"The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself."
– Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1937

"And don't think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter.
It's quiet, but the roots are down there riotous." – Rumi

"Industrial agriculture has caused us to lose over 90% of our diversity."
Andrew Kimbrell, The Centre for Food Safety

There are 36 billion acres of land on the earth and only [8 billion] people to fill those acres, more than half of which are arable or habitable or both.
– Kevin Cahill, 'Who Owns the World' (2007)

"Never thought I'd be hopeful over dirt. The cure to climate change is here."
the 2020 film "Kiss the Ground" narrated by Woody Harrelson

"It's in the soil"
What is carbon sequestration?
The key to that is carbon. ...the most abundant element on earth after oxygen. ...It's in the soil. ... The dark, rich soil that's in your garden - that's mostly carbon. I found that carbon is the link between grazing management, and land health, and food and water, and then ultimately climate and oxygen - carbon dioxide up in the atmosphere. … We can pull carbon dioxide down from the atmosphere through plants – through photosynthesis – and into the soil – to the roots where it is stored.
– Courtney White, archeologist and Sierra Club activist
See 2014 YouTube Interview with Courtney White

DIY: Growing your own

The Wicking Worm Bed system
Water for Food -
The wicking worm bed revolution
by Maireid Sullivan
Download this FREE eBook here

Learn how to easily grow veggies at home, with less time spent watering.

A 20-page fully-illustrated DIY eBooklet: Detailed information, including exact measurements and lists of materials needed for constructing
timber-framed Wicking Worm Beds,
plus, everything you need to know about adding compost worms to the wicking beds.

Download FREE eBook

The scientists whose garden unlocked the secret to good health
Lucy Rock
The Guardian, 29 November 2015
Excerpt
When Anne Biklé and David Montgomery fed their failing soil with organic matter, they were astonished by the results. Stimulating the microbes that live beneath the surface led the garden to flourish. Then, when Biklé was diagnosed with cancer, the couple had an idea…
There are more microbes in a teaspoon of soil than there are people on the planet and they are everywhere, in water, air, earth, as well as inside our bodies and on our skin. Without them we couldn’t digest food, plants wouldn’t grow and there wouldn’t be enough oxygen for us to breathe. There are thought to be 2-3bn microbial species, divided into six groups: bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, algae and archaea…
Our overuse of antibiotics and highly processed foods are destroying these vital microbes,... just as soil microbiota is being wrecked through overuse of chemical fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides...
“It was amazing to learn the ways in which our microbiome tees up our immune cells.” >>> more

"We need to feed the world."
"When people in industrial agriculture talk about feeding the world they are talking about increasing production of grain. And nobody is stopping and saying: Well, what are you using that grain for? Are you growing food? No, they are not growing food. Those are seeds for cattle feed–for a very unsustainable system of fattening cattle on feedlots. But guess what? Cattle shouldn't be eating grain. They are evolved to eat grass."
– Michael Pollan, 2009, Fresh, the movie

"So, if we went to a grass-based herbivore agriculture for our cattle, suddenly 70% of that currently assaulted land could return to a mob-stocked herbivorous, solar conversion, lignified carbon sequestration fertilization program and all the negatives in agriculture would come to a screeching halt.
...row-crops account for the genetic engineering, the petroleum use, the tillage, the erosion and all negative things in agriculture–70% of that is grown for multi-stomach herbivores that aren't supposed to eat that anyway."
– Joel Salatin, 2009, Fresh the movie

The Future is Rural:
Food System Adaptations to the Great Simplification
Jason Bradford
February 19, 2019
Biologist, farmer, Dr. Jason Bradford has written a report challenging the common view that the future will predominantly be urban. He imagines instead that we’re at the very beginning of the Great Simplification—a time when we’ll see a return to an agrarian way of life and a complete reversal in the trend of human migration from rural areas to urban centers.

