Growing Food for The Present and Future

Quote of the day: 

There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace. -Aldo Leopold

Credit: National Geographic/Greenhouses surrounding a Dutch farmer's home

As the world population grows and grows the need for food production and self sustainability increases. A task not without problems especially with natural factors to think about such as adverse weather conditions and factors beyond our control such as war and conflict.

The food industry is diverse, a global collective of businesses supplying food consumed by the world population. There is a National Geographic article that makes for good reading. It talks about sustainable farming and how one country is at the forefront of agricultural technology. You see around 20 years ago the Netherlands made a national commitment to farming in sustainable ways with the theme "Twice as much food using half as many resources".

Fast forward to today and Dutch poultry and livestock producers have cut their use of antibiotics, reduced dependence on water for key crops, and almost eliminated the use of chemical pesticides on plants in greenhouses. The Netherlands is the world's second largest exporter of food as measured by value, only behind the US. All these from a small densely populated country but with more than half the nation's land area used for horiculture and agriculture utilizing large greenhouse complexes with climate controlled farms -thereby becoming a global leader in exports of tomato -a fair weather fruit.

And it doesn't stop there, the Dutch are also leading in exporting potatoes and onions, and the second largest exporter of vegetables overall in terms of value. Dutch farms are also developing various technologies, including one to maximize poultry production. This small country of over 17 million people fully understand the need for sustainable agriculture as a driving force for future growth.

We live in a world where both food waste and hunger co-exist. No country should have people who go to bed hungry each night. But that is the case all around the world and even more so in poorer countries faced with war and famine. According to Oxfam 'Hunger isn’t about too many people and too little food. It’s about power, and its roots lie in inequalities in access to resources and opportunities.' I believe we all can try our hands at growing our own vegetables albeit on a rather small scale depending on the resource at hand. Either using containers, a garden, or a small farm. Where space is limited containers or pots make sense. In some areas community gardens encourage people to use allotments for planting thereby contributing to the biodiversity of the area. It is becoming the norm for some companies to have green spaces, or rooftop gardens, others offer little allotments to their employees to grow vegetables and such, bringing the outdoors inside so to speak.


Peace. Love. Light* 


Current Listen: Louis Prima.- Buona Sera