Newsletter May 2, 2008

Remember May 2008. It’s when most organic dairy cows across the country will produce a full month of low-cost milk from grazing fresh grass after a harrowing winter for those having to buy grain—grain that was unimaginably expensive and increasingly hard to find.

What was true for the cows is coming true for the humans, too. This is the month we should be realizing that we are on the threshold of a new Era of Food. Just as there is great relief when pastures start turning solar energy into edible forage, there needs to be a returning of the human food system to depend more on the sun and less on once-and-done-and-up-in-the-air petrochemicals.

The dawning of the New Agriculture that John Ikerd has been talking about for a decade moves us multiple steps closer to photosynthesis, thousands of miles closer to our food sources and layer upon layer more entwined with the people who raise, process and prepare it for us.

Watch for the signs showing the end of the illusion that we can profit in any true sense by using more energy to produce food than we get from eating it. Cleverness has not served us well in the absence of a profound humility as to the limits of how much we can take from the natural world.

some good signs...

Dairy producers re-thinking where profit comes from are exploring heritage breeds which thrive on grass, living long and staying healthy. Low-cost maintenance makes their lower production tolerable, especially for value-adding operations such as raw milk sales or cheese. Read more...
The sketching of the “blue” movement that will integrate social, cultural, economic and environmental streams to find deeper sustainability that the “green” movement has so-far brought. Read more...
The Rodale Institute no-till roller/crimper works to reduce fuel burned, fertilizer volatized and pesticides sprayed while adding more carbon to the soil than other kinds of no-till. Watch the video...
The start of a grain-share CSA in California where consumers will get whole grains, flours and cereal mix that’s close to the field, minimally processed, nutrient dense and linked to the farmers for layers of benefit. Read more...

What food signs are you seeing, hopeful or otherwise?

Greg Bowman for the Rodale Institute editorial team