Use farms for local foods, not consolidated feed

By Kurt M. Friese

As a vocal advocate for local food, I was very pleased to see The Gazette feature it March 27. Right there on page one, above the fold, a story about the good work being done by Jason Grimm and the folks at Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development.

They offer wise advice on supporting local foodsheds that are sustainable methods of feeding and building our communities.

I was disturbed, however, at the story I found on the front of the Money section: titled “Consolidation, technology expected to change farming.”

Despite deep agricultural roots planted in the finest soil on the planet, Iowa still imports about 95 percent of its food from, on average, about 1,500 miles away. We have more than 30 million acres of cropland, yet only a minuscule portion of it is planted to food. The rest is (livestock) feed and fuel. In the article, agronomist Mark Stuttsman warns that this will not only continue here over the next 10 years, but expand rapidly.

According to Mr. Stuttsman, not only will Iowa's corn and soy farms expand from a current average of 350 acres to between 25,000 and 40,000, but a “(Farm) consolidation will follow suit with seed, fertilizer, and equipment suppliers.” He says farmers will be “producers of proteins, starches, oils, sugars, vitamins, enzymes, fuel, and fiber” - not food.

What Mr. Stuttsman foresees may be accurate, but it is, to put it mildly, ill-advised. It is an order of magnitude further down the road away from Iowa's agricultural roots and toward an Orwellian industrial model, bringing with it all of industry's dehumanizing labor problems and devastating environmental impacts.

Iowa, the nation and the world need a food system that is good, clean and fair: Good in that the food is tasty, fresh and nutritious. Clean in that its production does not pollute the ecosystem where it is produced and there is nothing in the food that isn't food (and if it wasn't food 100 years ago, it's not food now). Fair in that the people who produce it should be justly compensated for their work.

Farming today is the only business where you buy at retail, sell at wholesale, and pay the freight both ways. And a massive increase in this current system is what Mr. Stuttsman sees as our future.

I certainly hope he is wrong. The Iowa of the future in this article is bleak to say the least. Even if these visions of fields free of petroleum-based chemical fertilizers and pesticides were to come true (something I think we all want), this model would still leave us dependent on dangerous, unproven and patented genetically modified organisms.

There is false optimism in the promise of genetically modified crops. Setting aside the dangers of an unproven science that could lead to cross-contamination, resistant weeds and bugs, and unknown allergy implications, there is the small matter of ownership. If we are what we eat (and we are), then whoever owns our food owns us. In this case, that would be Monsanto and Syngenta.

Just a few short weeks ago the Department of Justice announced that it was investigating Monsanto, among others, for massive antitrust violations. Yet further consolidation is to be our future?

Nature abhors uniformity. It insists on diversity. If diversity is not present, Nature will inflict it. That is why the Irish potato famine happened.

Let's try to follow the recommendations offered by the Iowa Valley RC&D, rather than those of distant conglomerates. I trust Mother Earth over Monsanto, and cows over chemists.

Chef Kurt Michael Friese is a freelance writer and photographer, owner/publisher of Edible Iowa River Valley and chef/owner of Devotay restaurant in Iowa City. Comments: kurtfriese@gmail.com