Moderator: Betty Fussell, Food Historian, Essayist and Author
Panelists: Zoe Ida Bradbury, Groundswell Farm, Food & Society Policy Fellow; Frederick Kirschenmann, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture; David Mas Masumoto, Masumoto Family Farm; Theresa Marquez, Organic Valley and Organic Prairie; Patrick Martins, Slow Food USA and Heritage Foods

Masumoto:

• How food is consumed will determine how food is grown.
• Public food vs. private food:  public food has a story, a public identity, social and economic capital, relationships, involves consumers and the public in the farm.  Private food is commodity.  Food policy supports public food; economic policy supports private food.
• Celebrating food, sensual and sensory relationships, with stories, food memories.  When was your last food orgasm, and was there a farmer involved?
• If you have an unhappy animal, you shouldn’t be eating it.

Marquez:

• How do we democratize farming?
• How do we keep family farms on the ground?
• Land prices are huge barrier; need different new hybrids of ownership.  Consortiums?
• How do we deal with all the acres coming out of the CRP program?  Young farmers can’t afford it.
• 50% of the 1500 farmers in her coop are doing well, 50% are struggling as a result of drought, flood, rising commodity prices.  Regional differences point to the fact that some regional specialization makes sense.

Martins:

• Heritage Farms produces pork and turkey.  Relies on 400 restaurants to move their product, get money to the farmers.  Team effort:  600 people, from slaughterhouse to truckers, involved in keeping farmers in business.
• Need a Zagat rating system for how green a company is.

Bradbury:

• There are a lot of young people who want to get into farming, from all over the place.
• Needs:
• Access to land and capital
• Infrastructure (e.g., slaughterhouses, mid-scale processing facilities)
• Cultural support
• Technical support, education

Kirschenmann:

• We will see more changes in the next 50 years than we did in the last 100 years.  Current food crisis is only the tip of the iceberg.
• End of cheap energy
• Cannot continue use as much fresh water as we currently do
• Climate – last 100 years have been an anomaly of stability which drove the increase in productivity as much as did technology.  Climates will be much more unstable in the future.  Monocultures depend on stability.
• We need to fundamentally redesign the food system.
• Let’s prepare for a world in which oil is $300/bbl, water supplies are cut in half, and we have twice as many unusual weather events.
• Currently 400,000 farmers produce 94% of our food.  We need 50 million farmers – a huge human capital problem.

 The good news:

• A lot of young, creative, smart people want to get into farming – just need opportunities
• Global initiative to revive soil health – have to diversify ag system to have healthy soil, increase the perenniality of crops
• Lots of good things bubbling up

• “The situation is far too serious for pessimism”
• We can’t afford pessimism or optimism – need hope and imagination.
• Lots of youth movements
• Importance of middlemen – farmers can’t do everything and don’t want to do everything.

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2 Comments

betty fussell October 24, 2008 69.86.138.214 Votes: +0	Although this panel came at the end of a looong day for audience and panelists, Mas Masumoto energized us all with his metaphor of food orgasm. We needed a shot of laughter and energy to absorb the serious ecological and agricultural concerns that face us all. The audience was terrific in their response. report abuse vote down vote up
betty fussell October 24, 2008 69.86.138.214 Votes: +0	Top photo l to r: Kirschenmann, Bradbury, Martins, Marquez, Masumoto, Fussell Bottom photo: Kirschenmann, Bradbury, Martins, Masumoto report abuse vote down vote up