At the market these last few weeks, I have met some wonderful people, people who are as excited and committed to the future of farming as I am. In particular, there is a young couple with a baby, who caught my attention. I did a little facebook and website stalking, and followed links here and there, to other farms, run by other young people, and their combined enthusiasm and excitement has rekindled hope in my heart.
The new American farmer is a whole new breed, in part harkening back to the days of independent thinking, a can-do attitude, and a willingness to work hard to make a dream come true, yet completely up to date with the ways that modern technology can connect a farm and a table. The websites I looked at were nothing short of amazing and inspirational.Their farming ideas are innovative, fresh, and sustainable. This is the future, right here, right now. I had been reading, for some time now, with dismay, about the average age of the American farmer ( 50's plus), and the demise of the family farm, but there is a whole new generation out there willing to think outside of the box, and they will be the ones still standing when Monsanto finally falls.
Corporate farming can't possibly continue much longer. The entire concept is unsustainable, impossible. Without government support, the model of commercial farming would collapse under its own top-heavy weight. The subsidies, the fossil fuels, the inputs, cannot possibly last long enough to feed the world, as Monsanto promises. The math is just not there.
What will work is the fire-in-the-belly passion of the young. When I was a youth, young people were changing the world by protesting an unjust war, and demanding equity for all races and genders, and in centuries past, for independence, democracy, and the end to slavery. It has always been the young who shift paradigms and raise consciousness and create a better world. That has not changed. The focus has moved to our most basic need: clean, fresh, nourishing food, a simple basic human right. And if history proves right, this will be the next big shift.
The new American farmer is a whole new breed, in part harkening back to the days of independent thinking, a can-do attitude, and a willingness to work hard to make a dream come true, yet completely up to date with the ways that modern technology can connect a farm and a table. The websites I looked at were nothing short of amazing and inspirational.Their farming ideas are innovative, fresh, and sustainable. This is the future, right here, right now. I had been reading, for some time now, with dismay, about the average age of the American farmer ( 50's plus), and the demise of the family farm, but there is a whole new generation out there willing to think outside of the box, and they will be the ones still standing when Monsanto finally falls.
Corporate farming can't possibly continue much longer. The entire concept is unsustainable, impossible. Without government support, the model of commercial farming would collapse under its own top-heavy weight. The subsidies, the fossil fuels, the inputs, cannot possibly last long enough to feed the world, as Monsanto promises. The math is just not there.
What will work is the fire-in-the-belly passion of the young. When I was a youth, young people were changing the world by protesting an unjust war, and demanding equity for all races and genders, and in centuries past, for independence, democracy, and the end to slavery. It has always been the young who shift paradigms and raise consciousness and create a better world. That has not changed. The focus has moved to our most basic need: clean, fresh, nourishing food, a simple basic human right. And if history proves right, this will be the next big shift.