Just got back from the Heirloom Festival in Santa Rosa, the first non-gmo food festival in the nation. I've been an exhibitor at many trade shows in my life, but this one was truly a fair where caring and sharing were visible everywhere. I took my 3 year old and 5 year old and was convinced that I would have to drop them off at the hotel during the day, not so! They had fun for at least 9 hours each day, every day. My neighbors weren't bothered by them, the volunteers cared for them, and the numerous kids activities and exhibits kept them enthralled. So, first off, hats off to the Baker Seed Company for the best family friendly event I've ever been to! I met so many fantastic exhibitors like Fermentation Nation, I watched chef demonstrations, there was free movies, Q&A's with producers and heirloom varieties of so many veggies. The attendees were open and freely sampled our raisins and appreciated the work of growing them organically without any sulfur.
The Keynote Speaker was my hero, the foremost advocate of the pure food movement Vandana Shiva, who many of you have probably seen in Food Inc. and Future of Food. When I found out that she was going to be in California speaking at a free event, I just had to go. Vandana has been advocating pure food for over 30 years, long before it was trendy to do so. She put in perspective the magnitude of what we're dealing with in GMO foods. She pointed out that this is a war. A war on our food. Many people want to avoid the war. At one conference a speaker said that he has two sons, one is organic and one is GMO and all he wants is for the two of them to get along. They're different but he wants them to co-exist. The film maker of Future of Food, spoke up and said "one of your sons is a bully." Organic food will never contaminate and pollute GMO food, but GMO food contaminates organic crops. How can one co-exist peacefully with a bully except by being subjugated?
Vandana pointed out that when the war was over, war tactics were applied to the production of food and it was called the Life Sciences Industry. There were three things that this industry claimed. 1) Feed the World. Monoculture was needed to increase yields to produce the vast amounts of food needed. 2) Reduce Pesticides. GMO crops like Round up Ready Soy would get rid of weeds. 3) Seed was intellectual property.
As regards the first point, monoculture does not increase yields. Biodiversity of crops is able to produce higher yields. In India where Monsanto claimed that the yield would be 1500 per acre of Cotton, the yield was actually 400-500. As part of our non-profit, our goal is to have a sustainable small farm model where a diversity of crops is grown on 17 acres. The biggest difference I notice from when we stopped our monoculture of grapes, is that our family actually eats from our farm. Think about it, what is the point of owning a farm when you rely on the commercial food industry to feed you because you are only growing one crop? Vandana also pointed out that the "backwards" or "low yielding" varieties were the ones that survived in areas affected by typhoons and tsunami's. The "advanced", "high yielding" varieties didn't survive the climactic changes. Bottom line, even if yields were lower with a diversity of crops, the fact that the farmer could feed himself and that the soil would be getting input from the crops is reason enough to support this type of farming.
The second point about reducing weeds has not materialized. Instead of weeds, there are now super weeds. Indian farmers were told that if they bought Monsanto seed - which sell to the tune of 4,000 rupees per kilo, inflated from the 5-10 rupees per kilo that seed used to sell for, they would not have to use pesticides. They are using 13 times the amount of pesticides they used before. Think about the financial cost, the environment impact, and the health impact of that. Industrialized farming also uses 10 times the amount of water. The water crises is created by our farming methods.
Lastly: that seed can be patented. A patent is given for an invention that is someone's intellectual property. Vandana defined the definition of the hindi/punjabi word beej. J or Ji means life. Bee is the seed. Every seed contains life and propagates life. When we plant a seed, it freely gives life to thousands more seeds. The question then is, who has the right to patent life? Right now we think it's acceptable to patent seed, before we thought slavery was acceptable. Monsanto claimed that when they infected an existing seed and modified it, it was so different that it became their intellectual property and could be patented. When it came to testing their invention, they then claimed that there was no significant difference between their seed and what occurs in nature and therefore testing is unnecessary. Which one is it? Is it different or not? Oh, I forgot, they're the ones with minds not us. We shouldn't be asking questions, just planting their seed and eating the food genetically engineered for us.
