![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/P2P-Eat-Your-View-April22-e1650495031945.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By Robert Turner<\/p>\n
After a decade farming and trying to grow food at some sort of scale, I was frustrated, and about to give up. The problems were too big, and most people were complacent about it. <\/em><\/p>\n Many people are driving fuel efficient cars and live in energy efficient homes but give no consideration to the food miles associated with our dinner, or the decimation of our soils and biosphere that comes from modern, industrial agriculture.<\/em><\/p>\n I knew that many of the world\u2019s great civilizations collapsed because of environmental degradation, mostly related to the depletion of the soil from agriculture, from the Maya to Easter Island to Angkor Wat to the Romans to the Vikings in Greenland. The fertile crescent, the birthplace of civilization, was once fertile and now it\u2019s a desert. Environmental collapse, and the collapse of agriculture, took out the ancient Babylonians, the Phoenicians and the Macedonians. Why should we be any different, except that we are looking at environmental collapse on a global scale? <\/em><\/p>\n The low point for me came when I learned that we had already killed off half the insects and a third of the birds in North America, largely due to the overuse of deadly pesticides. Then a United Nations report came out that suggested we had enough topsoil left worldwide for about 60 years\u2014that means 60 harvests. Would my kids and grandkids have to live with desertification, water wars and the turmoil of mass migration on a scale that we can\u2019t even imagine, with millions, even billions, of people on the move? <\/em><\/p>\n Then Lewis Mumford started teaching me about regenerative agriculture and its ability to rebuild the soil and pull carbon from the atmosphere at the same time, and that gave me hope. Regenerative agriculture, Mumford told me, could solve climate change, reverse desertification, increase yields for a growing population, and reduce the need for hazardous chemicals. Corporate led industrial agriculture was destroying the soil and the environment, but regenerative farming could reverse all that. That was a turning point for me; it was a life changing moment. Something shifted in me, in my head. I spent years looking at how bad things were getting in the food system, and struggling on my own farm, and suddenly my eyes were opened. It wasn\u2019t about sustaining, or sustainability, it was something bigger. We could actually regenerate the land and build up the soil faster than we ever thought possible. That was worth fighting for. That became my \u2018why\u2019, and that\u2019s when I joined a quirky band of rebel food fighters. (excerpt from <\/em>Lewis Mumford and the Food Fighters: A Food Revolution in America)<\/em><\/p>\n That belief in regenerative agriculture still gave me hope and strength even as I read the most recent report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). On February 28, the IPCC issued its \u201cbleakest warning yet\u201d on \u201cclimate breakdown.\u201d<\/p>\n What is at stake? In short, everything. Climate breakdown is accelerating rapidly, and many of the impacts will be more severe than once predicted. There is only a narrow chance left of avoiding its worst ravages, says the report. Even at current levels, human actions in heating the climate are causing dangerous and widespread disruption, threatening devastation to the natural world and already rendering many areas unlivable.<\/p>\n \u201cThe scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet,\u201d said Hans-Otto P\u00f6rtner, co-chair of an IPCC working group. \u201cAny further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a livable future.\u201d<\/p>\n The IPCC is the global authority on climate science, and its summary report says droughts, floods, heatwaves and other occurrences are causing increasing damage, and creating a snowball effect as more carbon is created in the atmosphere. John Kerry, US special presidential envoy for climate, said this about the report: \u201cThe question at this point is not whether we can altogether avoid the crisis\u2014it is whether we can avoid the worst consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n The report says that everyone on the planet will be affected, with no inhabited region escaping dire impacts from rising temperatures and extreme weather. About half the global population\u2014between 3.3 billion and 3.6 billion people\u2014live in \u201chighly vulnerable\u201d areas, and millions face food and water shortages. Dave Reay, director of Edinburgh Climate Change Institute, has said that climate change \u201cthreatens to destroy the foundations of food and water security,\u201d disrupt the fragile structures of ecosystem health, and, ultimately, \u201cshake the very pillars of human civilization.\u201d<\/p>\n This is all pretty scary stuff. But I\u2019ve said before in this column: agriculture done right is the most cost-effective tool we have to pull excess carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the ground where it belongs. By some estimates, the current, chemically intensive system of industrial agriculture is responsible for between 20 and 30 percent of carbon emissions (including long distance transportation). We can (and must) invest in sustainable and regenerative agriculture if we\u2019re going to reduce emissions, capture more carbon and ensure a future with food security for all.<\/p>\n Seven Investment Strategies that can Shape the Future of Food<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Digitizing the farm using satellites, smart sensors and GPS technologies to better manage and reduce inputs, costs and pollution, and to track, verify and validate agricultural carbon credits for resale.
\n\u2022 Financing regenerative agricultural practices that improve soil health, reduce soil erosion and encourage farmers to invest in methods such as organics, composting, multi-species cover crops, crop rotations and no-till planting.
\n\u2022 Better pest control science, including organics or biologics (pesticides derived from natural materials) and possible RNA Technology to avert an insect and bird apocalypse and improve ecosystem health.
\n\u2022 Robotics to reduce labor and improve efficiency on the farm and in the supply chain.
\n\u2022 Investments in local food production including pasture-raised beef; regional processing centers to grind wheat, make bread and pasta, and process meat; and greenhouse and indoor hydroponic technologies for year-round local sourcing.
\n\u2022 Technologies that reduce food waste including better tracing and data that allow farmers, distributors, retailers and consumers to track and control waste; bio-based coatings to preserve crops; and efficient distribution of donations to food banks.
\n\u2022 Give consumers what they want including healthy food that is less damaging to the environment.<\/p>\n