Excerpt:
The Future is Rural challenges the conventional wisdom about the future of food in our modern, globalized world. It is a much-needed reality check that explains why certain trends we take for granted–like the decline of rural areas and the dependence of farming and the food system on fossil fuels–are historical anomalies that will reverse over the coming decades. Renewable sources of energy must replace fossil fuels, but they will not power economies at the same scale as today. Priorities will profoundly shift, and food will become a central concern. Lessons learned from resilience science and alternatives to industrial agriculture provide a foundation for people to transition to more rural and locally focused lives.

Europe can go organic
Ecologist - the Journal for the Post-industrial Age
21st February 2019
Europe could be farmed entirely through agroecological approaches such as organic and still feed a growing population, a new scientific paper released yesterday shows.

Published a week after research revealed a steep decline in global insect populations linked to pesticide use, the ‘Ten Years for Agroecology’ study from European think tank IDDRi shows that pesticides can be phased out and greenhouse gas emissions radically reduced in Europe through agroecological farming, which would still produce enough healthy food for a growing population.

With new agricultural and dietary modelling, the report’s authors examine the reduction in yields that would result from a transition to agroecological farming. >>> more

Landmanship:
Natural ecology should become the highest discipline in a farmer‘s mind. Much like the disciplines of medicine facilitate healing of the body...

Why the Food Movement is Unstoppable
by Jonathan Latham, PhD – September 2016
Excerpt: … over the long run of history, the most effective opponents of excessive wealth and privilege have not normally been city dwellers, workers or unions. Instead, they have usually been those with close links to food and the land, what we would now identify as the food movement. Even today, in more than a few countries, food is the organising principle behind the main challengers of existing power structures. ... Miguel Ramirez recently explained: We say that every square meter of land that is worked with agro-ecology is a liberated square meter. We see it as a tool to transform farmers’ social and economic conditions. We see it as a tool of liberation from the unsustainable capitalist agricultural model that oppresses farmers.
>>> more

"That's what you're seeing with the organic movement and the local movement, and all these extraordinary things that are happening. We're voting with our dollar."
– Andrew Kimbrell, Centre for Food Safety

Australian Permaculture founder Bill Mollison (1928-2016) co-developed with David Holmgren (b. 1955-) the integrated system of ecological and environmental design based on a perennial and sustainable form of agriculture known as "Permaculture". In 1974, Mollison was age 46 when he began his collaboration with 19 year old David Holmgren. In 1978 they introduced their system to the world with their co-written book Permaculture One: A Perennial Agriculture for Human Settlements

Permaculture Research Institute: Permaculture design is a system of assembling conceptual, material, and strategic components in a pattern which functions to benefit life in all its forms. The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than against, nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless action; of looking at systems in all their functions, rather than asking only one yield of them; and allowing systems to demonstrate their own evolutions. >>>more

Worldwide Permaculture Network
Go to the MAP to see the growing list of permaculture projects worldwide
We cannot, however, do much for nature if we do not govern our greed, and if we do not supply our needs from our existing settlements. If we can achieve this aim, we can withdraw from much of the agricultural landscape, and allow natural systems to flourish. >>> more

In 1978, Australian Bill Mollison, the legendary Permaculture teacher, promoter and designer, founded The Permaculture Institute, the first and longest running Permaculture Institute in existence. Over 26 years of non-stop travelling, designing, teaching and writing, he personally planted the seeds of Permaculture in over 120 countries.

FREE !
Tropical Permaculture Guidebook
has just completed a new chapter!! CH 6 - FAMILY GARDENS is now LIVE on line and ready to download!!! Its a biggie! And its yours, just go to the website. Beautifully illustrated by Timorese artists, this wonderful and very practical permaculture book for the tropics is published by Permatil in East Timor as a gift to the world.

