Page 12 - Mar Apr 2021-REV

The Future of Food, conclusion

needed. Governments will have to step in unsustainable. erosion, and soil building is enormous.
and subsidize foods that promote human The current push is to shift to, what And they are having much success with
and planetary health rather than continue is considered to be, sustainable inten- their perennial wheatgrass, “Kernza”.
to subsidize animal and processed foods sification through the use of precision “Permaculture” is a term used to de-
that contribute to the degradation of agriculture where all the same inputs are scribe an intentional system of agriculture
human and planetary health. This will used but used to a lesser degree. Precision that reflects the interrelationships and sus-
have to mean the end of the powerful agriculture utilizes technologies such as tainability of natural ecosystems. It has
lobbies for the beef, dairy, sugar and geographic information systems (GIS), been described as a way to create a ‘per-
ultra-processed food and beverage in- automated machine guidance, infield and manent culture’ surrounding food sys-
dustries whose entire goal is to influence remote sensing, mobile computing, and tems, but also around shelter, energy and
and curtail national dietary guidelines global positioning systems (GPS) to iden- technology. Permaculture is an attempt to
that are supposed to be crafted for the tify where and when individual plants optimally utilize land and resources in a
improvement of nutrition, health and need various inputs such as fertilizer, circular way so that all wastes or outputs
environmental sustainability. water and pesticides. Critics of precision are used as inputs—eliminating waste
agriculture point out that the expense, and creating a truly sustainable system
Changes in Food Production the reliance on machines and the lack that can be utilized generations into the
Because agriculture is responsible of farmer education in these modalities future for subsistence. Several disciplines
for such a significant proportion of pollu- will only disenfranchise farmers further are implemented in the practice of per-
tion and climate change-inducing green- and put more control and money in the maculture including organic farming,
hands and pockets of agribusiness and agroforestry, integrated farming, sustain-
The “EAT Lancet corporate entities. able development, and applied ecology.
Rather, I believe, the solutions lie in
Commission on Healthy ‘agroecological’ approaches that more …According to the
Diets from Sustainable closely mimic natural ecosystems as a authors, a dietary shift
way to feed ourselves while simultane-
Food Systems”, ously addressing our environmental away from meat, beef in
issues.
published a report in Organic Agriculture particular, and toward a

2019 titled “Food in the At the Rodale Institute, research has plant-based diet would

Anthropocene”… been done to show that through ‘regen- dramatically reduce
erative’ organic agriculture more than 40
percent of current annual CO2 emissions
house gas emissions, there is also strong could be sequestered—and, if at the same the ecological and
consensus in that we have an ecological time, all global pasture was managed environmental footprint
and ethical obligation to reduce the envi- utilizing a regenerative model with more
ronmental footprint of agriculture. effective manure management, an addi- of our food system.
Where we have not reached a con- tional 71 percent could be sequestered.
sensus is how to feed a growing popula- This would put us over the 100 percent
tion while decoupling environmental mark and contribute to a drawing down According to the Nebraska-based
degradation from food production. We of excess greenhouse gases, helping to environmental consulting firm “GC Re-
cannot afford to grow more food through reverse the greenhouse effect. solve”, “Regenerative farming and ranch-
‘extensification’ (converting additional ing practices include minimizing tillage,
forest or other land to agricultural lands). Perennial Polycultures multi-species cover cropping, multiple
The alternative is to increase yields on Likewise, the Land Institute in Sa- crop rotations, implementation of live-
the lands already being used, or ‘inten- lina Kansas is working on developing stock back onto the soil accompanied by
sification’. Current intensification relies perennial grains, oil seeds and legumes holistic grazing practices, agro-forestry
on the use of petrochemicals such as that can be planted in a polyculture. This with tree intercropping, silvopasture on
fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides work is critical in that the potential for grazing lands, and degraded rangeland
and GMOs, which is recognized as also carbon sequestration, prevention of soil restoration.” Nebraska happens to be
a hub of Regenerative Agriculture and
MARCH/APRIL 2021 NE REPORT, P. 12 these practices have the potential to build