Since I’m in the full throes of Edible Austin Eat Drink Local Week, I’ve not made time

to write about these long-awaited visitors and what they had to say; and instead I am recommending Forrest Wilder’s article from the Texas Observer (here).

Quoting Wilder: 

“In Europe, Berry would be a ‘public intellectual’ but since we don’t have those in America, he usually gets the list treatment for his bio: poet, novelist, philosopher, farmer, Baptist, activist and icon of a certain rural agrarianism. Much to the discredit of our national “conversation, a voice like Berry’s is rarely heard above the din.

The American Conservative aptly wrote in 2006 that Berry’s ‘unshakable devotion to the land, to localism, and to the dignity of traditional life makes him both a great American and, to the disgrace of our age, a prophet without honor in his native land.’ “

HERE HERE! It was one of the great joys of my life to get to meet Berry and Jackson. The Q&A following their evening show allowed for only 5 questions, fully two of which were wasted on baffoonery, making me regret not asking mine. I wanted to ask something along the lines of, “given that you ARE intellectuals, and that the majority of Americans have only disdain for those operating at this level of consciousness, how are those of us on the ground in this movement to affect systems change?” The truth is, most people outside of my organization’s circles I engage in conversation about the Problem of Agriculture, as Jackson put it, look at me blankly. There’s food in the supermarkets, isn’t there? The grain silos are stuffed to overflowing, no? 

In order to continue the conversation, I often state that I would not have been able to grasp the painfully complex issues surrounding food production in our country without having read two books: The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture (Berry), and The Omnivore’s Dilemma (Pollan). Concerningly, however, the MOST intelligent right-wing-leaning people I know to whom I have recommended these books have either declined to read them or have made it a few pages in and dismissed these statesmen as liberals. To offer this critique demonstrates a shocking lack of familiarity with political systems and with history: because this writing isn’t liberal; it is radical.

What I have realized this fall is that the truth revealed in Berry’s essays on American culture and on agriculture is simply too painful for most to confront. What it requires of us is nothing less than a reversal of worldview; a shedding of long and often dearly-held tenets. On the other side, there are fewer with whom to relate. But the quality of discourse and honesty of communicating makes the agony of crossing over worth it.

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.”
― Wendell Berry

If you haven’t time to watch this in its entirety, beginning at minute 2:16 is the must-see clip from Wendell Berry’s interview during the 2009 Wisconsin Book Festival. Here is a transcript of that excerpt:

…Most significantly, this growth of agrarian awareness in the cities: of some kind of duty to those proxies they’ve given to other people to raise their food for them. And so, I’m just immensely grateful to have lasted long enough to see this. But at the same time we begin to feel a kind of relief and excitement about this, I think we have to check ourselves and realize what immense jobs of work we have lying ahead of us, and how very hard we’re going to have to work to keep our minds clear, and our bodies capable to carry this on to some kind of significant conclusion.

The other side is just beginning to notice us. We’ve been a little dog yapping at the heels of a big giant with a big club. And we still are. I had the idea, and I’m going to say it, with some suspicion that it might not be true, but I think that National Animal Identification-business (NAIS) may be the first effort of Big Agriculture, of AgriBusiness, to use their friends in government to strike a meaningful blow against the small producers. I think there’s going to be more than that, as the farmers’ markets and the CSAs and so on, begin to take market share, we’re going to hear from those people. And they’re not going to be the benign, family folk that they’ve represented themselves to be.

After all, I come from Kentucky, and I know what the corporations are capable of. And if you’d like to know, have a look at the mountaintop removal sites in Kentucky and West Virginia. These people are capable of anything. And we mustn’t be optimistic about their character.

The other-other thing is, that they’re working against themselves. That’s on our side. To that extent. To the extent that their failure is obvious to everybody, and undeniable by them, they’re working for us.

This week we received in the mail an invitation to participate in the Food Dialogues, a “town hall” meeting of sorts produced by the newly formed U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance. I wrote about this organization in April here and they are a puppet regime.

Organized at the behest of AgriBiz, the U.S. FRA has nothing to do with actual farmers. Less than 1% of farmers still live on the land they farm in the U.S. and as you likely know, if you are reading this, you are aware that those represented by Ketchum, Zocalo and the multinational conglomerates they represent, have absolutely nothing to do with local and regionally based food economies. And everything to do with the bottom line, despite co-opting the terms “sustainable” and “environmentally responsible.”

Over the past week I have considered reaching out to John Besh directly. Given my work with chefs I am well aware of the limitations on their time. And so I am positing that Besh, most likely through no fault of his own, has, through someone close to him, become a party to those who would undermine all that we collectively stand for.

It is quite plain, even if one had no background knowledge of the issues at hand, that U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance, is at minimum a trade group bankrolled by the entities stated quite plainly in their “Meet Our Affiliates and Industry Partners” page.

The USFRA “Premier Partner Advisory Group” includes Monsanto and DuPont.