What Permaculture can teach us about The Commons
by David Bollier
Feb. 7, 2017

Excerpt:
As a developed set of social practices, techniques and ethical norms, permaculture has a lot to say to the world of the commons. This is immediately clear from reading the twelve design principles of permaculture that David Holmgren enumerated in his 2002 book Permaculture: Principles and Practices Beyond Sustainability. It mentions such principles as “catch and store energy,” “apply self-regulation and accept feedback,” “produce no waste,” and “design from patterns to details. . . . My friendship and work with ecological design expert Dave Jacke have only intensified my conviction that permaculturists and commoners need to connect more and learn from each other." >>> more

Resources:
1.
Ecological Agriculture Projects,
Macdonald College of McGill University
Definition of the term “Sustainable Agriculture”

2.
ATTRA: What's ahead for Sustainable Agriculture?
The future of sustainable agriculture has never looked more promising or more challenging. On the one hand, the number of acres in organic production continues to rise, and sales of organic foods are growing at 20 to 25 percent a year. ...
On the other hand, crop subsidies to factory farms continue to grow. Large seed and chemical companies are lobbying hard for genetically modified plants and other organisms that are resistant to (and, therefore, require) agricultural chemicals. More crop producers are shifting toward more sustainable practices each year, and more beef and dairy producers moving toward pasture-based production. >>> more

The Permaculture Research Institute (PRI) is located on a
Permaculture demonstration site in The Channon, NSW, Australia.
Managing Director of of Permaculture News "Geoff Lawton is a world renowned permaculture consultant, designer and teacher. He took his PDC in 1983 with Bill Mollison, widely considered the “father of permaculture.
Geoff has specialised in permaculture education, design, implementation, system establishment, administration and community development since 1985. Working in over 50 countries, Geoff has taught more than 15,000 students, he established the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia and Zaytuna Farm which is Geoff and Nadia’s family home. As an award winning Permaculture Designer, Geoff’s main aim is to drive the establishment of self-replicating educational demonstration sites across the globe." ... >>> more

Do You Create Biochar?
Geoff Lawson's Permaculture Masterclasses -
Watch a Four-part video series HERE

 

"The solid material obtained from the thermochemical conversion of biomass in an oxygen-limited environment"
– International Biochar Institute (pdf)
Follow IBI Biochar Standards HERE

What is Biochar?
by Stefanie Spears
Regeneration International
May 2018
Excerpt:

Biochar is a charcoal-like substance that's made by burning organic material from agricultural and forestry wastes (also called biomass) in a controlled process called pyrolysis. Although it looks a lot like common charcoal, biochar is produced using a specific process to reduce contamination and safely store carbon. >>>more

Biochar International FAQ:
Biochar  reduces soil acidity which decreases liming needs, but in most cases does not actually add nutrients in any appreciable amount. ... In most agricultural situations worldwide, soil pH (a measure of acidity) is low (a pH below 7 means more acidic soil) and needs to be increased. >>>more

Where There’s Muck, There’s Brass
Science finally unearths why soil carbon is so valuable
30 June, 2020
Rothamsted Research
Excerpt:

Founded on more than 50 years’ worth of data from a unique field experiment, researchers have demonstrated that common farming practices drain the soil of carbon, altering the structure of soils’ microscopic habitat and, remarkably, the genetics of microbes living within it.

The team of microbiologists and physicists, led by Rothamsted Research, considered almost 9,000 genes, and used X-ray imaging to look at soil pores smaller than the width of a human hair, and in concert with previous work, have started forming what they envisage will be a universal ‘Theory of Soil’.

In healthy soils, relatively low nitrogen levels limit microbes’ ability to utilise carbon compounds, so they excrete them as polymers which act as a kind of ‘glue’ - creating a porous, interconnected structure in the soil which allows water, air, and nutrients to circulate.

Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers reveal that the Victorian-era switch from manure to ammonia and phosphorous based fertilizers has caused microbes to metabolise more carbon, excrete less polymers and fundamentally alter the properties of farmland soils when compared to their original grassland state. >>>more

... the journal Scientific Reports. . .

