Check out this short essay about why it is so important for us to connect with our land locally and to grow more of what we need here.

Ripe for Change: Agriculture's Tipping Point

by Claire Hope Cummings

Now, in the midst of so much unnecessary human and ecological destruction, we are facing the necessity of a new start in agriculture. —Wendell Berry

The story of agriculture is usually told as an epic struggle between people and nature. Ten thousand years into this narrative, it looks to some as if people have the upper hand. After all, food production is keeping up with population growth. But others say that this productivity comes at too high a cost. Industrial agriculture is laying waste to soil, water, forests, wildlife, and the life ways of traditional farming communities.

Conventional and sustainable agriculture have long debated the question: what kind of agriculture works best for both people and nature? Then suddenly, as in any good drama, while the forces of good and evil are having it out, something happens to raise the stakes. Now, lumbering onto center stage comes a real monster, global warming, and the conflict shifts from being about how we feed ourselves to whether we survive at all.

We find ourselves at a dramatic point in human history. Agriculture, the largest industry on Earth, is exhausting the planet’s biological support systems. Two billion hectares of soil (more than the area of the United States and Canada combined) have been degraded. In India, this damage has cut agricultural productivity by almost US$2.4 billion a year. In Africa, threequarters of arable land is severely degraded, worsening the hunger crisis there. The annual cost of soil erosion worldwide is estimated to be more than US$400 billion. Similarly, water quality and availability are in peril. The 450 million kilograms of pesticides that U.S. farmers use every year have now contaminated almost all of the nation’s streams and rivers, and the fish living in them, with chemicals that cause cancer and birth defects.

And yet, as serious as this environmental predicament is, it will be energy issues that determine the fate of agriculture. Industrial agriculture uses at least 15 percent of all energy consumed in developed countries. So when oil production peaks, fossil-fuel-dependent agriculture will face a day of reckoning. And that inevitability raises a fundamental question: do we wait for some widespread disaster to happen and let panic determine our social policy? Or do we begin now to engage in purposeful social change?

Malcolm Gladwell’s “tipping point” analysis provides a useful way to examine the dynamics of such dramatic social transformations. Tipping points have three essential factors, he says. One, lots of little behaviors accumulate and begin to push a system toward change. Two, some ideas or issues “infect” public awareness and spread like a virus, pulling the system toward even greater change. Finally, one significant moment occurs when things “tip.”

It’s easy to recognize the first factor in sustainable agriculture’s tipping point in the thousands of initiatives that support local and ecological food production. Sales of organic products have been growing by 20 percent per year for the last decade. In 2005, U.S. retail sales of organic food and beverages amounted to almost $12.8 billion. Organic practices are being proven at both large and small scales and more acreage is being planted in organic crops. As consumer demand increases,Wal-Mart has begun stocking organic food, and chains of mid-size natural grocery stores are expanding. There are almost 4,000 U.S. farmers’ markets selling fresh local food. Restaurants are putting sustainably raised food and fish on their menus and hundreds of schools are serving organic meals. Fair trade and green labeling programs are on the rise.

The number of ways to produce and consume sustainable food keeps growing. Land grant colleges and new funding initiatives by foundations are revitalizing sustainable agriculture programs. Ecologically minded farmers and consumers are rejecting corporate technologies like genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Instead, they are turning to plants bred with traditional methods that are resistant to wind, drought, salt, and disease. They are less expensive, they avoid the risks of genetic contamination, and they do not require farmers to give up saving seed. Conventional farmers are adopting sustainable techniques and finding, for instance, that nature-based pest and weed controls are just as effective as toxic pesticides. No-till cultivation is proving to prevent soil erosion and has the added climate benefit of sequestering carbon.

These impressive technological and market successes are a tribute to the pioneers of the ecological farming movement. And there is no reason to believe that this innovative spirit can’t come up with even better ideas to deal with the enormous challenges ahead. But what will transform this popular enthusiasm into real and lasting changes are two other fundamental issues: health and trade. These two issues, the second tipping point factors, are shifting the public discourse over food and farming and pushing policy changes worldwide.

The public is becoming increasingly alarmed by food-related health problems. Rising rates of diabetes, heart disease and stroke, and cancer and birth defects from pesticides, plus a growing obesity epidemic in children and adults, are grabbing headlines and raising health care costs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that healthier diets alone could prevent US$71 billion a year in medical expenses.

