Dirt Rich

November 21, 2009 | Posted by Paul Wolborsky

The good news is we’re all sitting on gold. The bad news is we can’t have it and sit on it at the same time. Over the last few decades, we paved over the family farm to create the highways-byways-skyways-safeways of modern agricultures.

Farming was poor family business, but its economies of scale made it good corporate business. That is why companies like Monsanta, Con-Agra, Cargill have become big business and why in the name of big business they are replacing our biological diversity with cubed tomatoes that never rot, has no taste, and no nutritional value. Big Ag designed genetically-engineered Round-Up weedkiller-resistent soybean to benefit its bottom line – if the result loses nutritional value and carries toxic hitchhikers, that’s not their problem. Remember what the Produce Section USED TO BE? Now it is a heartbreaking wasteland of overpriced, uniform, sterile, factory-made, genetically-engineered, cubed product. An insulting knock-off of the miracle of nature, keeping us one-step removed from our relationship to the very planet our collectively-ripening rumps squat on.

Capitalism has a fatal flaw, and Big Agribusiness is no exception – in the battle between stockholder and consumer, the stockholder always win. Problem is, the stockholder is also a consumer. Big Agribusiness is full of people just like us, sharing our concerns, but collectively will starve and poison us in the name of Stock Prices and Book Value. This is unsustainable, bad juju for the human race.

But the backlash is happening. The hottest trend in the Food business is USDA Organic, local-grown & Kosher/Talal foods. I’d like to say the public is wise to Big Agribusiness and taking back the farm, but the honest truth is: we don’t care so much about weedkiller-resistent soybeans, we’re tired of tasteless cube tomatoes.

The original tomato came close to extinction. In the 90’s, Farmers planted old tomato seeds, and what came off the vine was very strange fruit, misshapen, any color but candy-apple red, and utterly delicious. Heirloom tomatoes hit the market and I think started the Organic Farming/Local farming revolution.

Now everywhere, family farms are sprouting. Applying for USDA Organic certification not just for the money, but as a core value. Apples the like never seen before from Mendocino County. Lamb from Petaluma. Free-range Chicken. Free-range Turkey. Lettuce, Onions, Chile peppers. Marin County Cheese. Organic Juices. Whole Foods carry organic. Trader Joes carry organic. Now even Safeway and Lucky’s are carrying Organic. Prices are going down. We’re rediscovering variety, taste, and our Mother planet’s fecund beauty. Who were at the forefront of this movement? Chefs. People who cook and feed people for a living and like having honest-to-god ingredients to cook with.

Rick Bayless, Chef/Owner of Frontera Grill is in the forefront with the Frontera Farmers Foundation. When he opened Frontera Grill in Chicago in the late 80’s, there were no farmer’s market, and he was laughed at by Wholesalers. Now there are. Add to that the Noveau Cuisine movement started by Alice Waters, Chef/owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, and a rash of top-rated Restaurants in Napa Valley – Mustard’s Grill, the French Laundry, Ubuntu. Oregon, Washington, even the Hudson Valley?

Family farms enhance our quality of life. Sustainable, higher-quality, wholesome, nutritious food. Unique, innovative, delicious. And profitable. Taking the harder road of Organic certification, building your market, experimenting with variations and techniques, the family farmer has to be learned and tech-savvy. And watchful. This ain’t your daddy’s farm, it’s a new beast. What’s the next step?

Full Circle Farm

Peterson Middle School, student run, grown organic farm with funding by Silicon Valley companies like Cisco. Next article.

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