Innovative food production and land use

The article below, from the Worldwatch Institute, relates food production methods to climate change in a way that helps to place the efforts of Manitoulin food producers in their global context. (Also, for food consumers, Yes! Magazine has a nice feature on 8 Ways to Join the Local Food Movement.)

Washington, D.C. — Innovations in food production and land use that are ready to be scaled-up today could reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to roughly 25 percent of global fossil fuel emissions and present the best opportunity to remove greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, according to a new report by the Worldwatch Institute and Ecoagriculture Partners. As the price of carbon rises with new caps on emissions and expanding markets for carbon offsets, the contribution of land-based, or ‘terrestrial,’ carbon to climate change mitigation efforts could increase even further.

‘The science and policy communities in Europe and beyond have focused most of their attention to date on improving energy efficiency and scaling up renewables,’ said Ecoagriculture Partners' Sara Scherr, co-author of Mitigating Climate Change Through Food and Land Use with Sajal Sthapit. ‘While these initiatives are integral in the transition to a low-carbon economy, any strategy that seeks to mitigate global climate change without reducing emissions from agriculture, forestry, and other land uses is doomed to fail.’

More than 30 percent of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are linked to agriculture and land use, rivaling the combined emissions of the transportation and industry sectors. The report outlines five major strategies for reducing and sequestering greenhouse gas emissions through farming and land use:

1. Enriching soil carbon. Soil, the third largest carbon pool on Earth's surface, can be managed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by minimizing tillage, cutting use of nitrogen fertilizers, and preventing erosion. Soils can store a vast amount of additional carbon by building up organic matter and by burying carbon in the form of biochar (biomass burned in a low-oxygen environment).
2. Farming with perennials. Two-thirds of all arable land is used to grow annual grains, but there is large potential to substitute these with perennial trees, shrubs, palms, and grasses that produce food, livestock feed, and fuel. These perennials maintain and develop their roots and branches over many years, storing carbon in the vegetation and soil.
3. Climate-friendly livestock production. Livestock accounts for nearly half of all greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and land use. Innovations such as rotational grazing, manure management, methane capture for biogas production, and improved feeds and feed additives can reduce livestock-related emissions.
4. Protecting natural habitat. Deforestation, land clearing, and forest and grassland fires are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Incentives are needed to encourage farmers, ranchers, and foresters to maintain natural forest and grassland habitats through product certification, payments for climate services, securing tenure rights, and community fire control.
5. Restoring degraded watersheds and rangelands. Restoring vegetation on vast areas of degraded land can reduce greenhouse gas emissions while making land productive again, protecting critical watersheds, and alleviating rural poverty.

Farmers' Markets in full swing now

The season for local produce was somewhat delayed by the cool spring, but has finally arrived! All of us Islanders who care about food quality (and food security) should be supporting the Farmers' Markets in Gore Bay every Friday morning, Mindemoya Saturday morning, or Little Current Tuesday afternoon. For exact times see the Manitoulin Farmers' Market Association website.

Also check out the brand new website of local producers Chuc and Linda Willson: Our Garden.

Kids Can Grow Too

Ice Lake — Students from Lakeview School and Manitoulin Secondary School began a pilot project last year with the Manitoulin Farmers Market growers. They grew bedding plants from seed and then brought them to sell at the Market Tuesdays in Little Current. The project, known as Kids Can Grow Too, was so successful that the Manitoulin Farmers' Market Association (MFMA) is expanding it to three other schools in Little Current, Mindemoya and Gore Bay this year. “Several of our members worked very closely with the schools to get the pilot project off the ground,” says Chuc Willson of the MFMA. “The kids have shown a genuine interest in the whole growing process and we as an organization had a great time working with them in the schools and having them at our Market Tuesday in Little Current. It is so vital for kids to learn about the earth and to appreciate the life cycles in this way and also to learn about our market system. They are our future market customers, and perhaps even our future vendors,” adds Willson. “We were able to fund the pilot project with financial backing from FedNor, but this year we are on our own,” adds Willson. “Members of MFMA are donating seeds, peat pots, and their expertise and we are happy to have the sponsorship of the Manitoulin Heart Health Coalition who are purchasing soil, trays and cell packs this year for the program. We have asked local Lion's Clubs to help as well. Last year we discovered that grow table units were a must for the plants to develop healthy root systems so we are looking to purchase a unit for each of the four elementary schools,” says Willson. “We have come up with an idea to encourage sponsorship from the public for this,” he goes on to explain. “We will display an honour roll at the markets with the names of those who make a donation, and I am so anxious to get on an honour roll for the first time in my life, that I will be the first to donate $50,” he quips. “We are looking for $2400. Our fund is up to $850 already just among our membership, the Gore Bay Lion's Club and Lakeview school who will be purchasing the unit on their own. So we are putting out the challenge and hopefully many will be proud to get their names added to our honour roll at the market. Also, Lee Valley have offered to give us a 15% discount on the units” he adds. If you are interested in making a donation, cheques can be sent payable to Manitoulin Farmers' Markets Association, c/o Chuc Willson, 600 Robertson Road, RR 1, Gore Bay ON POP 1HO. The Manitoulin Farmers' Market Association assists with the development and expansion of farmers' markets, as an alternative marketing opportunity for locally grown and produced goods in the District of Manitoulin. Markets are held in Little Current on Tuesdays, Gore Bay on Fridays and Mindemoya on Saturdays from the May long weekend to Thanksgiving. For more information, please visit the Manitoulin Farmers' Market website. Contact: Chuc Willson Manitoulin Farmers' Market Association (705) 282-0274