“American consumers are interested in learning how their food is grown and raised,” said John Raines, vice president of customer advocacy for Monsanto. “Billions of people depend upon what farmers and ranchers do on a daily basis. Monsanto is proud to support USFRA’s efforts to lead a dialogue – bringing together the voices of farmers, ranchers and agricultural partners – to address questions consumers are asking.”

On September 22nd, this puppet entity will hold a Town Hall-style meeting in which our beloved chef, John Besh, is involved. The purpose is ostensibly to unite all scales of producers in dialogue about how America’s food is produced. It is, in fact, a propaganda mechanism by AgriBiz. Won’t you join me in saying “no” to this thinly-veiled attempt to sway Americans’ hearts and minds toward an agriculture that pollutes, kills and holds false arguments that misframe the issues before us all?

cc: @michaelpollan @tomphilpott @FARFA_org

In my struggle to sleep Saturday night, I turned to T.S. Eliot. The Hollow Men seemed best to illustrate the feeling in the pit of my stomach.

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar

The final stanza of the poem is haunting, and captures precisely what I felt:

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

Saturday night, as I sobbed and struggled against the fact of having had someone in our home who had lived and breathed and worked at this unconscionable institution, I was reminded that they are only men. Individual men, who as a collective realize their power on the world stage. Their time is coming. This is the way the world ends.

SFC Farm Direct Projects Director, Andrew Smiley, had this to say:

It’s true that raising peaches on a commercial scale in Central Texas is extremely difficult using purely organic methods, considering the climate and pest pressures prevalent in our region.  That said, the peach growers we work with take great strides to reduce both the amount and the toxicity of the products they use on their crops.  By applying integrated pest management practices, they are able to limit their use of chemicals to only those that are absolutely necessary for keeping their farms in operation, and those that target specific pests which are most damaging.  In fact, most farmers are daunted by the high cost, environmental impact, and personal health risks of pesticides, so it makes the most economic, ecological, and personal sense for them to work towards eliminating them all together.

Peaches from SFC Farmers' Market, photo by Michael Yew

There is, unfortunately, a lack of technical assistance available from our higher education institutions around organic tree fruit production.  I believe that until the agricultural universities step away from one of their major funding sources – the chemical industry – we may not see the necessary emphasis placed on natural and sustainable production research that will indeed benefit our small family farmers and our consumers, as well as our environment.

One advantage that we all have as customers of direct market outlets like SFC Farmers’ Markets is that we can ask the farmers directly about their specific growing practices, and assess how they align with each individual’s economic, environmental, cultural, and personal health values.  I’d encourage everyone to talk with your farmers about all the aspects of growing our food. I’ll also encourage folks to contact our state’s universities, extension services, and government agencies to offer input on what you think should be a priority when it comes to their research and education activities.

In the meantime, thank you for supporting our local farmers, and see you at SFC Farmers’ Market!

michaelpollan Michael Pollan

“Big Ag hires Ketchum and Zocalo to “strengthen” its image and combat critics. Here comes the campaign http://p2.to/1aGG“

…Before examining their marketing goals, let’s take a moment to acknowledge this cutely named newly-formed org: “U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA)“. Sounds farmy doesn’t it? Kind of like, “we’re for the farmers? and if you aren’t with us, you aren’t for the farmers.” That is exactly the line of logic their shills will lead with. I’m calling it now. Then they’ll descend into misframing the issues at hand with fearmongering and questions parried with much hype, the most reliable being:

“HOW CAN WE FEED THE WORLD WITH SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE!?”

The swill-selling shills love this one, because it covers all bases. Whether the debate which ensues includes reasonable, sane-person responses such as, “with local and regionally based food systems appropriate to their geographic place,” the hacks and flacks will howl, “wrong! you cannot ‘feed the world’ with local ag!” They have recently begun referring to it as “peasant ag,” in fact. Charming.

And should the debate enjoy more favorable dialogue from fellow Biggies, the tweeting heads will go right ahead and co-opt the word “sustainable”, citing Monsanto, ADM, DuPont, ConAgra and a host of others who since 2007 have been running wild with bastardizations of the term. I canceled my years-long subscription to The Atlantic Monthly over insipid ads such as the one below, which does nothing more than play upon the public’s fears and encourage the lemming-like masses to trust that the big guys have got this food thing covered. Nothing to see here!

 It’s with great anticipation I await the Ketchum/Zocalo campaign executions. I hope you’ll follow along with me.

 Right out of the starting gate we have this gem of a quotation from the Ketchum head:

“We are honored to have been asked to serve America’s agricultural community for this incredibly important and    unprecedented assignment,” said Linda Eatherton, Ketchum Partner and Director of its Global Food & Nutrition  Practice. “With over 50 years of service to food and agricultural organizations, our firm was literally built for this  assignment. Working side by side with USFRA members, stakeholders and allies, we know we can help people re-  think  the role of American agriculture in feeding hundreds of millions of Americans every day.”

