Visions of Sustainability: A Community Farm for Northeast Wisconsin

 

By: N.E.W. Community Farm

 

"A vision without a task is but a dream. A task without a dream is a drudgery,

But a dream with a task is the hope of the world".   From a church in England, 1730

 

We have a vision to share with you. A vision that when enacted will build and strengthen community – culturally, spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially, economically and environmentally. A vision that redesigns the current business model of profits first; transformed to life first. A vision that reconnects people to each other and to Mother Earth. A vision creating opportunity for meaningful work in a community of love. A vision to revitalize and repair agriculture, and our local culture, both rural and urban. Our vision is to establish a community farm, fully integrated with community gardens, in northeast Wisconsin.

 

Why is this important?

 

In the United States, more money is spent per capita on healthcare than any country in the world, and according to the World Health Organization, in 2007 we had the 37^th ranked system. What is the reason for this? Could it be our food supply? A recent recall of 143 million pounds of contaminated ground beef should serve as testament. Those animals died for nothing. The United Sates of America, once known as the breadbasket of the world, is now a net food importer.

 

Tens of thousands of small family farms have disappeared in this country over the last 30-40 years. Many of those that are remaining have at least one spouse working off the farm to supplement the income and to provide for health insurance. How much money should a farmer make per hour? The same as a teacher, a plumber, a doctor, a lawyer, a computer programmer? Two small farms recently studied concluded that the hourly wage for the family owners was between three and five dollars per hour.  This is typical, and it is a part of why few young people wish to farm.

 

We all eat!  Food customs drive the world’s diverse cultures.  What is our culture; going to the drive-thru?  One reason for the disintegration of the family unit is the lack of regular meals in the home – prepared with love and intent, using high-quality, locally-grown whole foods. All manner of discussion happens in the presence of food, yet most of us have forgotten how to prepare it or make time for that preparation.

 

There is an overabundance of food in the world, but more than 850 million people are hungry.  This is a paradox.  More fundamentally, it is a violation of the human right to food.  Every human being (regardless of income, race, social status, and gender) has the right to access safe and nutritious food that is sufficient in quality and quantity to ensure a life of dignity free from the violence of hunger. (Grassroots International).  Access to natural resources like land and water are often the barriers to the right to food and this is one of the premises behind a Community Farm with Community Gardens:  land preserved for growing food, people and community with sustainable resources to support those activities.

 

 

 

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The majority of fresh food produced in the United States comes from three areas – California, Florida and Texas. Large-scale industrial complex farms fill grocery store shelves with produce that is beautiful in appearance, yet woefully low in vitality, taste, and nutrition. Why do you think children, and most adults don’t like vegetables? The local food movement is gaining in popularity quickly. Local, organic farmers are having a difficult time supplying demand. And yet, the federal government has policies saying ‘get big or get out’ of agriculture.

                                                                                               

Organic agriculture can, and will feed the world – and do a much better job of it than the current industrial farming complex. Genetically-modified, conventionally grown foods can not feed the world sustainably or in a healthy way, not to mention the untold devastation that they have on the environment. In Russia, the government is giving two and one-half acre parcels of land to any citizen that agrees to farm it in an effort to revitalize its agriculture, economy and social structure. As a result, 90% of Russia’s potatoes are now produced on these “dachas”. What if the same would be done here? What if opportunities were created for local food to be sold at markets every day – like in most other countries of the world? What if food regulations were made fair and small cottage industries that produce awesome artisan foods were encouraged rather than over-regulated? What if Americans had the right to eat what they wanted – even if that meant that some would choose raw milk straight from the bulk tank, or a freshly butchered chicken right off the farm? What the “hay”, what if people actually took responsibility for their food and their health???? What if we taught our children in school real life skills like organic gardening and food preservation? Better yet, what if they got to eat, at lunch, what they were growing in gardens on school grounds and in their classrooms? And, oh my goodness, what if more than one percent of the billions of dollars appropriated for agriculture where used to research, to teach and to implement organic and biodynamic farming techniques?

 

How about if we were to provide a safe, nurturing and spiritually-fulfilling home for physically and/or developmentally challenged individuals so that they could live in dignity and contribute their skills and talents in the production of food? What if we connected this community farm with the social capital of community gardens in the local area while building on each others strengths?  Install a large processing kitchen on site to preserve the abundance of summer for nourishment in the winter and to prepare enzyme-rich raw food dishes oozing with taste, nutrition and vitality in season. Create educational programming of all kinds - and green energy! This Community Farm will give apprentices the tools to reproduce this model everywhere.

 

Decentralized food systems such as this are a recognized issue of national security because they are more adaptable and resilient.  When money goes to a local farmer we can know they are being treated fairly, and that dollar multiplies when it stays local rather than going straight to the corporate empire. This model brings unity to rural and urban areas through mutual understanding and cooperation.  We can all access food that is full of life and grown with the full compliment of minerals in an ecologically sound way while giving the disenfranchised a viable way to relieve suffering.