Can organic farming really feed the world’s billions?

Earlier this summer, United Nations expert Olivier De Schutter held a special meeting in Brussels that concluded agroecology (or sustainable farming) outperforms industrial agriculture and could be scaled up to feed the world while also protecting the environment and reducing pollution that’s contributing to climate change.

The widest study ever undertaken on agroecological approaches (Jules Pretty, Essex University, UK) concluded that this type of farming increased crop yields by 79 percent in developing countries.  Successes from this type of farming can be found around Africa as well as in Cuba and Brazil.

In addition, a 2008 United Nations report, commonly referred to as the World Agriculture Report, concluded that the world must move away from chemical-dependent industrial agriculture toward sustainable farming.

Why are an increasing number of studies and reports concluding that sustainable farming is the best method to feed the world and ourselves? Here are five of a multitude of reasons:

1.     Higher yield. 286 projects in 57 developing countries, representing 37 million hectares, were studied, and the average crop yield gain was 79%.  In the United States and UK, studies have shown that organic crop yields equal industrial yields and are sometimes even higher.

2.     Less chemicals used. Farmers use manure from their animals to fertilize the soil, as well as crop rotation systems, thus minimizing or eliminating the need for chemical fertilizers.  In addition, through planting specific crops next to each other and introducing certain types of insects and birds, chemical pesticides are not used.

3.     Costs less money. Because chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not used, sustainable farming has less overhead costs.  In addition, investments in expensive equipment do not have to be made.

4.     Job creation. With so many people around the world needing work, small-scale farming not only provides food for many but jobs as well.

5.     Self-sustenance. Many experts are concerned that by 2050 we will have over 9 billion mouths to feed and not enough food on the planet, but this seems more a push for unnecessary technologies like genetic engineering than reality.  Right now, there is more than enough food to feed the planet, so why do we continue to have problems with hunger, especially in such food-rich countries as the United States?  The problem with hunger is poverty and access to food, not the amount of food produced.  If people around the world were trained and given the chance to grow their own food sustainably, we would not see the amount of hunger and starvation we currently see.  These individuals would not only become self sufficient, they would have opportunities to create income through selling excess food they produce to their local community.

Sustainable farming also decreases our reliance on foreign oil, protects the environment, and slows down climate change.  This system of agriculture is also not dependent on unproven and potentially dangerous technologies such as genetic engineering.

So why aren’t governments and industry investing in sustainable farming?  Money.  So much money is tied up in the industrial food complex, including the chemical, oil, and biotechnology industries, that there is a great resistance to change.  These companies want to retain as much control as they can over food, something every human being has a right to.

But you can send a message and make a difference every time you eat. By choosing local sustainable food, you’re not only helping the planet, you’re saying yes to a system that can end hunger around the world.

About Diane Hatz

DIANE HATZ is the Co-Founder & Director of The Glynwood Institute for Sustainable Food and Farming, a creative action tank that supports leaders in the sustainable food movement while solving critical problems in food and farming.  She is also currently organizing TEDxManhattan “Changing the Way We Eat”, a one-day event to be held early 2011.

“Media That Inspires” is an ongoing conversation at TakePart that recognizes the power that films, books, and other media have to compel change and prompt action. TakePart is asking people who make a difference every day about the works that have inspired them.

Q: Which film or book was a wake-up call and made you truly aware of an issue?

A:When I was fairly young, an early teen, To Kill a Mockingbird opened my eyes to prejudice, racism and the human condition. I think it was the first time I was able to see beyond my little suburban bubble and into another world that was made incredibly real through Lee’s writing. Everyone should read this book at least once in their life—it is simply one of the best books ever written. Another book is George Orwell’s 1984—it was also an eye opener, especially having read it before 1984, and introduced me to Big Brother and corporate/government control.

Q: Which film or book inspired you to take action and get involved in an issue?

A:I didn’t realize it at the time, but Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring had a huge impact on me subconsciously and is one of the reasons why years later I gravitated towards environmentalism, and eventually food issues, and made this type of work my career.

Q:  Is there a book or film out right now that particularly inspires you?

A: Dan Kessler’s The End of Overeating is a must read for anyone interested in food and why we have an obesity problem. It turns out our brains are hard wired for salt, fat and sugar, and we essentially get addicted to them. It inspires me because once you understand a problem, you can find a solution.

Q: What is your favorite escape and guilty pleasure?