Neal, A.L., Bacq-Labreuil, A., Zhang, X. et al. 
Soil as an extended composite phenotype of the microbial metagenome. Sci Rep 10, 10649 (2020).

Abstract:
We use a unique set of terrestrial experiments to demonstrate how soil management practises result in emergence of distinct associations between physical structure and biological functions. These associations have a significant effect on the flux, resilience and efficiency of nutrient delivery to plants (including water). Physical structure, determining the air–water balance in soil as well as transport rates, is influenced by nutrient and physical interventions. Contrasting emergent soil structures exert selective pressures upon the microbiome metagenome. These selective pressures are associated with the quality of organic carbon inputs, the prevalence of anaerobic microsites and delivery of nutrients to microorganisms attached to soil surfaces. This variety results in distinctive gene assemblages characterising each state. The nature of the interactions provide evidence that soil behaves as an extended composite phenotype of the resident microbiome, responsive to the input and turnover of plant-derived organic carbon. We provide new evidence supporting the theory that soil-microbe systems are self-organising states with organic carbon acting as a critical determining parameter. This perspective leads us to propose carbon flux, rather than soil organic carbon content as the critical factor in soil systems, and we present evidence to support this view.

- a prehistoric method of securing food in tropical areas.
Robert Hart pioneered a system based on the observation that the natural forest can be divided into distinct levels. He used intercropping to develop an existing small orchard of apples and pears into an edible polyculture landscape consisting of the following layers:In the 1980s, Robert Hart coined the term "forest gardening" after adapting the principles and applying them to temperate climates.
See comprehensive information here

Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WOOF)
aka "Willing Workers On Organic Farms" – a loose network of organisations that facilitate placement of volunteers on organic farms around the world. While there is no single international WWOOF association, as of 2010, 50 countries have a national WWOOF organisation. WWOOF Independents list hosts located in 49 other countries, of which 20 countries have only one registered host farm.

Slow Food movement
The Slow Food movement is an international movement founded in Italy by Carlo Petrini in 1986. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem. Slow Food expanded to become the Slow movement, which has expanded world-wide to over 100,000 members in 150 countries. Its goals of sustainable foods and promotion of local small businesses are paralleled by a political agenda directed against globalization of agricultural products.

Leave the tourist trail!
See the real world and learn first-hand about ecologically sound Organic, BioDynamic, and Permaculture food growing methods.

While supporting the organic movement, Volunteer WWOOFers have an opportunity to experience rural life in many countries.

WWOOFers generally do not receive financial payment. In exchange for 4 to 6 hours a day working on general farming or gardening activities, in private gardens, co-operatives, community gardens, and commercial farms, WWOOFing hosts provide food, accommodation, first-hand experience in growing food, and opportunities to network with WWOOFers from other countries, These 'working holidays' can range from a few days to years. Farms become WWOOF hosts by enlisting with their national organisation. In countries with no WWOOF organisation, farms enlist through WWOOF UK and WWOOF Australia.

What is bamboo?
by Robyn Francis
As the world’s largest grass and fastest growing plant, bamboo has earned reputations ranging from severe animosity to zealous passion. The animosity has been largely driven by the invasive and rampant nature of running bamboo species, which hold no regard for property boundaries and have thwarted many creative strategies for containment. Running bamboos tend to be more temperate to sub-tropical species and usually shoot in spring.

There are many excellent clumping species of bamboo that won’t take over your (and your neighbours) yard. I generally recommend planting only clumping bamboos. Clumping bamboos range in size from the smaller 2-4m high ‘multiplex’ hedge bamboo species, through to giants that grow up to 40 meters high with culm diameters of 20cm. Clumping bamboos tend to be tropical and subtropical species. Some, like Bambusa oldhamii, can handle frosts down to -8 deg, whereas others are exceptionally frost sensitive. Clumping bamboos usually shoot with the onset of the wet season in summer. >>> more

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals - 2012
World Health Organization Report
Download the pdf
Page 1.
State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals - 2012
Edited by Åke Bergman, Jerrold J. Heindel, Susan Jobling.