Monsanto is creating pollution. Their gmo seeds are either carried to other farmers fields or they are mingled with pure seeds and they contaminate crops. The governments job is to regulate pollution, to punish the polluter, not to fine the victim. With Monsanto, time and again, farmers have had to pay fines because gmo seeds, which are intellectual property, pollute their farms. If anyone doubts this is a war on our food, please reflect on the 250,000 Indian farmers that believed Monsanto's claims and that subsequently drank pesticides to commit suicide when they lost their farm.
Vanada said that in some places it has become illegal to collect and plant seed without governmental permission. Think about that, the seed that a plant freely gives us is the governments property and we cannot collect or plant without their consent. The Bible says in Genesis 1:28 that every vegetable and fruit bearing seed must become food for us. That command was issued by God. All plants bearing seed were a gift from our creator and inherently were meant for sharing, not for the governments to take what was already present in nature and regulate which varieties we get to plant and eat. Intrinsic in the above command is what shouldn't serve as food for us: seedless and genetically engineered varieties. The Bible says that man will dominate man to his injury. There have been 250,000 farmer suicides from drinking pesticides when they cannot pay the bill and Monsanto has taken their land.
There was a call to action last night. Vandana gave us countless examples of countries like Europe who have banned gmo seeds. There have been treaties created to regulate gmo's, problem is, the U.S. doesn't sign them. Gandhi did two things when the British were dominating India. 1) In 1930 he rebelled against the salt laws. The government ordered that no resident was to gather salt because it was the property of the government. He picked up the salt that was on the beach, and would not subjugate himself to British Tyranny, the little island that ruled three quarters of the world. 2) He said that every family should own a spindle and be able to spin their own cotton. Many people wondered how that would help. His point was that it was small enough that every home could have it. This empowered Indians to produce their own clothing. At 6, Vandana wanted a polyester frock and her mother said that she could have it, but that she needed to realize that the frock was like a Mercedes 4, the latest thing to make a corporation richer and that the purchase of a cotton frock would put food on the table for a local village woman since they lived in the area where cotton was grown.
Two questions were raised about markets last night. Vandana said that markets independently run are not a bad thing. In India, most markets are that way. The commercialization of markets is what has failed and we can learn not to follow that model. Second, we shouldn't purchase food from any place that supports Monsanto. I know it's easier to go to one grocery store and purchase all your organic goods but how does that put money in the pockets of farmers who are fighting the fine fight and growing organically? These large chains buy produce from farmers at the lowest possible cost, i.e. 50 cents a pound for grapes, they then charge consumers $3 or more a pound for those grapes. We buy grapes for $1.25 a pound and sell at our little market for $2.50 a pound. The farmer got paid more than double and the consumer pays less. Everybody benefits from small markets.
The parallel here is that each of us play a role in the food movement. Other countries have banned Monsanto because people stopped shopping at supermarkets where GMO food was sold or supported. They have stopped supporting politicians that supported GMO foods. Every home in the entire world can do one of two things. 1) we can collect seed. Build a bio-diversity of seed so we can weather any storm and feed ourselves with seeds that we collect and plant. 2) Eat non-gmo foods. When we choose to support organic foods and natural varieties, we support bio-diversity. We must insist that gmo food labelling laws be required.
May you stand up for what you believe in, even if it takes more time. I'd like to close with Raw Foodist and Actor Woody Harrelson's words: I feel like an alien creature for which there is no earthly explanation. In money we trust in which there is no happiness. Like a genetically modified, irradiated Big Mac is somehow symbolic of food. Morality is legislated, prisons overpopulated, religion is incorporated, the profit motive is permeated all activity. Can you imagine clean water, food and air, living in community with people who care? Do you dare to feel responsible for every dollar you lay down, are you going to make the rich man richer or are you going to stand your ground? You say you want a revolution, a communal evolution, to be a part of the solution? Maybe I'll be seeing you around.
Encouraging you to get on the SOL train (Simple Organic Living), I remain
Yours in food and health,
Ta-raw Hamilton
Revive cafe owner and chef
1807 Broadway Street
Fresno, CA 93721
559.4920.raw
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