An Edible World
Feb 22, 2024
Eating and Changing the World
"Sure Garrett, your vision of farming makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but can small farms feed the world?"I wanted to present you with some research to answer this question, but I quickly realized "Wait! I can't spend hours on the internet scouring highly politicized research. I have to go back to farming!" I almost forgot that, depending on your political agenda and your corporate research sponsors, you can make a research paper "prove" anything you want. (*I'm less bitter than this sounds, I swear)
So maybe I can just share my experience.
Here's a few things we do know.
Small farms produce roughly 40-60% of the food on the planet (no one can agree on the exact numbers). We already produce enough calories to support a larger population, but it's an economic and political issue to get it where it needs to go. The nutrient content of our food is falling. We truthfully don't know much about how the nutritional quality of our food has changed over time, as studies are few and far between. But with the emerging interest and research in this area we can see the trend is pointing down, significantly. One apple no longer equals one apple.
But is small farming even important? What defines small anyway?
I've seen regenerative ranches in the West grazing cattle on over 40,000 acres of public lands with a small team of people, making a hugely positive ecological difference on that land. And I've seen 1/4 acre market gardens and tree nurseries do an equal amount of good in their local communities.
So maybe we're asking the wrong question.
Maybe the better question is, how can our farming truly nourish us?
How do we grow food that both makes the environment better (more soil, cleaner water, biodiversity) and makes us eaters healthier at the same time? Food that makes you healthier the more you eat it. Food that can arguably be considered medicine.
Food that makes the real physical world better.
That's a big question. The short answer after 15 years in the trenches is, yes I think this is absolutely possible. And is happening all around us now. Quietly, humbly in small corners of our world. And it's a shadow of what is possible.
I'll keep trying to describe to you what I think this kind of farming looks like. Over the weeks and the years.
Honestly, the best thing you can do in the short term, as an eater and a member of this hairless tribe of apes that shape the trajectory of the very planet, is to get to know some farmers. Learn a little more about the food you at today. Find someone, in your area or online, that speaks to you and see how they are stewarding the earth. Then (and this part is important) spend your money with them. Money that you were going to spend on food anyway.
What if you tried just switching one food item you buy, like milk or cheese, to a land healing regenerative farm? Or maybe try switching the veggies you eat or the beef in your freezer to a farm you actually know and trust. These eating choices can make a huge difference for family farms. These farms will literally flourish if you make these small shifts in your own eating.
Imagine if we all spent 10% of our food budget with farms that are in the business of truly stewarding the earth. Imagine what the world outside your window could look like.
I honestly think we can eat our way to a better planet,
Garrett and the Cider House Crew