A: I find The Daily Show and The Colbert Report simply pleasures, so my guilty pleasure would probably be The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson. He’s Monty Python in a suit, and is the only comedian who can make me guffaw at a TV screen. I’ve also been known to watch sci-fi DVDs like X-Files and Star Trek but probably the most guilty, red-in-the-face pleasures are good schlocky, bestselling paperbacks and movies when I need to escape, and trashy entertainment magazines while flying.

This is a piece I wrote for the Environmental Media Association’s newsletter (I added in the hyperlinks) – you can find the whole newsletter online at http://www.ema-online.org/emails/2010/april/index.htm or just read this online at http://www.ema-online.org/emails/2010/april/index.htm#article-6

JAMIE OLIVER AND TED By Diane Hatz

This year’s TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference was deliciously full of sustainable food talk, from chef/Blue Hill restaurant owner Dan Barber’s love affair with a fish to cancer researcher William Li’s talk about which local, sustainable foods will help prevent cancer. But the highlight of the event, which ran February 9 – 13 in Long Beach and Palm Springs, was Jamie Oliver’s TED prize speech and wish.

Every year, the TED prize is awarded to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and “One Wish to Change the World”. This year, Oliver’s wish is “for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”

Oliver is known for his bestselling cookbooks, award-winning TV shows and for changing the school lunch program in Britain. He has now landed on American soil and is taking on the childhood obesity epidemic here, partly through his new ABC television show and partly through winning this year’s TED prize.

The plan is to “set up an organization to create a popular movement that will inspire people to change the way they eat. The movement will do this by establishing a network of community kitchens; launching a travelling food theater that will teach kids practical food and cooking skills in an entertaining way and provide basic training for parents and professionals; and bringing millions of people together through an online community to drive the fight against obesity. The grassroots movement must also challenge corporate America to support meaningful programs that will change the culture of junk food.”

Oliver also has the chance to help galvanize and give a strong national voice to the sustainable food movement that could reach far beyond his wish. For example, MIT and Columbia University’s Earth Institute, as well as First Lady Michelle Obama, have taken on efforts to end childhood obesity. Johns Hopkins founded the Center for a Livable Future to look at interconnections among diet, food production, human health and the natural environment. EMA has launched a national school garden program to reconnect children with their food. And The Glynwood Institute for Sustainable Food and Farming supports leaders in the movement while also solving critical problems in this area.

Together, all of us can realize Oliver’s wish and create a healthy, sustainable food system for all. Begin by purchasing one item from a sustainable farm in your area, like milk or apples. Over time, add more healthy food. Or commit to spending as little as $10 a month on food from a local farmers market. Another option is to reduce your meat consumption like the folks at Meatless Monday suggest. These seemingly small efforts all add up to granting Oliver’s wish to create a strong, sustainable food movement. So let’s start today!

To learn more about Oliver’s prize, or to find out how you can get involved, please visit www.tedprize.org/jamie-oliver.

Diane Hatz is Co-Founder & Director of The Glynwood Institute for Sustainable Food and Farming, www.glynwoodinstitute.org.
]]> http://dianehatz.com/2010/04/23/jamie-oliver-and-ted/feed/ 0 dianehatz jamie oliver http://dianehatz.com/2010/04/23/the-glynwood-institute-for-sustainable-food-and-farming-launches/ http://dianehatz.com/2010/04/23/the-glynwood-institute-for-sustainable-food-and-farming-launches/#comments Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:44:28 +0000 dianehatz http://dianehatz.com/?p=255 Continue reading →]]>

This is the press release that went out recently announcing the official launch of The Glynwood Institute.

Contacts:

Geralyn Delaney Graham,  geralyn@resourcescommunications.com,  direct 281. 980. 6643  | mobile 917. 826. 5094

Diane Hatz, The Glynwood Institute, dhatz@glynwood.org, mobile 917.848.1081

For Release: April 14, 2010

The Glynwood Institute for Sustainable Food and Farming  www.GlynwoodInstitute.org

Co-Founder & Director Diane Hatz, former founder/director of Sustainable Table, and Co-Founder and Glynwood President Judith LaBelle envision the Institute as a “creative action tank” that finds realistic solutions to critical problems in food and farming.

Cold Spring, NY – In celebration of the upcoming 40^th Anniversary of Earth Day, Glynwood is pleased to announce the launch of its new division, The Glynwood Institute for Sustainable Food and Farming.

“Our vision is to shift the U.S. from an industrial-based system of agriculture to a regional, sustainable food supply,” says Co-Founder & Director of The Glynwood Institute Diane Hatz.  “One where healthy, nutritious food is accessible to all.”

“To do that,” says Co-Founder and Glynwood President Judith LaBelle, “we support leaders in sustainable food and farming and also develop projects that help communicate or raise awareness about today’s food.”