Introduction
In 2002, the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), a joint programme of the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Labour Organization, published a document entitled Global Assessment of the State-of-the-Science of Endocrine Disruptors (IPCS, 2002). This work concluded that scientific knowledge at that time provided evidence that certain effects observed in wildlife can be attributed to chemicals that function as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs); that the evidence of a causal link was weak in most cases and that most effects had been observed in areas where chemical contamination was high; and that experimental data supported this conclusion. The document further concluded that there was only weak evidence for endocrine-related effects in humans. Uncertainties regarding global endocrine disrupting effects were put forward; simultaneously, concern was expressed that endocrine disruption may affect developmental processes if exposure occurs during early life stages. Almost no data regarding endocrine-related effects were available for chemicals other than those defined as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) according to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants: polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT). Even for these chemicals, the data gaps were obvious for parts of the world other than western Europe, North America and Japan. The IPCS (2002) document finally concluded that there was a need for broad, collaborative and international research initiatives and presented a list of research needs.

Since the start of this century, intensive scientific work has improved our understanding of the impacts of EDCs on human and wildlife health. Scientific reviews published by, for example, the Endocrine Society (Diamanti-Kandarakis et al., 2009), the European Commission (Kortenkamp et al., 2011) and the European Environment Agency (2012) show the scientific complexity of this issue. These documents implicate EDCs as a concern to public and wildlife health. In addition, the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology and the Pediatric Endocrine Society have put forward a consensus statement calling for action regarding endocrine disruptors and their effects (Skakkebaek et al., 2011).

Now, in 2012, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and WHO present an update of the IPCS (2002) document, entitled State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals—2012. This document provides the global status of scientific knowledge on exposure to and effects of EDCs. It explains, in the first chapter, what endocrine disruption is all about, and then it discusses in detail, in 12 sections in the second chapter, endocrine disrupting effects in humans and wildlife. The work is based on the fact that endocrine systems are very similar across vertebrate species and that endocrine effects manifest themselves independently of species. The effects are endocrine system related and not necessarily species dependent. Effects shown in wildlife or experimental animals may also occur in humans if they are exposed to EDCs at a vulnerable time and at concentrations leading to alterations of endocrine regulation.

Of special concern are effects on early development of both humans and wildlife, as these effects are often irreversible and may not become evident until later in life. The third and final chapter of this document discusses exposure of humans and wildlife to EDCs and potential EDCs.

In late March, 2015, glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's weed killer Roundup, was reclassified "probable carcinogen" by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a division of the World Health Organization (WHO).

DOWNLOAD free GMO shopping guide (PDF format)  

According to Monsanto's website:
"There is no need to test the safety of DNA introduced into GM crops. DNA (and resulting RNA) is present in almost all foods. DNA is non-toxic and the presence of DNA, in and of itself, presents no hazard."

This viewpoint, while good for business, is built on an understanding of genetics circa 1960. Given what we know now, that stance is arrogant. Time will tell if it's reckless. Take a look at this comprehensive archive of reports re. Monsanto's efforts to dominate food production.

Plus:
– The One and Only Way You Can Tell if a Food is GMO-Free

The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) brings together a diversity of expert voices to shape policy debates on how to reform food systems around the world.
... an independent panel of experts with a mission to promote transition to sustainable food systems around the world. Since 2015, IPES-Food has shaped the debate on global food system reform through scientific reports & detailed policy recommendations. >>>more

European Study: 2015
First Commercialized GM Crop Was Toxic to Farm Animals over Long-Term
A unique new study led by Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini has shown that the first genetically-modified GM crop commercialized for animal feed, Bt176 from Novartis (now Syngenta), was toxic to cows over the long-term.
Context:
The first GM maize to be commercialized for animal feed, Bt176 from Novartis (subsequently Syngenta), caused various controversies, beginning in 1996. Grown on a few thousand hectares, it was quickly withdrawn from the market.
>>>more

