Farmbrarian

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Based on the title, I expected a different story than the one told here.  In fact, I was expecting to learn about a happy community with a well established local food culture showing the rest of us how it could be done.  What I wasn’t expecting was the author asking really tough questions about the feasibility of local food systems. Can communities in a country that prides itself on independence (really, the illusion of independence) embrace the interdependence necessary to build and maintain a local food system? What defines a local system?  Is it truly local if the people who live nearby can’t afford to buy it? How do communities react when the media pays attention only to those who have just recently discovered local food, while overlooking those who’ve been eating and producing it their entire lives? The author’s pragmatism challenged my local-food passion throughout the story and I was starting to worry that building alternatives to the current industrial food system is all a pipe dream. The good news is…I’m not going to tell. You’ll have to read the book.

Slow Food USA recently reviewed this book as well. Check out their comments here. Guest review kindly submitted by Shelley of Local Food Northern Nevada.

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The monumental shift in agriculture from local food economies to food supplies driven by gross domestic product and corporate profit gave rise to the modern food movement. Many now understand the frightening implications for our own health and that of and our communities. Mostly, the topic is contemplated with a strictly western perspective, even though it is lesser developed countries who have suffered the most; a pattern that isn’t likely to change. One such country is India, and it was Indian author and environmentalist Vandana Shiva who provided new insight on the issue in her 2000 book Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply.

India has traditionally been an agrarian culture. One in which farming is a common occupation, which is a far cry from the current American economy which aims to distance people from farming as much as possible. This lifestyle has obvious effects on Indian culture. For example, in India, the cow is considered sacred “because it is at the heart of the sustainability of an agrarian civilization.” (75) Furthermore, scattered across India are Chakki Wallas (local flour mills), which produce almost all the flour consumed. In fact, less than one percent of their flour is actually a brand name. (87)

Shiva explains the many ways companies like Monsanto (specifically accused) and organizations like the WTO (World Trade Organization) have deeply hurt India on a local community level. As an example she details Monsanto’s promotion of the Bollgard cotton seed, which is genetically engineered to defend itself against bollworm. While Monsanto’s marketing in India reported a 50% increase in yield, another evaluation found essentially the same yields as traditional seeds. (100) In addition, of course, farmers are legally prohibited from reusing seeds from Monsanto’s Bollgard cotton plant, despite the fact that seed-saving is as old as agriculture itself.

This book has certainly done its part to promote organic, sustainable farming, or what Indians call ahimsic krishi, which means “non-violent agriculture.” (119) Stolen Harvest delivers, in a small and readable package, an important, yet under-represented perspective on the current food system. I can only hope the world begins to hear the stories of this and other similarly vandalized cultures.

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Sandor Ellix Katz, author of Wild Fermentation, gives readers a thorough look at nearly every aspect of the modern food movement in his book The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America’s Underground Food Movements (2006). I can think of no better person to explain the push for sustainable farming, wholesome food and healthy communities than someone who lives as Katz does: as part of an independent, intentional community in Tennessee.

In addition to exemplifying the revolution everyday, Katz is an excellent writer. The book is full of well-articulated arguments in favor of much needed change. While I consider myself knowledgeable on many aspects of the food movement, I learned a lot from the book, including some things that were truly eye opening.

For example, the chapter “Seed Saving as a Political Act” details a clear American intent to destroy Iraq’s agricultural infrastructure. Katz explains, “An internal State Department document from February 2003, a month before the U.S. invasion…included seed and plant patents as part of the U.S. economic agenda in Iraq.” Sadly, the U.S. was very successful, and the invasion destroyed “almost all generations of all seeds of all crops.” In summation, Katz says, “It appears from these facts that an element of the U.S. military agenda is to disrupt agricultural self-sufficiency and create dependency on the high-tech global seed market, while imposing the legal framework to permanently disempower local farmers.” Discouraging and eye opening, indeed. (48)

Katz channels many resources for the book. He quotes authors like Wendell Berry, Frances Moore Lappé and Joel Salatin, and cites books like The Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. In addition, personal stories and recipes are dispersed throughout. Though the book’s organization seems random, it still manages to read smoothly.

The book is unlikely to reach the mainstream audience tapped by authors like Michael Pollan, but that in no way diminishes its value to the movement. Readers interested in a lengthy look at topics like seed saving, vegetarian ethics (warning: he’s not vegetarian), Slow Food, land rights and water consumption will find a good source in The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved.

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Editor C.R. Lindemer delivers a humorous and heart-warming collection of stories in True Cow Tales: Literary Sketches and Stories by Farmers, Ranchers, and Dairy Princesses (2009).

Everyday folks who owned cattle or grew up alongside them share their memories in the 40 stories that comprise True Cow Tales. Contributions include loving tales about calves; recounted experiences of dairy princess pageants and tours; stories of roaming herds and subsequent round-ups; and tales that recall the strong family ties forged a midst this all.

Ranchers and farmers will surely relate to the stories, which showcase the wild antics and vivid personalities of the bovine breed.  Those who have never experienced farm life will find the stories enlightening and entertaining.

Overall, the literary voice of the text is elementary. But the raw writing style enhances the experience. The text reads like an oral history anthology. Each tale could have easily been told around the dinner table or lifted from the pages of an old journal. The archival quality of the stories is, by far, the strongest aspect of the book. True Cow Tales preserves stories about small-scale dairy farming that might otherwise have been lost. Luckily, a second volume is in the works.