The UC Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program defines “sustainable agriculture,” which is admittedly a moving target…
“There are many practices commonly used by people working in sustainable agriculture and sustainable food systems. Growers may use methods to promote soil health, minimize water use, and lower pollution levels on the farm. Consumers and retailers concerned with sustainability can look for “values-based” foods that are grown using methods promoting farmworker wellbeing, that are environmentally friendly, or that strengthen the local economy.”
Note a few items; the above goals point to a transition between our own present and our children’s future. We are not alone; our own personal aggrandizement is not a sufficient reason to rob our children. So, I would say the web of sustainability that surrounds us is indeed multifaceted. But what about these values-based “add-ons”; why care about soil health? Farm workers have always been cheap, and we know why. They are exploited to maintain lower costs for you and big money for the corporate oligarchs. No one really cares about the environment (unless it is an enforcement weapon to put others down), right? A healthy local economy just means that those local folks become harder to control.
Pretty awful when you lay it out. But it doesn’t have to be that way; let’s start with soil health and soil life, the poster child of sustainable; this is the very foundation of everything. When you apply something like KNF fermentation techniques (grass and stuff in a barrel of water for 3-5 days and you are good to go), soil care can be very simple and inexpensive. This is sustainability in all its glory.
Like in The Graduate, you need to know just one word, and it’s not plastics; it’s mulch.
Let’s talk about “values-based” and why that is sustainability. Without heart, you ain’t got much; I could stop there but let’s go on. Worker wellbeing and a healthy community go hand in hand when you realize that an oppressed and abused work force cannot help to produce quality products and a healthy lifestyle that can be transferred from one generation to another. Folks who are struggling have a real hard time fostering their Community since they are so forced to focus only on their own needs.
Environmental concerns, while so very important for all of us, have also been “commercialized” and have been turned into a weapon — just think CDFW enforcement is the death of sustainability. By commercialized, I mean this: a business is going to tout that they are squeaky clean, even if they aren’t. And by weapon, environmentalism is thrust at, especially, smaller businesses with every intent of regulating them into the ground, but people need to make a living, especially the small guy, without becoming a bankrupt basket case. And, finally, equity is a great balancer; if the rich get it all, then society and community collapse. People lose hope; they lose the desire to better themselves. We all deserve our best shot.
Is there something wrong with sustainability? Is it too holy? It is a question to ask; some folks do get their panties in a twist over the whole thing, but really, it is quite simple: Mother Nature does it all the time.
Steve Dodge owns Homegrown Farms and partners at Humboldt Growers Network. Besides The Cannabis Show (Mondays 5-6PM, over at KMUD.ORG), he is on substack (https://nevergiveup.substack.com/) and Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/home_grown). Well, almost on. Been in the biz since 1978. His farm comes equipped with Gizmo, the black cat and Leda, the really big Rottweiler.
Photo Credit: Steve Dodge
The Way of the Snail.