On an independent modern farm followed by certified veterinarians, dairy cows (mean of 62 per year) were maintained in optimized milk production for 3 years each. From 1997 to 2002, just after the commercial release of the first GMO (genetically modified organism) in Europe, genetically modified (GM) Bt176 maize grown on the farm was progressively introduced in controlled diets. The results are described in the following account, which has an historical value as it is the longest and first on-farm observation of mammals, performed by an experienced farmer and veterinarians, during a period of unusual pathological problems in cows receiving a GMO-rich diet. Thus it was not designed as a scientific experiment. Over the years, and coinciding with regular increases in GMO content of the diet (0–40%), the proportion of healthy cows with high milk yield diminished from 70% (normal rate) to only 40%. At the peak of mortalities in 2002, 10% of the cows died, preceded by a long-lasting paresis syndrome without hypocalcemia or fever, but with kidney biochemical failure and mucosa or epithelial problems. No microbial origin was identified, though intensively investigated. The GM maize, subsequently withdrawn from the market, was at the time the only intended managerial change for the cows. It is proposed that it provoked long-term toxic effects on mammals, which are not observable in most common conditions of intensive farming with high and rapid animal turnover and with no specific labels on GM feed (identifying amount and precise identity of GMO content). More long-term assessments during GMO feeding trials should be performed. >>> more

Pesticide Treadmill Jeopardizes Food Safety
In 2013, in the midst of mounting questions about glyphosate’s safety, the Environmental Protection Agency doubled allowable limits of glyphosate in flax, soybean, and canola from 20 to 40 ppm

Researchers found Roundup causes necrosis and apoptosis in human cells starting at 50 ppm, which the researchers noted is “far below agricultural dilutions”

In response to the IARC's determination, British and German retailers have started removing Roundup from its lineup of weed killers sold to the general public. France has also announced plans to restrict its sale at garden centers.
Source: EU Supermarkets and garden centres ban Roundup weedkiller suspected of causing cancer. Guardian August 7, 2015

The IARC is one of the research agencies from which the California agency of environmental hazards gets its data to declare carcinogens under Prop 65 and, as predicted, environment officials have now issued a notice of intent to put a cancer warning on Roundup. Source: AgInfo.net Sept. 10, 2015

The Very Real Danger of Genetically Modified Foods
It seems clear that Monsanto wants you to close your eyes, open your mouth, and swallow.
– Ari Levaux
The Atlantic, Jan. 9, 2012

New research shows that when we eat we're consuming more than just vitamins and protein. Our bodies are absorbing information, or microRNA.

The type of RNA in question is called microRNA (abbreviated to miRNA) due to its small size. MiRNAs have been studied extensively since their discovery ten years ago, and have been implicated as players in several human diseases including cancer, Alzheimer's, and diabetes. They usually function by turning down or shutting down certain genes. The Chinese research provides the first in vivo example of ingested plant miRNA surviving digestion and influencing human cell function in this way.

Should the research survive scientific scrutiny -- a serious hurdle -- it could prove a game changer in many fields. It would mean that we're eating not just vitamins, protein, and fuel, but gene regulators as well.

That knowledge could deepen our understanding of many fields, including cross-species communication, co-evolution, and predator-prey relationships. It could illuminate new mechanisms for some metabolic disorders and perhaps explain how some herbal and modern medicines function.

This study had nothing to do with genetically modified (GM) food, but it could have implications on that front. The work shows a pathway by which new food products, such as GM foods, could influence human health in previously unanticipated ways. ...

In 1999, a group of scientists wrote a letter titled "Beyond Substantial Equivalence" to the prestigious journal Nature. In the letter, Erik Millstone et. al. called substantial equivalence "a pseudo-scientific concept" that is "inherently anti-scientific because it was created primarily to provide an excuse for not requiring biochemical or toxicological tests."

