Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
I agree that there are many ways of staving off the dark fairy tale of an impending Malthusian crisis, of which labour intensification is a key one usefully highlighted by Boserup. But that scarcely refutes the basic Malthusian problems I discussed in my last post of resource pressures creating generalised stress which may be ‘referred’ elsewhere – onto other people, or onto other organisms.
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Today, linking farmers to markets is an overarching policy for almost all development agencies as well as governments.
The conflict in Syria and the rise of Isis have displaced half a nation of people and generated the largest humanitarian crisis in the world today.
We may not always think about it, but the origin of trade is found in ecology and not in economy.
I supervised a university-level food studies class last week that, partly by design and partly by sheer accident, gave me some new insights into the challenges of city-oriented food security policy.
I think what this analysis shows is that, unlike extensive pastoralism, intensive, ‘organic’/ agroecological, local ‘peasant’ farming is feasible for national self-provisioning.
Put another way, is the U.S. model of food sourcing scalable to an urbanized world of 9 billion?
Food security demands a diversified food system that includes urban communities as locations for food production, food preparation, food distribution, and waste reduction/reuse.
Food Security means that all people at all times have physical & economic access to adequate amounts of nutritious, safe, and culturally appropriate foods, which are produced in an environmentally sustainable and socially just manner, and that people are able to make informed decisions about their food choices.
Food security in cities is more a matter of access to food than the availability of food.
If you never thought ‘dirt’ could be interesting or ultra important, UNU’s Robert Blasiak recommends a fascinating book demonstrating how soil management has impacted the rise and fall of civilizations.
