“Get big or get out” shook our nation in the 1970s as the ‘agribusiness’ boom spread in sweeping waves. Planting from “fence row to fence row” dandelions was replaced by corn and soybeans. Hands were replaced with complicated machines, time was replaced with fertilizers and varied crops by pesticides. Soil and worms were degraded to dust. Cows grazing in open pasture were replaced by concentrated-animal feedlot operations (CAFOs). Farm houses and barns were abandoned, burned to the ground, and plowed over for larger soy fields. Corn began to be traded for profit as high-fructose corn syrup and ethanol. Culture was replaced by business.
Land
Nearly 40 acres of farmland is lost every hour. Between 2007 to 2012, Kentucky had the highest …show more content…
Consider the diversification of crops on their lands, by which healthful foods, fruits and vegetables, are supplied. It is shown that diverse native varieties of crops offer higher total yields than technologically produced varieties. Thus, productivity for diversity has higher outputs for the entire system level than for one-dimensional, industrial monocultures (Wrizba, 2003).
Food security requires that purchase prices reflect the full cost of production. Industrial agriculture relies on chemical, nonrenewable inputs rather than natural, continuously regenerated sources. It has increased food insecurity by destroying small farms, rural communities, and the small farmers’ capacity to produce diverse total yields of nutrient-rich crops.
The Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) leaders, Michael Hamm and Anne Bellows, define community food security as “a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice.” The concept to “feed the world” is not our concern, instead our efforts should turn to supporting communities in feeding ourselves. Protecting and supporting local agriculture in Kentucky is a fundamental predictor for a healthy, food-secure
Land
Nearly 40 acres of farmland is lost every hour. Between 2007 to 2012, Kentucky had the highest …show more content…
Consider the diversification of crops on their lands, by which healthful foods, fruits and vegetables, are supplied. It is shown that diverse native varieties of crops offer higher total yields than technologically produced varieties. Thus, productivity for diversity has higher outputs for the entire system level than for one-dimensional, industrial monocultures (Wrizba, 2003).
Food security requires that purchase prices reflect the full cost of production. Industrial agriculture relies on chemical, nonrenewable inputs rather than natural, continuously regenerated sources. It has increased food insecurity by destroying small farms, rural communities, and the small farmers’ capacity to produce diverse total yields of nutrient-rich crops.
The Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) leaders, Michael Hamm and Anne Bellows, define community food security as “a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice.” The concept to “feed the world” is not our concern, instead our efforts should turn to supporting communities in feeding ourselves. Protecting and supporting local agriculture in Kentucky is a fundamental predictor for a healthy, food-secure