To these charges, Monsanto responded: "The concept of substantial equivalence was elaborated by international scientific and regulatory experts convened by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1991, well before any biotechnology products were ready for market."

This response is less a rebuttal than a testimonial to Monsanto's prowess at handling regulatory affairs. Of course the term was established before any products were ready for the market. Doing so was a prerequisite to the global commercialization of GM crops. It created a legal framework for selling GM foods anywhere in the world that substantial equivalence was accepted. By the time substantial equivalence was adopted, Monsanto had already developed numerous GM crops and was actively grooming them for market. >>> more

What’s driving this cycle is the consumer’s desire for more information about their food,... I don’t think that’s going away.
Why some farmers are deciding to go GMO-free
"Conventional seeds certainly cost less, lacking the need to recoup the large research and development costs behind their genetically altered counterparts. A bag of non-GMO soybeans — which covers roughly one acre — costs about $20 less than a similar bag of seeds designed to work with glyphosate" Millwood said. ... But those non-GMO crops also are more valuable when it’s time to sell. …ongoing debates over GMO labeling suggest there could soon be greater domestic demand for non-GMO grains. “What’s driving this cycle is the consumer’s desire for more information about their food,” James said. “I don’t think that’s going away.” >>> more

Redesigning Civilization -- with Permaculture
Modern agriculture, industry and finance all extract more than they give back, and the Earth is starting to show the strain. How did we get in this mess and what can we do to help our culture get back on track? The ecological design approach known as permaculture offers powerful tools for the design of regenerative, fair ways to provide food, energy, livelihood, and other needs while letting humans share the planet with the rest of nature. This presentation will give you insight into why our culture has become fundamentally unsustainable, and offers ecologically based solutions that can help create a just and sustainable society.

Robyn O'Brien:
Real food, is that too much to ask; Big industry, I take to task; It's time that we reclaim our plates; from food forced into altered states.

Robyn shares her personal story and how it inspired her current path as a "Real Food" evangelist. Grounded in a successful Wall Street career that was more interested in food as good business than good-for-you, this mother of four was shaken awake by the dangerous allergic reaction of one of her children to a "typical" breakfast. Her mission to unearth the cause revealed more about the food industry than she could stomach, and impelled her to share her findings with others. Informative and inspiring.

About this speaker
Robyn authored "The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It." A former Wall Street food industry analyst, Robyn brings insight, compassion and detailed analysis to her research into the impact that the global food system is having on the health of our children. She founded allergykidsfoundation.org and was named by Forbes as one of "20 Inspiring Women to Follow on Twitter." The New York Times has passionately described her as "Food's Erin Brockovich." >>> more

CONSUMED, the 2015 film
CONSUMED is a dramatic thriller that explores the complex world of genetically modified food. The story is anchored by a working-class, single Mother on a hunt to uncover the cause of her son's mysterious illness. Interwoven are the stories of an Organic farmer, the CEO of a biotechnology corporation, two Scientists on the verge of a major discovery, and an ex-Cop caught in the middle of it all.

A Global Experiment Gone Awry
No long-term human trials have ever been done to evaluate the health effects of GE ingredients, and no one knows what the effects of a lifetime's worth of GMO consumption might be.
But food is foundational for health, so when people suddenly suffer ill health in great numbers, it makes sense to look at the basics, starting with food.

The problem with GMOs is not restricted to novel proteins. GE foods also introduce greater amounts of pesticides into your diet, and such chemicals have also been linked to a long list of health problems, including infertility, birth defects, endocrine disruption, neurological disorders and cancer.

More generally:
• Insecticides primarily produce neurological symptoms
• Fungicides tend to produce skin-related symptoms
• Herbicides are associated with digestive and skin problems, including nutritional deficiencies, systemic toxicity and gut dysbiosis.

