Freedom to Farm -- in Your Backyard
By Monica @ 7:05 PM   
I've been increasingly concerned about our food supply with the thought of an economic meltdown. There are others I have spoken to who feel similarly. Some have even written about such matters:
When things rumble and bump in our economy, due to natural causes or government-made ones, shortages like our gas situation are going to occur. Big bumps, big problems. In my more paranoid moments, I wonder what will happen if the economy goes boom! I shouldn't take it for granted that I'll be able to find gasoline. Or insulin. How hard will that be to find in an emergency, with the government "helping" with price ceilings and regulations that will shackle the very people who make it and the people who need it. It's very scary to contemplate showing up at the pharmacy and facing an insulin shortage. Because you just expect it to be there, just like you expect gasoline to be at the gas station. Damn.
That's right. And we shouldn't take it for granted that we'll be able to find anything, including food.
It's disturbing to me that economists at the USDA control the futures market for major crops. In doing so and in controlling production with subsidies, the USDA essentially controls supply and demand. I worry because farmers do not necessarily have the knowledge or equipment to go back to less fuel intensive methods of farming now. Fifty years ago farmers all knew how to produce 20 different commodities on their farm. Today, they largely produce only two: soy and corn. It is almost all dependent on soy and corn, and depends on quite a bit of fossil fuel to boot. Farmers can't just put animals back on pasture right away in order to cut fuel costs. They would need to convert those fields to different crops: hay, wheat, or some mixture of native grasses. They don't necessarily have the equipment for that anymore nor do they even own any animals. It would require some sort of partnership between farmers and feedlot owners, I suppose.
I'm not an economist so I can't say how things would pan out in a depression if one were to occur. I honestly don't know. However, our food system is incredibly centralized and dependent on foreign oil. That's not reassuring to me. For that reason, I feel the need to secure my food supply before anything like this happens. I've bought a lot of open pollinated plants to attempt a garden this summer, and I'm starting to buy more and more from local producers in an attempt to escape a food system that might collapse one day. Sounds scary, I know -- and it's not a bullet-proof plan, of course. Luckily, I live in an area where I can get a lot of locally produced items relatively cheaply direct from the farm, including bison, beef, elk, venison, vegetables, eggs, and milk. I could probably produce a considerable amount of eggs, honey, and vegetables on my own property. If you, too are concerned about such matters you may wish to check out where to obtain locally produced goods.
I've produced and maintained home gardens with a reasonable amount of effort with friends -- enough to supply two people for a year on about 5000 square feet or so. I also fondly remember my grandparent's garden when I was growing up. In the two world wars, backyard gardening played a much more important role in American society, according to Michael Pollan. I find it interesting that in WWII such "Victory Gardens" were supplying 40% of America's produce. That's pretty impressive, but not too surprising from my perspective since I know first hand what a moderate-sized garden can produce in a good year. It's also not surprising to hear Pollan say that the USDA opposed such Victory gardens, because of course the USDA makes no sense whatsoever most of the time.
I'm certainly not hoping for a depression. I'm just speculating and trying to be secure. I don't have the same obstacles as many people, thank goodness. I imagine that in an economic meltdown, homeowner's associations aren't really going to care whether you dig up your front and back yards for vegetable gardens or not. I'm pretty sure they would have some pretty nasty restrictions about it officially on the books, though. One of my friends is restricted in the type of trees she can plant in her own backyard. It's really quite absurd. It's her property and really not any of her neighbors' business. It bothers me that HOAs have grown into sort of quasi-governmental organizations restricting such basic freedoms as the right to plant a tree on one's own property because of a few seed pods that might blow into someone's yard. For people who belong to HOAs, I think it might be wise to start raising such issues if you know there are rules on the books restricting your freedoms.
There is another growing trend that does relate to real governmental organizations, and that is keeping chickens in one's backyard for eggs. (Of course, I'm not advocating roosters -- that would be a complete nuisance to neighbors.) Hens are not loud and with a fence no one really notices them. This site, Urban Chickens, often discusses urban chicken ordinances and the efforts in getting them overturned. It appears that people all around the country are looking into keeping chickens in their backyards, and where such ordinances exist they are seeking to overturn them, often with success. The benefits, of course, would be yummy eggs, pest control, and fertilizer for your lawn!
Such freedoms might be particularly important in the future. Those who are concerned about their local ordinances should get involved in trying to get the rules changed. And, of course, we need to keep a very close eye on the USDA's onerous National Animal Identification System. Such a program will protect no one from terrorism or disease, and we all know what it is really about: more government control over our food. We honestly don't need the USDA or the EPA coming around and collecting taxes on chicken farts.
Join me in a future post as I discuss the soil fertility benefits of animal-based agriculture. Yes, even in your own backyard!Labels: De-regulation, Individual Rights, NAIS, Why the USDA is Not Your Friend
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