Conference

To the south I have been, the Southwest, I mean. I spent last week in Albuquerque at the Quivira Annual Conference. We focused on how to feed nine billion people. Can we do it? I left the conference thinking we can, but agriculture will look a fair bit different than today's industrial form. First, we'll keep soil covered as much as possible because our wealth and ability to feed one another is feeding the life beneath our feet. Second, more of us will have to be involved in our food system. The backyard gardener and urban foodies will be apart of the solution. Third, monocultures will be a thing of the past. Nature thrives on diversity and developing poly-cultures above and below ground, from vegetative to hoofed. Fourth, (and not the last possible solution to solving hunger and our short-sited food system) is understanding agriculture/agrarianism is a site-specific science/philosophy/culture. Policies that reach out and generalize the soil, plant, and farmer are almost always a waste of energy because they do not help most farmers on the ground.

It was a great experience, one I would like to repeat year after year.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!