A ‘New-Fashioned’ Food System That Helps and Heals

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Electrified fences mean cattle can be moved frequently — better for the cattle and for the land.
Electrified fences mean cattle can be moved frequently — better for the cattle and for the land.
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Unlike segregated industrial systems, integrating livestock and pastures delivers good things to both humans and animals.
Unlike segregated industrial systems, integrating livestock and pastures delivers good things to both humans and animals.
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Who wants to support an unsustainable industrial model that ignores stewardship of the land and animals? Certainly not the author, shown here with his flock of free-ranging chickens.
Who wants to support an unsustainable industrial model that ignores stewardship of the land and animals? Certainly not the author, shown here with his flock of free-ranging chickens.
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Solar-friendly plastics allow growers to extend the season — technology enhancing the simple life.
Solar-friendly plastics allow growers to extend the season — technology enhancing the simple life.

Calling something “old-fashioned” might encourage tourists and antique buyers to take note, but it does not captivate the hearts and minds of our mainstream culture.

Too often, the Earth-stewardship movement positions itself as one of returning to a bygone era — to the good old days, pre-electricity and pre-petroleum. While washboards, hoop skirts and hearth cooking may have romantic appeal, living that way doesn’t inspire the imagination of today’s solution-seekers.

Even the majority of people who yearn for simpler times and a slower lifestyle don’t really want to go without electricity and automobiles. Those of us who strive to bring about a sustainable food system need a message that’s dynamic enough to convert fast-food junkies. The industrial food system spends a lot of time and resources refining its message. Along with disparaging the do-it-yourself ethos, pastured livestock and fertilizing with compost, it promotes phrases such as “technology,” “futuristic” and “feeding the world.”

These catchwords have emotional appeal. Savvy people like to hitch themselves to that kind of engine. Solving problems, meeting needs, going places — these phrases capture hearts and minds. On the other hand, if impressions can kill a movement, stodgy, anti-tech and stuck in a rut are the last ways you want to be seen.

This is a ticklish talking point for those of us dedicated to the proven environmental stewardship principles that predate electricity and petroleum. Part of our worldview is that in a horse race, you bet on the proven winner. For example, carbon-centric soil building beats out using chemical “inputs.” But how do you commend this time-honored methodology that so beautifully mimics nature without seeming backward and unscientific?

  • Published on Nov 7, 2014
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