Innovation + Awareness  = Change

At the heart of The Glynwood Institute is the Innovation Program, where selected leaders or emerging leaders within the sustainable food and farming movement are supported as they develop, launch or promote a project that addresses a critical need or issue within the field. In addition, The Institute helps develop marketing and communications strategies to educate, raise awareness about, or expand the Innovators’ work.

The first Glynwood Institute Innovator is Anna Lappé, author of the just-released Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It (Bloomsbury, March 2010).  Anna deftly explains the links between today’s global food system and climate change, and offers readers ideas and inspiration for making sustainable food choices that can provide a catalyst for transforming the environment.

In addition to the Innovation Program, the Institute develops projects to raise awareness and educate both individuals and groups about sustainable food issues, with an emphasis on providing tools and resources to people and groups within the sustainable food and farming field. The first project of The Glynwood Institute for Sustainable Food and Farming is a national media center to improve the quality of communications and to give the media various tools and resources to make it easier to bring information about food and farming issues to the general public.

About Glynwood

Glynwood’s mission is to save farming. Located on a farm in the lower Hudson Valley about an hour north of New York City, Glynwood’s unique niche is to empower communities to support farming and conserve farmland, while also working our own land to demonstrate the economic viability of environmentally sustainable agriculture.

For more information about the Institute, please visit our website at www.GlynwoodInstitute.org or contact Geralyn Delaney Graham at geralyn@resourcescommunications.com and Diane Hatz dhatz@glynwood.org.  You can also follow Glynwood and The Glynwood Institute on Facebook and Twitter @Glynwood.

Release can be found online at http://glynwood.org/assets/PDF’s/GIFFpresslaunchFINAL041210.pdf

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As part of the Institute, we have an Innovation Program, where we’ll be supporting Innovators in the sustainable food and farming field – the first Innovators are Anna Lappe, who’s Diet for a Hot Planet is out now, and myself.

I’ve pasted a one pager below and will make sure to put up the press release for the launch when we get it finalized.  And there might even be a Glynwood blog sooner than later, where I can also keep you up to date with what we’re doing.  Stay tuned!

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The Glynwood Institute for Sustainable Food and Farming

Mission: To address critical issues in food and farming by supporting the work of existing and emerging leaders and leveraging their collective creative power to develop and implement innovative marketing and communications strategies for solution-based projects.

The Glynwood Institute for Sustainable Food and Farming is an incubator for ideas and action, a “creative action tank” that develops and implements realistic solutions to critical issues within the food system. The Institute collaborates and networks with like-minded groups to elevate the sustainable food and farming movement into mainstream awareness as well as to provide tools and resources to help individuals and groups working on projects in food and farming.

The goals of The Glynwood Institute are to:

• Support the work of selected Innovators—action-oriented creative thinkers who are leaders or emerging leaders in the sustainable food and farming field;
• Develop and implement creative marketing and communications projects that help shift the US food system away from industrial agriculture to regional production of healthy, sustainable food accessible to all;
• Initiate selected projects related to the work of the Institute.

The Glynwood Institute is comprised of Innovators, individuals who have proven success in some aspect of sustainable food and farming or who are gaining recognition as potential future leaders.  Innovators are selected by the strength of a sustainable food or agriculture project they have developed or launched.  The Institute supports projects created by the Innovators and also helps develop marketing and communications strategies to educate, raise awareness about, or expand the Innovators’ work.

In addition, the Institute develops projects to raise awareness and educate both individuals and groups about sustainable food issues, with an emphasis on providing tools and resources to people and groups within sustainable food and farming.  The program also helps groups collaborate and network more effectively.

To broaden and enrich the discussion around sustainable food and farming, as well as to explore and develop innovative marketing and communication tools, the Institute hosts meetings, retreats and workshops throughout the year. Invited participants are selected for their ability to bring a fresh perspective to Innovators’ projects, help identify emerging issues in food and farming, and assist in developing strategic marketing and communication approaches and solutions. Along with stimulating dialogue, Institute retreats result in tangible products, from white papers to project plans to proposals.

The Glynwood Institute officially launches in April 2010.  It is co-founded by Judith LaBelle, President of Glynwood, and Diane Hatz, formerly of GRACE where she founded and directed Sustainable Table, was executive producer of The Meatrix movies and co-founded the Eat Well Guide.  For more information, please email Diane at dhatz (at) glynwood.org.

The Glynwood Institute for Sustainable Food and Farming is a division of Glynwood, a tax-exempt nonprofit corporation based on a 225-acre farm and meeting facility in New York’s Hudson Valley.  Glynwood’s mission is to help communities save farming.

