The Organic Transformation of Food Production

The first step toward any transformation is to agree the situation calls for dramatic change. Only then can we agree on a strategy for solving problems. Therefore, we must agree as a society that the United States food system is dysfunctional. Then we can work together to recreate one that better serves everyone in the food chain and appropriately uses the limited resources needed to produce, handle and prepare food. Since we all have a role to play, as producers and consumers, we must all be involved in the decision-making process and personally invested in the outcome. To begin, we need some understanding of how our system operates, how it reached this point of dysfunction and crisis, and what is maintaining it. Only then can we find alternative production strategies which truly transform the activities involved in producing food, the very essence of life and wellbeing, into a system that benefits human health and the environment. Of course, the activities of food production must be profitable in the short-term, sustainable in the long-term, and equally beneficial to the support of human activity.

As in every other industry, we have attempted to specialize the management of food production by breaking down the system into individual components. First, our food is produced by farmers who only grow carrots, only grow corn, or only grow wheat. Then it is shipped to producers who only fatten beef, or only milk cows, or only package carrots. And in order to support this artificial business sector, we pay huge subsidies to individual producers based on governmental lobbying efforts. This has led to a food system that really is not a food system at all, but a series of economic activities that don’t support human health, biodiversity, or the environment. Biology, and the biological systems that produce healthy food, do not work that way. Biology is the study of living organisms and the environment in which they live. This environment cannot be broken down into specialized production components and still remain true to the original goal of feeding people and keeping them healthy.

We currently support a food system that completely ignores the impact its production methods has on the environment, thinks nothing of the carbon footprint it leaves in its wake and perhaps worst of all, cedes the nutritional quality and health benefits of the food it produces. We have removed livestock from the land and farm, stuffing our animals into concentrated animal units far from the source of food they eat. We have separated them from the crops that need the nutrient-rich animal manure for sustainable growth. We have distanced ourselves from these same animals by hiding them inside buildings in the name of food safety, animal health and welfare, or just plain ease of management. This of course makes it easier for industrial producers to hide their abuse of animals, and for us consumers to ignore it.

Fortunately for all of us ... a solution is already being implemented today; one we can support daily, that can positively impact humanity all around the world. The only verifiable system that currently has a proven track record of producing food while conserving resources and has an established set of regulations to enforce its standards, is ORGANIC. Organic food production standards may not be perfect. For example, they do not address issues relating to human rights, corporate concentration or equitable food distribution. Still, organic food system’s current standards are enforced by the US Government and internationally recognized.

The Rodale Institute’s tagline, “Healthy Soil = Healthy Food = Healthy People = Healthy Planet”, truly focuses our attention on the soil as the key to a regenerative food system. There are many well-documented examples of sophisticated civilizations poorly managing their soil resources only to see the very fabric of their existence destroyed. This same trend in oblivious thought prevails in many people’s minds today. The key to feeding ourselves and the ever growing population isn’t hidden in some futuristic science of genetic mutation and agricultural chemical development, but in the biology of the soil. With today’s industrial production systems our society is destroying the very resources we need to survive.

The Rodale Institute now has 30 years of side-by-side scientific research documenting how systems based on biology, and following USDA organic production standards, can produce agronomic crop yields equal to those following conventional practices, as implemented by the majority of producers. Not only are the yields equal, but the soil used is actually improving under organic management. That means not only can we have high crop yields, but also higher quality food products; and we can improve the soil as we do it. By treating the soil like the valuable resource it is, even treating it as if it were alive, we can begin to reverse the negative effects of our failed system. Individually, this study or any others throughout the world may not seem to tell a compelling story. But, when they are all viewed as a whole, a message of hope and truth begins to appear.