The following are responses and summaries of various readings related to Food, Agriculture and the Environment.
The Eco-Foods Guide:
What Does IPM Mean?
IPM, integrated pest management, is a middle ground between
organic and conventional agriculture.
IPM uses complex planning and processes that are biologically,
chemically, and culturally different than organic and conventional
growing. IPM attempts to rid crop fields
of pests, only using chemicals as a last resort. IPM is a multidisciplinary approach involving
agronomy, pathology, entomology, weed science, agricultural economics, and much
more. Much of the work involved in IPM
is in planning: preparing for the coming pests and making attempts to prevent
their inhabitation. A commonly used
mechanic is the use of insect pheromones to confuse a population. The pheromones can distract the insects
enough to keep them from destroying a harvest.
Also, with using “bait” crops and inserting predator bugs into a field,
an even greater reduction of chemical use is achieved. Though IPM seems to preach the reduction of
pesticide use, it seems that often its practitioners merely try to limit the
negative effects of its use such as the use of planting vegetation along stream
banks to prevent runoff.
Shopping Alternatives
Most people go grocery shopping more than once per week. Ignore the on-sale items and the store
circulars while heading right for the organics section. Always try to buy local and buy food which
was produced with the environment in mind.
Try to avoid all the chemicals and additives in processed foods and look
for the eco-labels. The big grocer will
not always have the organics needed, so a venture to the local health food
store could be in order. The people
working at these small, local shops will usually be more knowledgeable and
friendlier too. However, the farmer’s market
is still probably the best way to support local agriculture and learn the story
of the food. The markets often allow the
customer to converse with the person responsible for the food itself and from
him can be learned the practices for its growth and uses for it in the kitchen.
If You Can’t Beat ‘em,
Join ‘em
CSA, Community Supported Agriculture, is perhaps the best way
to ensure the safety of one’s food while at the same time supporting your local
agriculture. It works by using a
membership structure. A person pays a
set fee to a farm, which will allow them a share of the harvest. Built in to that share is the inherent risk
that the crop may fail. In this way the
farmer is not the only one at risk economically for his work. But even better is the reward that taking
home pounds of freshly grown vegetables and fruits have each week. Some farms may require work days in the field
while some others may even deliver the food for you, saving a trip out to the
country.
Who’s Got Time to Cook
Eating an eco-friendly diet can be difficult when on the
move. Fast food is everywhere, while
organics are generally reserved only for the kitchen or the local farmer’s
market café. With the founding of the
Chef’s Collaborative in 1993 more and more restaurants are becoming
eco-friendly. These are not the fast
food chains we are all familiar with, but the local, sit-down restaurants. They’ve initiated a movement away from the
processed, industrial, conventional foods in an effort to support the locally
grown and the environmentally friendly.
It can be difficult to determine if a restaurant is using the food you’d
prefer, so it’s always best to ask.
There are numerous organic friendly fast food diners popping up around
the country though in conjunction with the Chef’s Collaborative. It is requisite to always make it known that
you’re glad a certain restaurant offers eco-foods, otherwise what difference
will they know.
Your Kids Will Thank
You…, When They’re Older, Maybe
Fast-food marketing is quite in your face from birth until
death now days. Companies sponsor
schools, events, sports teams, and even the local library’s reading
program. It can be difficult for
children to understand exactly what it is that’s being fed to them through these advertising measures, especially with the
chains trying to break in to the school cafeterias. After all, the soft drink and vending
companies have been in many schools for the last decade or more. Schools with tight budgets can feel they have
no other choice than to let in the anti-nutritional devils. The best way to prevent this, or change it
should it already be the case, is by going to the school’s administrators and
demanding organic foods be made available.
Food For Thought
Our decisions on what food we purchase and consume do have a
direct impact on the future. Should we
purchase that rBGH milk our money is feeding the machine of the industry. The only way to get our message across that
we do not approve, and therefore institute change, is to not purchase such
products; even better, purchase products that promote what we want:
sustainable, safe agriculture. We need
to begin looking at the earth as a being again instead of a machine in the cog
of life.
Local Harvest offers a listing of hundreds of community supported
farms and describes the advantages for both the farmer and the consumer. They describe the idea of the shared risk
between the farmer and the consumer. Of
special importance, they say, is that the product be locally grown even
offering, on their home page, the ability to search by city and state. A search for Norman immediately pulled up the
Rose-Hip Farm, Native Roots, Rock Creek Vineyard, and the Farmers Market among
many others. Many of them offer pictures, along with descriptions of the farms,
their practices, and their products.
There is even the ability to rate and review farms for quality. The local harvest blog, updated daily,
includes many topics of discussion in the organics community: top of the list
tonight was recent discussion about the Ag Census.
Readings May Originate from the Following:
Cynthia Barstow. The
Eco-Foods Guide.
Christopher Cook. Diet for
a Dead Planet.
Richard Manning. Against
the Grain.
Vandana
Shiva. Stolen Harvest.
Smith, Jeffery.
Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies about
the Safety of Genetically Modified Foods.
This article originally written May 6th, 2009 for OU IPE 3913 - Food, Agriculture and the Environment.
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