Karl et al: Thanks for your thoughts--when it comes to agricultural policy it's seems to be a pretty good policy to listen to the farmers.
I would love to visit your farm. I worked on a sheep farm a couple years ago (though I primarily oversaw vegetable production), and am also very very very interested in learning more about draft horses. I certainly agree with you that what we have is a systemic problem that will not be solved by single solutions. And I also agree with the paper on your website that we are going to need WHOLE SYSTEMS THINKING in order to formulate responses to these problems. There is however, as you know, LEVERAGE POINTS within any given system which offer the ability to spur the greatest amount of change with the least amount of effort. I think that the non-local food tax/tariff (at least in concept) offers a leverage point: It would encourage local food consumption and thus production while simultaneously discouraging non-local food from entering local markets, as well as generating funds on all non-local foods in order to grow more local foods.... thus it provides a constant feedback mechanism that encourages local food production. Whether it is politically feasible to accomplish such a task appears to be dubious, yet the point remains. Now, as you rightly point out, local food production and even organic food production does not mean sustainable food production. I certainly realized this during my short stint working on a farm... We are going to have to figure out truly sustainable means of producing food locally. I'm guessing that folks like you--with your experience working sustainably with the soil and with animals and with plants--are going to become invaluable teachers in the near future. I want to know from you, as someone who has a lot of experience and who has done a lot of thinking on these topics, what approach(es) you would recommend we take to rapidly develop small scale agriculture in the area. Thanks for the discussion, Ryan D. Hottle P.S. Did you see the biochar discussion. I think we will need to explore the concepts of "Carbon Negative Farms." On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 1:17 PM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Any relocalization movement will have to build a power base sufficient to > override any higher level laws that protect the distance economy, like > WTO and interstate commerce laws. There are a lot of efforts begun to do > this in various ways, that are important to learn from, no matter how > unsuccessful they often are at present. A state has - for a time - > outlawed corporate farming. In Pennsylvania recently an attempt at state > level to crush municipal laws against factory farms was defeated by > organized citizens. > > Karl North > > On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:14:48 -0400 "Simon St.Laurent" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > Ryan Hottle wrote: > > > *Imagine we put a tax/tariff on all non-local foods. The tax > > would be > > > assessed to the companies who sold or distributed the food as > > opposed to the > > > purchaser.* > > > > It's a fun idea, but unfortunately it can't presently be implemented > > > > from the local level up. As soon you touch out-of-state products, > > it's > > interstate commerce, where federal regulations _only_ apply. I > > don't > > think there's an easy around it - the existence of these kinds of > > taxes > > under the Articles of Confederation was something the framers of the > > > > Constitution wanted to prohibit. > > > > I'd be happy for that to change, or happy to see Congress consider > > this, > > but unfortunately it's a hard place to start. > > > > Thanks, > > Simon St.Laurent > > http://livingindryden.org/ > > _______________________________________________ > > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County > > area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > > [email protected] > > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, > please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > [email protected] > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > -- Ryan Darrell Hottle The Renaissance Group Program Manager www.ConserveFirst.com Global Climate Solutions www.GlobalClimateSolutions.org (coming soon!) Ohio Peak Oil Action (OPOA) Co-Founder, Director www.ohiopeakoilaction.org 30 N. Rose Blvd. Akron, OH 44022 (740) 258 8450 _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