Think globally, eat locally

The movement toward building a locally based economy is, oddly enough, a global one. It's a decentralized network of self-organizing communities sharing information about how to live more satisfying lives. Bill McKibben's book Deep Economy is all about this movement. By combining local stories with global statistics in a friendly and personal style, McKibben has written an excellent introduction to it. He makes it clear that localization addresses the urgent problems of climate change, peak oil and environmental degradation – but an even deeper motive for rejecting rampant globalization is that it has failed to make us happy. It has undermined healthy communities, the real source of human happiness. The more connected people are with their neighbours, when it comes to basics like food, the happier they are. There's a big difference between food and information in this respect. Information can be moved nowadays at little or no cost, and it doesn't degrade in transit. Food, on the other hand, is not likely to be either healthy or tasty if it's travelled a thousand miles to your table. The industrial food system has already proved to be a bad habit in most respects, and it can't survive the escalation of energy costs. But the more immediate reason why so many are switching to local food is that it's better food in every way. You can taste it! Chuc and Linda Willson have on DVD a good documentary, called simply Good Food, about the local food movement in the northwestern U.S. It shows what can be accomplished when organic farmers, food retailers and restaurants work together with local consumers. We have the beginnings of such a movement on Manitoulin, and this film offers a lot of ideas on how it could grow. Another localization movement has to do with housing – that is, designing and building dwellings which reduce dependence on power grids and other centralized services. On one of our recent movie nights on Manitoulin, a small group of us had a very stimulating conversation about this kind of localization. It was sparked by a film called Garbage Warrior, which isn't really about garbage or war – it's about one renegade architect's crusade to create highly unconventional, affordable and sustainable housing. It's also a portrait of an artist who's also a social activist and has to battle with government bureaucrats for the right to experiment with new design concepts. We have this lively, entertaining film on DVD and would be happy to loan it out. You may not agree with all the ideas in it, but it's very likely to get you thinking outside the box when it comes to housing. Another resource i've recently come across is the Transition Culture website. The question explored here is how best to make the transition to a post-oil, post-growth economy, while building healthier communities in the process. I would recommend having a look – it's free! All the books and DVDs mentioned above can also be borrowed at no cost, but you might have to wait your turn.

Local food first

Pam and i have been reading Bill McKibben's Deep Economy – which i highly recommend for those who are looking forward to life ‘after growth’. That's the title of his first chapter; the second is about the local food movement, which is well under way all over the world. And none too soon either, since the global food system is especially vulnerable in its heavy reliance on oil and ground water – both of which are drying up – and on ecologically unsustainable practices. (It's a major contributor to climate change, too.) The system is also artificially propped up by subsidies to the corporations who profit from their near-monopoly control of both ‘inputs’ and marketing. Besides, industrial food was never very good (though cheap and plentiful), and the move toward local food is one of the most visible signs of the Manitoulin Uprising. The Farmer's Markets have been growing for several years now, providing food lovers with access to local organic produce. Then there's Loonsong Garden, the Community Shared Agriculture project started several years ago by Paul Salanki and Heather Thoma. Along with several other local food growers, some with many years of experience, this is a start toward a made-on-Manitoulin food system that could outlast the industrial food system. But there's still a long way to go before we Islanders will be ready to kick the industrial-food addiction. I expect that local food will be a major topic on this blog in the coming year. There's so much to say that i hardly know where to start … suggestions are welcome, and contributions from others even more so! Just click the ‘comment’ button below and write us a note, if you want to volunteer (or just comment).