Trade issues are no less important. The billions spent every year on subsidies have created over-production and rock bottom commodity prices for a handful of agribusiness companies. When surpluses are sold overseas for less than the cost of production, third-world farmers are put out of business. But now, as world trade negotiators promise to end these practices, we are presented with an unprecedented opportunity to reformulate farm supports. Instead of paying for commodity production, these funds can be redirected toward soil and water conservation, wildlife preservation, and maintaining the culturally and biologically diverse farming systems that lie at the heart of sustainable agriculture. The funding needed to transform industrial agriculture is available; what’s missing is leadership. This fix will not be easy. Entrenched political interests and agribusiness will not willingly relinquish their stranglehold on the status quo.

But there may be no choice. The final tipping point factor, the one that will result in dramatic and lasting change, is the issue of energy and global warming. Renewable energy is already approaching its tipping point. Some energy experts argue that renewable energy sources are now ready to begin replacing oil and other fossil fuels. Amory Lovins of Rocky Mountain Institute says that in the next few decades the United States can get completely off oil and revitalize its industrial and rural economies through efficiencies, green design, and substitutions for fossil fuels. And, inevitably, as energy becomes renewable, agriculture becomes sustainable.

Sustainable agriculture, for its part, will also make a significant contribution to renewable energy production.Model farms have shown that they can produce all the energy required for food production and provide excess energy to the grid, using biogas generators, wind, solar, and fuel from farm waste. Immediate reductions in fossil fuel use can be achieved with current technologies. Sustainably produced crops can provide biodiesel for transportation, and cornstarch-based plastics can be used for packaging. But just calling something sustainable does not make it so. Growing GMO corn with toxic chemicals for use in energyinefficient ethanol is not an acceptable alternative. The key to successfully transforming industrial agriculture will be the careful establishment and enforcement of standards that ensure sustainability.

Obviously, we are not there yet. The public and business are engaging in change, though government action is lagging. But what is different, as the moment of reckoning approaches, is that we’re ready. Sustainable agriculture can provide food self-sufficiency while reducing the economic and environmental degradations of industrial agriculture. Just as the end of oil does not mean the end of energy, and may instead be the beginning of the age of endless energy, the same is true for agriculture. Industrial agriculture was all about scarcity. Sustainable agriculture is all about abundance. And knowing that, we can ensure that this age-old human drama need not play out as tragedy.

Claire Hope Cummings is a lawyer and environmental journalist. She wrote about genetically modified organisms and farming in the January/February 2005 issue of World Watch.

Source URL:
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4119

When Honolulu residents need a break from the city, they head to Oahu's historic North Shore community:
Hale'iwa, a place where Hawaii's colorful past is reflected.
Renowned for its legendary beaches, Hale'iwa is a favorite refuge for Hawaii's residents and a must-see for visitors.
Nowhere else on Oahu will you find quiant shops and cafes housed in plantation-era buildings less than five miles from world-famous surf spots.

So what can we expect from the North Shore Chamber of Commerce in 2006?

The Chamber is working with HPD to reduce crime, securing funds and seeking opportunities in collaboration with government to address issues on the North Shore such as traffic at Laniakea, providing walkways in Haleiwa, and establishing and improving restroom facilities.

And of course, we will not forget that you enjoy the opportunity to network and socialize, so we will provide many opportunities this year to do just that.

Last but not least, we will work to increase the benefits you receive from the Chamber. So Komo mai ... come on board. Let's work together in 2006 to make this place an even better place to live, work, and play.

Aloha,
Kalani Fronda, Chairman

North Shore Chamber of Commerce
P.O. Box 878
66-250 Kamehameha Hwy., Ste. C-204
Haleiwa, Hi 96712
Phone: 808-637-4558
Fax: 808-637-4556
info@GoNorthShore.org
Go North Shore

Here are some past views of the market as reported by the local press:

Love of Dirt
 
Pupukea

NSCM fights to save Market

We want to hear from YOU!

Do you have ideas for the market, ideas about possible farm sites, workshops you would like to have, or general comments about the North Shore Country Market and its work?

Mahalo to all our supporters!

The NSCM is a 501 3 c Non-Profit Organization, and we are grateful for your tax deductible donation to the market.

The North Shore Country Market was formed in 1994 as a Non-profit Organization, to provide our north shore O'ahu Neighborhoods with a Direct Community Source of Produce, Farm Goods, and Local Art and Crafts.