"Why are we all being fed by a poison expert?"
How are we in a situation where the provider of a huge slice of the world's food bowl is synonymous with adverse health effects?... Using vast reserves of cash and influence to distract us all from the key question: Why are we all being fed by a poison expert?

"We are the lab rats."
Kevin O'Leary, The Lang & O'Leary show.
2013 interview with 14 year old Rachel Parent
Debating Kevin O'Leary on the issue of Genetically Modified Food.

Kids Right To Know:
“GMO Just Label It! Campaign”
Founded on the belief that we have the “Right to Know” what’s in our food, helping to create mass awareness about the risks of GMOs and to push for their mandatory labeling.

ABOUT RACHEL PARENT:
From a very young age Rachel showed true compassion for the protection of animals, she also attended a small school that nurtured and encouraged caring for others by performing for the less fortunate, and elderly, including singing and playing guitar with the York Region Police choir.

When Rachel was 12 years old, she had to do a speech for all the students at her School in Aurora, on a topic that would be of interest to her. Rachel struggled trying to decide among topics such as GMOs, Animal Cruelty, Poverty in Canada and Global Deforestation. She decided on GMOs because of the opportunity to change so many lives, to better everyone’s health, and help improve our overburdened health care system. Rachel understood that GMOs are affecting the entire planet, from humans to bees, the earth, and kids’ futures. The topic of GMOs was a natural choice, as the situation was urgent and needed immediate attention. She won a medal for her speech.
>>> more

Common sense from FRESH, the movie
FRESH is more than a movie, it’s a gateway to action. ... to help grow FRESH food, ideas, and become active participants in an exciting, vibrant, and fast-growing movement.

Selected quotes:

Professor John Ikerd, Agricultural Economist:
"It's all about maximum short run productive efficiency. A factory process. You find something that works well and then we continue to use it, because it works so well. Then, as we say, we begin to ply that same kind of paradigm. The paradigm of industrialization, specialization, standardization. economies of scale. we begin to apply it to everything --and it doesn't work on everything. ... If we go to a local food system, you gain about 3 people, in terms of employment within the local community, for every person you displace. You'd see more people employed in a sustainable system, because it is more dependent upon the imagination and creativity of people. That's what makes these alternative systems work." – John Ikerd

Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director,
The Centre for Food Safety
One of the complaints that we often hear about organic is: It's wonderful! Sure! It's better for the land, better for the farmer, better for you. But, you can't feed the world with it. We now know that is just wrong. We have the science. We know the answer. And, that is that medium sized organic is far more productive than any sized industrial agriculture.

For the first time, in the last two or three years, we actually have the studies, the data, that definitely shows, if you want to feed the world, don't be industrial agriculture. It turns out that all those inputs; all the expensive machinery, all the pesticides, herbicides, not to mention the fertilizers, make it unsustainable.

In the last ten years we have had more than a hundred million more tons of herbicides poured on our crops, in our crop lands, polluting our streams, polluting our air, in our foods.

Industrial agriculture has caused us to loose over 90% of our diversity.

We've seen our soil depleting at thirteen times the rate that can be replaced. ...
Every decision we make at the supermarket, what we grow, what we eat, is creating a different future, for the land, the farmers, for diversity, for the health of our own bodies and communities. That's what you're seeing with the organic movement and the local movement, and all these extraordinary things that are happening. We're voting with our dollar.

That is what is so empowering about the food issue. That's the one place where there is a new vision for the future that we don't have to wait for. It is a decision you and I can make tomorrow —right now! That will change the world. It's not an impossible dream.

  Daphne Miller - Farmacology
Notes:
Dr. Miller long suspected that farming and medicine were intimately linked. Increasingly disillusioned by mainstream medicine's mechanistic approach to healing and fascinated by the farming revolution that is changing the way we think about our relationship to the Earth, Daphne Miller left her medical office and traveled to seven innovative family farms around the country, on a quest to discover the hidden connections between how we care for our bodies and how we grow our food.

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