Is our food system meeting our expectations? What are our expectations? Do we have any? How do we measure and rate the system’s success? Is it a successful system?
I believe these are important question to ask at the individual level, at the city level, at the national level and at the global level. If we do not put intentions behind our food decisions we are defaulting to create a system that is good at providing cheap, convenient, and shelf ready foods because that is what we are buying. Unlike many industry sectors you can chose if you participate or not but most of us are not farmers growing everything we eat and thus are using the food system to provide for us. As individuals we can influence the way business provide us foods and we can influence the priorities that our city and state governments set regarding food, and as cities and state can influence national policy and so on and so on up to the global level.
In the article The City that Ended Hunger (http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?sid=351) the City of Belo Horzonte in Brazil city administrators made a policy that food was a right that everyone should have access to. When the city shifted its goals around food it was able to help facilitate increased access not buy providing more handouts but encouraging direct farmer to city marketing. The City administration subsidies selected healthy produce at the farmers stands. They also created local People’s Restaurants were anyone could come eat regardless of need. While I have gone into great detail here the shift from quantity of food to the right of everyone to had profound effects on the City. Belo used many creative and innovative ideas because it was tasks with the responsibility to ensure everyone’s right to food.
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| Restaurante Popular in Belo Brazil |
In Norm’s blog The Processed Food Industry And Coronary Capitalism
(http://abnormalecon.blogspot.com/2012/02/processed-food-industry-and-coronary.html) he mentions that a system of “pure capitalism” doesn’t exists because if it did we wouldn't have the big market failures we see in the food system i.e. obesity and hunger. If pure capitalism isn't the solution because we live in the imperfect world than it is up to us as evolved human thinkers to set goals for our food system and provide it the intention and direction that it needs. It turns out that just not thinking about it and letting the magical world of business do it for us hasn't worked. This isn't to say business doesn't play a role, it actually plays a huge role it will be the driver and the foundation of the new food system but it will be guided by a higher goal that we as individual have imposed on it.
Imagine if we all decided that our food system was only successful if everyone had access to quality, nutrient dense, sustainability grown foods. We currently would get a big fat F on our grade card. We would need to create new creative solutions to reach this goal. Food would undoubtedly become more expensive because we would begin to pay the true cost but if we pair this with the idea that food is a right and hunger is unacceptable we will get creative. We are a capable and innovative species... when we decide it matters to us.
I find it interesting that if you look back on the 30's-60's we spent a considerably higher percentage of our incomes on our food than we do now, that I believe changed with Agriculture's Green-Revolution in the 1970s. I think it's okay if food prices go up - if certain subsidies were removed I bet people could ONLY afford eating locally.
ReplyDeleteIf there were subsidies I believe it should be on organic food for those that need to buy with food stamps. I think processed foods should be highly taxed, and anything with a Monsanto stamp should be treated like a Phillip-Morris label... but then again, that me.
So you're preaching to the choir, and the visuals you shared are awesome. Thanks Dom!