The NSCM works to promote Sustainable Agricultural, Economic and Cultural Practices, through Education, Research and Cooperation.

North Shore Country Market
Sustainable Living Through Education
P.O. Box 1153 Pupukea, Hawaii 96712
808-638-7172
nscountrymarket@gmail.com
www.northshorecountrymarket.com

Have you been thinking about Sustainability and how to grow food lately?

Here are a few of our favorite links and resources on this topic.

Sustainable Village

Permaculture-Magazine/

Permaculture-AU

Great produce, beautiful flowers, ono food, wonderful handmade crafts, incredible art, and truely interesting friends and neighbors...

All great reasons to stop by the North Shore Country Market's Saturday Market at Sunset Beach Elementary School 8am-2pm.

Check out pictures from the market last saturday:

SUNSET-MARKET

SUNSET-MARKET-INFO

The neighborhood gathering that happened every Saturday at the Farmer's Market was a source of connection, sharing and community spirit.

The Summer Mele of 2003 was a terrific event for the NSCM, with local famers, musicians and artists coming together with the community, to celebrate on the property.

The community was SHOCKED when a month later, August 2003, the market was served an eviction notice by the City. The City was claiming zoning violations by the NSCM.

This seemed beyond belief, since the Market had developed their organic gardens at this spot on Kam. Hwy., because the City in partnership with the NSCM, had placed them there.
Jeremy Harris had even given the NSCM funding to develop their programs on this property.

The Community was outraged! People wrote letters, signed petitions, called the mayor's office and showed up at City Council meetings, to share reasons why they wanted to keep NSCM at the current location.

There was a growing sentiment that our North Shore community had little voice in the workings of city government

Check out Part 3 of our Video:

The TRUE NSCM Story Part 3

NSCM having a workshop with Mindy of Waikiki Worms, on Wed. Dec 14,2-3pm. This workshop is being CO-sponsered by the Kokua Foundation and will accommodate the garden students, NSCM and A+ teachers.  This workshop will be an exploratory worm experience where Mindy will help the participants in small groups to create 3 small worm bins and give some basic facts about worms.  This can take place in the garden area on the benches next to the hale. We will post what we learn about composting with worms.

Composting is the transformation of organic material (plant matter) through decomposition into a soil-like material called compost. Invertebrates (insects and earthworms), and microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) help in transforming the material into compost. Composting is a natural form of recycling, which continually occurs in nature.

An ancient practice, composting is mentioned in the Bible several times and can be traced to Marcus Cato, a farmer and scientist who lived in Rome 2,000 years ago, (although people have been composting for as long as they have been growing food). Cato viewed compost as the fundamental soil enhancer, essential for maintaining fertile and productive agricultural land. He stated that all food and animal wastes should be composted before being added to the soil. By the 19th century in America, most farmers and agricultural writers knew about composting.

Today there are several different reasons why composting remains an invaluable practice. Yard and food wastes make up approximately 30% of the waste stream in the United States. Composting most of these waste streams would reduce the amount of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) requiring disposal by almost one fourth, while at the same time provide a nutrient-rich soil amendment. Compost added to gardens improves soil structure, texture, aeration, and water retention. When mixed with compost, clay soils are lightened, and sandy soils retain water better. Mixing compost with soil also contributes to erosion control, soil fertility, proper pH balance, and healthy root development in plants.

The standard means of disposal for most yard and food waste include landfilling and incineration. These practices are not as environmentally or economically sound as composting. Yard waste which is landfilled breaks down very slowly due to the lack of oxygen. As it decomposes, it produces methane gas and acidic leachate, which are both environmental problems

Landfilling organic wastes also takes up landfill space needed for other wastes. Incinerating moist organic waste is inefficient and results in poor combustion, which disrupts the energy generation of the facility and increases the pollutants that need to be removed by the pollution-control devices. Composting these wastes is a more effective and usually less expensive means of managing organic wastes. It can be done successfully on either a large or small scale, but the technique and equipment used differ.

Compost is the heart and soul of organic gardening. You don't have to be a farmer or an earth worm to reap the benefits of composting.

You can compost your own garden and kitchen waste at home with very little effort. Adding organic matter to your garden will improve the structure, water holding capacity, and aeration of soils containing too much clay or too much sand. Compost is the most often recommended source of organic material. It is easy to make, easy to use, and contains a storehouse of nutrients. NSCM will be posting a variety of methods to make compost, and encourage you to do it at home.