive pretty one and one,rather ugly, cheap DIY version).
this country broke up monopolies at one time. Seems wee need to do that again.
1 acre of land can produce up to 50,000 lbs of food. Humans eating 3 lbs of food a day would need 1,000 lbs per year per person...America could quickly work as a nation to get back to self reliance by planting fruit trees and many other kinds of FOOD producing plants.
How comes these people consistently vote in politicians who are all about deregulation and small government, which automatically leaves the field open for big corporations?
This efficent food supply chain is the reason why Americans are spending 12% on food instead of 50%. Yes I too believe monoculture big agri firms are part of problem. But you can't dismantle system without providing alternative.
Now talk about globalization, it was great idea. More efficient companies will win. China didn't take USA jobs because nobody in USA wants a job which pay less than $5. It is high paying service sectors jobs that aren't available to Americans because USA has opened door for immigrants without any realization of downward push on wages.