Note in particular, “RE-THINK” and “the role of AMERICAN AGRICULTURE”…”in feeding HUNDREDS OF  MILLIONS” (of Americans) every day. I’m truly surprised they didn’t go for “the world”. Even the world is not enough.

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I want to thank ALL of you who have helped SFC bring home the Dell #ed4good #AUS challenge for $10,000 for our programs today. Only ONE HOUR remains – so if you blog, blog the hashtag (#ed4good #AUS), if you Tweet, tweet like the wind, making sure to include #ed4good #AUS – and if you update your Facebook status, please make sure it includes #ed4good #AUS. This has been SFC’s first foray into raising funds via social media, and the community has been incredibly supportive.

The Austin Business Journal covered our campaign partnership with Dachis Group this morning, and we’ve enjoyed overwhelming support from food bloggers, Twitter followers, Facebook fans and our own friends and family.

To see your support in action, check out this clip from earlier in the week on KEYE TV. Whether SFC wins this challenge or not, we’ve been honored by the outpouring of our shared message to cultivate a healthy community.

SFC's Sprouting Healthy Kids visit a local farm

]]> http://cakeaustin.com/2011/03/10/last-hour-to-help-sfc-win-ed4good-aus-and-10k/feed/ 0 cakeaustin SFC's Sprouting Healthy Kids visit a local farm http://cakeaustin.com/2011/03/03/food-marketing-defectors-on-the-truth/ http://cakeaustin.com/2011/03/03/food-marketing-defectors-on-the-truth/#comments Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:31:45 +0000 cakeaustin http://cakeaustin.com/?p=710 ]]> My favorite morning routine includes hopping on the treadmill and watching a half hour or so of Ted talks or interviews between smart people. Today I watched this gem, Alex Bogusky talking Truth with Robyn O’Brien, whom I met a year ago when she was at SFC Farmers’ Market Downtown signing copies of her best seller, The Unhealthy Truth. Alex Bogusky I knew of from my NYC ad agency days; he of hotshot agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky “Subservient Chicken” fame. This man has had a long journey from creating Burger King ads to finding the Truth, and I’m grateful to my friend Marty Butler for bringing Alex’s story to my attention as a fellow agency defector. The credo for his blog, posterous, reads:

Fear is the mortal enemy of creativity, innovation and happiness

His interview with Robyn goes through dark, frightening territory. Both of their young children had life-threatening food allergies and conditions they are now certain were caused by synthetic proteins in our food system. Robyn cites 1994 as the year Pandora’s box was opened and biologically engineered food was launched into the US food supply. Europe, having noted the ill effects to animals – and I’m not talking about lab rats; these were large scale studies on cows and pigs – banned GMOs until harm could be ruled out. Whereas, America’s decision makers decided, we’ll release this exciting new technology into the food system until proven harmful. The Obama Administration has just reprised this logic in its decision to allow farmers to plant GMO alfalfa. Those who continue to question the USDA ruling are repeatedly marginalized and treated as a fringe cell. Hippies out of our minds.

“In our country you have this choice between Orthorexia and Obesity.” Adds Alex, “If you’re obese, they say you have great mental health. But if you’ve opted out [of the conventional food system], you’re orthorexic. That’s a GREAT term, well done. Whomever the folks were who came up with orthorexia, this compulsion to eat better as a medical condition – SO GOOD. BRAVO.”

If you read this blog regularly, you know I’m a fan of people who aren’t afraid of popping the hood on Big Ag – and in particular, those who go after its marketers. Alex and Robyn are certainly in the hall of fame for me.

Best quotation of the interview is from Alex, in closing, with regard to traits being engineered into our food supply: “God had some great ideas, but he just wasn’t a good capitalist…You don’t have to pay Him anything. You just take stuff.”

Chick-fil-A is not open on Sundays; a pretty bold move in the fast chain business, but also a fairly obvious marketing tool towards Christians. It sends the message, “We don’t need your money on Sundays, friends. We are taking this Biblically prescribed day of rest, and you should, too.”

What Chick-fil-A also does not need is to procure its food from factory farms and hope that Christians making the connection between spirituality, ethics and knowing where our food comes from, will turn a blind eye.

This Christian will not.

Have you seen this piece, “Every Person Has a Story”? I’m not sure if fast food gets to do that. What do you think?

I admire Dan Cathy, and I pray for him a transformation on the issues of large-scale procurement as they relate to inhumane animal treatment, unnaturally grown food and personal responsibility toward stewarding human health. We’ve all witnessed what is possible for a national fast food chain: just look at how far Chipotle has come.

I think Dan Cathy should visit Joel Salatin. I’ll bet they’d like and respect one another. When Chick-fil-A begins to take steps towards clean, just, sustainable food sourcing, I’ll rejoice. Rather than wishing for the brand’s demise, I hope they’ll choose a new beginning based on the triple bottom line. A resurrection like that? Nothing would befit a Christian more.