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Agriculture in a Changing World with Noam Chomsky et al.

Dandelion Salad

with Noam Chomsky

Cherry Tomatoes

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

ontheearthproduction on Feb 27, 2014

“Agriculture is the oldest environmental problem,” the Land Institute’s Wes Jackson tells us early in this 27-minute video. Through interviews with 11 scientists, researchers and environmental experts, this short documentary considers that fate of agriculture and the environment in the age of agri-business and climate change. Noam Chomsky, Bill McKibben, Tad Patzek, Wendell Berry, Mark Shepard and the rest of the cast explain that big agriculture’s insatiable need for revenue not only afflicts the environment with toxic fertilizers, pesticides and carbon emissions, it degrades the state of agriculture itself by destroying the soil and subverting the natural evolution of animals, plants and insects. It is as unsustainable as it is unstoppable.

The local food movement and the resurgence of small farms provide a glimmer of hope on a gloomy horizon. “Last year was the first time in 150 years there were more farms and not fewer,” McKibben says. Chomsky puts the dilemma in perspective when he says, “On the one hand you have highly concentrated capital supported by state power. On the other hand you have people trying to do things on their own. That’s not just agriculture that’s over the whole society.”

see

The Gitmos: Monsanto Boogie

#TPP Fast Track Targets Local Foods Efforts by Karen Hansen-Kuhn + Take Action!

Monsanto, the TPP, and Global Food Dominance by Ellen Brown

Still Reaping a Harvest of Shame by Ralph Nader + Moyers and Company: Fighting for Farmworkers

New report: Governments must protect land, food systems as trade liberalization accelerates land grabbing by Sophia Murphy

9 thoughts on “Agriculture in a Changing World with Noam Chomsky et al.”

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  5. It isn’t agriculture that is the problem – it feeds us, doesn’t it?. The problem lies with insatiable greed and not just in agriculture. And the ‘crop’ corruption is doing very well too.

    • The Campaign for Real Farming is about “enlightened agriculture” peskyv. It’s promoting and practicing method, not just arguing about “free market” systemics ad nauseam.

      The key principle is people feeding themselves, through biological understanding, intelligent cooperation and community integrity, not corporate control of food by energy intensive, polluting, ecologically destructive and cruel industrial extraction that only benefits a few perverse misers.

      Foodopoly is deeply corrupt and corrupting. In that respect, true enough of course, greed is exacerbating our problems; but, it is also a question of banishing the calculated disempowerment instilled by the deployment of propaganda fear tactics and hyper-managed “insecurity” for gain.

      The old set is broke. The fake “king of the world” scam is dead ~ the ridiculous scarecrow on a pole is just rags in the wind, the criminal players have been flushed out of their concealment “in plain sight” ~ the real news is how best to celebrate the sovereignty of the Earth.

  6. Where are the women’s voices in all this . This informative show is completely out of balance without the mention of a lack of reverence for the Earth and the many millions of female farmers.
    Myrick Ashley

    • Myrick, I so agree with you, this is a only a glimmer of what’s going on.

      Above all others, Vandana Shiva’s is a clarion voice ~ & probably the most powerful…it’s taking a while but the facts are percolating through the corrupt system. There’s a lot happening right now.

      At the heart of it is a huge legal battle going on within the World Bank, the outcome of which will determine the balance of ethical priorities and the prevailing values that will set the enduring pragmatic standard of transparency and accountability for the foreseeable future..

  7. Hear, hear!! I so welcome this profoundly important discourse Lo. Mark Shepard (Restoration Ag.) says it in a nutshell. All opinions here express valid perspectives. Rob Hopkins is great, from my bailiwick, Totnes, South Devon (I live in N Devon…)

    I’m active in the Campaign for Real Farming ( “Agrarian Renaissance;”) & just attended their 5th annual Oxford conference (with floods) ~ launching the Manifesto for a New Agriculture (accessible online in due course.)

    We have huge problems/challenges right now, never mind tomorrow, this is an ecological crisis world-wide in trumps, it’s a no-brainer ~ actually yesterday’s “news!” What are the alternatives ~ if to be “American” consumers, we’re three planets short?

    Now for more real solutions…

    Colin Tudge is a superb writer and brilliant biologist. He summarizes the core conceptual narrative here http://www.campaignforrealfarming.org/2014/02/is-agroecology-natural-is-natural-good/

    And, in case anyone missed this ~ arguably one of the most vitally important 3 way conversations I’ve ever had the privilege to hear ~ Amy Goodman, Jane Goodall & Vandana Shiva at the International Women’s Earth and Climate Initiative Summit
    http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2013/12/4/video_extended_interview_with_vandana_shiva

    Now we’re talking sense!

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