Comments | darlox: The case against community agriculture

darlox

The case against community agriculture

Jul 16, 2009 13:48

This is still a post that I'm not quite happy about yet, but I feel it's time to release it into the wild. If for no other reason than I've been promising it to a number of folks for awhile, and have been getting gently hassled about when it might see the light of day. It's unlikely that I'm going to be able to do much more on-the-ground research ( Read more... )

Comments 9

cynic51 July 17 2009, 01:47:56 UTC

(Productivity x Area) ÷ Population = Required_Food + Remainder

Area is not fixed. It is, if anything, shrinking. At least in the U.S. good farmland is continually turned into suburban developments and the like. Heck, farmland in the Red River Valley of North Dakota, which is arguably the best soil in the world, is continually being sold to become parts of Grand Forks and Fargo. Both cities are much larger than they were 20 years ago, and most of that growth came on farmland. For the individual farmer, selling for development makes good sense. In the long run, it could be problematic.

None of which invalidates your point, just to point out it's worse than you thought :-)

darlox July 17 2009, 01:55:37 UTC

You know, I'd thought about that. But at the moment, area is pretty static. If we want to be technical, it's actually increasing slightly. The reasons you mentioned are definitely decreasing arable land -- less so now that the real estate market has tanked, but still.

But the important number is productive land. Out of something like 450 million acres of classified agricultural land, only something like 308 million actually is under cultivation and productive. That 450 number is shrinking, but the 308 number is actually growing slightly as demand props up the ability to put fallow lands back into production.

But it's not growing very fast, nor with any particular focus. So static is roughly correct...

sweetypotatoe July 17 2009, 20:14:10 UTC

OMG, MALTHUS!! AHHH!!

So, I think it's helpful to think about CSAs as a sweater.

Sometimes, I want a $20 acrylic thing made by a machine in China.
There are times, though, that I want a sweater hand knit in an idyllic fishing village on the coast of Ireland, produced from wool sheared under the new moon from sheep fed organic sweet clover and wooed to sleep every night by lullabies.

Similarly, sometimes I want a hydroponic tomato in January. But sometimes I want a locally sourced heirloom tomato.

A market can exist for both things. And just like there are reasons to have both made in China and hand knit sweaters, there are reasons to have big agriculture and little farms.

Additionally, there will be narratives that make people feel good about buying both heirloom tomatoes and Irish sweaters. Such narratives have long existed to market goods and have often been a mixture of truth, emotion, and aspiration.

darlox July 17 2009, 20:45:43 UTC

> OMG, MALTHUS!!Um... wha ( ... )

Wordy post... mokatz July 17 2009, 21:09:56 UTC

...is wordy.

I've got nothing constructive to add other than at around 5pm on a Friday my though processes verge towards LOLCAT.

Re: Wordy post... darlox July 17 2009, 21:10:49 UTC

A simple TL;DR would suffice. ;)

Enjoy your weekend!

cynic51 July 18 2009, 14:34:19 UTC

Not directly related, but you might like this.

sparklie_lady July 26 2009, 18:20:36 UTC

I feel, since I specifically asked for this post, that you deserve a better response than the pissass "hmm...interesting" that I have time to write until finals end.

But, I have read this twice. And I do feel it IS interesting. But I feel that I really need to buckle down and get my schoolwork done before writing a proper response.

:)

darlox July 27 2009, 13:33:16 UTC

I can get behind that. =)

No hurry - school comes first!