Dan Barber: How I Fell in Love with a Fish

MonthWithoutMonsanto.com

….”The Beatles did not invent teenagers. They merely decided to lead them. That most movements, most leadership that we’re doing is about finding a group that’s disconnected but already has a yearning. Not persuading people to want something they don’t have yet.

When Diane Hatz worked on The Meatrix, her video that spread all across the internet about the way farm animals are treated, she didn’t invent the idea of being a vegan. She didn’t invent the idea of caring about this issue. But she helped organize people, and helped turn it into a movement.

Hugo Chavez did not invent the disaffected middle and lower class of Venezuela. He merely led them.

Bob Marley did not invent Rastafarians. He just stepped up and said, “Follow me.”….”

You can watch the full talk on the TED website.

Diane Hatz

Originally uploaded by PURWaterFiltration

I got back from the TED Palm Springs conference last week.  (I know, I really should blog about it but it was sooo consuming…). We were given Sigg bottles in our gift bag and were told Pur would donate water to people in need if we put a message on the bottle and got our photo taken. This is where this photo came from.

A comment on Sigg – I threw mine out several months ago when I found out that up until the past year or so, Sigg was coating the inside of their water bottles with a coating that contained BPA (a neurotoxin). I was assured these were BPA-free, but I’m so not promoting Sigg anymore. Mason jars are a great way to go.

I’ll try to post something about what happened at TED over the weekend.

The Bible says, “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime.” Sustainable food expert Diane Hatz takes that dictum to heart in her prescription for food security for Haiti after the earthquake.

Rebuilding Haiti’s Food System
by Diane Hatz

The earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12th shocked the world. Immediate relief efforts must continue for as long as necessary and need to focus on providing food, shelter and medical care for the millions of Haitians affected. But, at the same time, experts must start looking at ways to rebuild the country, and a strong focus needs to be put on agriculture and the country’s food system.

The United Nation’s Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called for $23 million for agriculture to support farms, backyard gardens, urban agriculture and rural development. And to be most effective, a sustainable system of agriculture needs to be introduced, where many farmers work small plots of land to yield many types of crops, and minimal to no pesticides or fertilizers are used.

In addition, the government needs to rebuild infrastructure such as roads and canals, provide subsidies for Haitian farmers, reforest destroyed land and increase tariffs on imported foods. Efforts must be made to help Haitians become self-sufficient so food riots like in April 2008 do not happen again.

This is vital to the rebuilding of Haiti. According to the United Nation’s World Food Programme, 76% of Haitians live on less than $2 day and 56% on less than $1 a day. The FAO reports that around 80% of Haitians are involved with agriculture, but they do not have the necessary expertise or equipment. Haitians need to be given the tools – training, seeds, hand tools, livestock such as pigs and chickens – in order to rebuild their food system.

In a developing country such as Haiti, expensive inputs such as chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides need to be replaced with natural ways to grow food – compost, beneficial insects, crop rotation, diversified crops. These types of inputs are low to no cost and are more practical for the type of farming that needs to be done in the country. Because of the rugged mountainsides, large machinery is not feasible which saves on costs for parts and oil.

Haiti should look to its neighbor Cuba for inspiration. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba imported over 50% of its food and had an industrial-based agriculture system. After the Soviet Union disbanded in 1991, Cuba had nowhere to export and nowhere to get their pesticides, chemicals and industrial inputs from, so they were forced to create a sustainable food system.

Large farms were broken up into smaller plots and urban agriculture was introduced on a large scale. According to Food First, by 1999 sustainable urban agriculture produced 65% of Cuba’s rice, 46% of fresh vegetables, 38% of non-citrus fruits, 13% of roots, tubers and plantains, and 6% of eggs. Farmers and researchers from around the world now visit Cuba to learn more about their sustainable food system.

The planting season in Haiti is March, and the hurricane season begins in June. With so much effort now needed to provide emergency food relief and secure shelter for the upcoming storm season, there isn’t much focus on providing Haitians ways to produce their own food in the long term. But it is necessary. They need to plant as many crops as possible come March and also to look at how they can become a food secure country.

Diane Hatz is the Co-Founder & Director of The Glynwood Institute for Food and Farming, which focuses on solving critical problems with food and agriculture and will launch April 2010.

I’m also in the process of founding another program – it’s too soon to talk about it yet, but I can say that I’m no longer doing day-to-day Sustainable Table work, I’m working on a couple books, and I’m starting up a program that has the potential to be big big big…..

More soon!