Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Food Security, Sustainablity, and Sovereignty


Our Food Supply Cannot be Placed At Risk 
  • We import 45 Million pounds of Tilapia from Ecuador and Double that from Asia Upwards of half of our winter produce is imported from Mexico.
  • Clean water, more critical than food is being depleted at a rate faster than the planet can replenish it. 
  • The average head of lettuce travels 1,500 miles from farm to table. Carbon costs are a major factor in the food chain in the production of commercial fertilizer and in food transport. 
Present Conventional Farming Models Place Us At Risk

We, as a nation and a planet can not afford to use antiquated and costly food production methods. It is also a national security issue. Interdiction of the food and water supply could bring us to our knees faster than any number of terror bombers. Remember, when the supermarkets are out of food (and waiting for the trucks that will not come) there will be NO FOOD LEFT!  In addition we have significant exposure due to long supply chains with a number of steps that could either be interrupted or where food is vulnerable to intentional or unintentional contamination

Aquaponics - Best Hope for Food Security and Sustainability
Our model for a distributive network of local food production micro sites provides the best strategy for maintaining food security and sustainability through local control and supply.   A distributive food production method has a much higher survivability profile than a large centralized system.  For example, almost half of our winter produce could be knocked out by hitting one transfer center near Nogales Mexico.

Food Sovereignty
If we maintain local control over major segments of our food supply, we maintain control over our nutrition.  We can limit or eliminate contamination and pollution.  We are no longer at the mercy of the large retailers and distributors who control what we can eat and when we can eat it.  This is true food sovereignty.