Food for Thought

When the effects of the government lockdown were at their peak, many farmers across the nation were throwing away hundreds of tons of food into enormous dirt holes.

At the same time, store shelves were empty.

The images of these farmers throwing away food in quantities that could feed a whole city, while average Americans were having issues sourcing these very foods, got me thinking about how precarious our modern farming infrastructure has become.

We have consolidated our farms into “mega farms”. These mega farms run smaller farms out of business, incentivizing those small farmers to sell their land to new subdivision projects that pushes food development further and further away from the center of town — making it harder to get fresh produce into town during supply chain breakdowns.

Perhaps the future of farming will come from more individuals growing vegetables and livestock on small 1/3rd to 1 acre lots, where their produce can supply their neighbors and local jurisdictions better than the mega farms can.

This would require an adjustment to zoning laws and American culture, but necessity breeds innovation. And the model has been proven effective by people like Curtis Stone.