Variety is the Spice of Life

“Variety is the spice of life.” Ever heard that phrase? Of course, you have. I’ve heard it all my life. Well, guess what? There is NO variety in industrial agriculture, which is not sustainable.

Variety’s the very spice of life,
That gives it all its flavour.

William Cowper – The Task (1785)–‘The Timepiece’ (Book II, lines 606-7)

I wonder what the English poet, William Cowper, who wrote some of the greatest Christian hymns, would think about genetically modified organisms (GMO’s). The whole point of industrial agriculture, and genetic engineering specifically, and from which BigAg profits depend, is for corporations to develop single strains of plants, or breeds of animals, which they can reproduce by the millions, and patent the genes (85% of corn grown in the U.S. is genetically modified and nearly all of that goes to animal feed and biofuels, the rest into processed food). Farmers have to buy the seeds each year, cutting into their already thin profit line, and then corporate giants like Monsanto take over the land when farmers, indebted, throw in their cards and give up.

Simply, BigAg wants to control the world’s food supply, for profit. These limited breeds of livestock are grown in CAFO’s, or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, which is a nice name for growing animals in cages too small to turn around, or spread their wings, in. And they are injected with drug cocktails of hormones and antibiotics, but that’s another story. Consumers, who do not raise their own livestock, get to eat, from market to restaurant, a single breed of chicken, turkey, pig or cow, over and over and over again. Biodiversity, on the other hand, is sustainable.

In India, according to seed advocate and author of “Earth Democracy,” Dr. Vandana Shiva, over 200,000 farmers in the so-called “Suicide Belt” have committed suicide because they were hopelessly in debt to Monsanto who sold them on planting Bt cotton seeds. When they found that their fields needed MORE chemicals, not less, they fell into debt. One of the big promises of BigAg is that fields planted with GMO seed, which has been genetically modified by injecting a pesticide into the seed, will require less chemicals. All over the world where GM crops are grown, this has proven to be false. GE agriculture is creating super weeds and super bugs.

Some farmers swallowed the very pesticide they could no longer afford to buy to end their lives. Rather than being punished with crimes against humanity, and nature, Monsanto, Syngenta, Dupont, Bayer and and BASF are given a free pass by the U.S. Government with laws to protect them, just like pharmaceutical companies are protected against lawsuits if any individual becomes sick from a vaccine. More importantly, these companies are given huge subsidies. If they did not receive subsidies, organic food would not cost more than commercial food.

One good thing that came out of the recent U.S. Government shutdown, perhaps the only, was, the so-dubbed “Monsanto Protection Act” was stripped from the funding bill. “Jon Tester, a farmer and Democratic senator from Montana, removed the measure from the bill yesterday. ‘All [the Farmer Assurance Provision] really assures is a lack of corporate liability,’ Tester argued in March. ‘It…lets genetically modified crops take hold across the country—even when a judge finds it violates the law.’ Striking the rider from the continuing resolution probably won’t do much to limit Monsanto’s influence in Washington, unfortunately.” – The Nation – Read more here.

Dr. Vandana Shiva – (Original photographer retains all rights.)

Dr. Vandana Shiva opened her remarks at The National Heirloom Expo that she’d rather be in India on the farm helping farmers save seeds (she does that, too, with Navdanya), but she travels the world (and writes books) for food security and Earth Democracy. I really don’t want to get political, I’d like to just be in the garden, planting and learning more about growing food (and combating aphids!), but, it comes down to this: Food is political. Try going without healthy food and your body will break down. Go without food for a month and you die. “The duration of survival without food is greatly influenced by factors such as body weight, genetic variation, other health considerations and, most importantly, the presence or absence of dehydration. At the age of 74 and already slight of build, Mahatma Gandhi, the famous nonviolent campaigner for India’s independence, survived 21 days of total starvation while only allowing himself sips of water.” – Scientific American 

I don’t choose to starve myself, but I must speak out, and inform whoever will listen, that we must protect our natural resources not pollute them, or use them up, so our children, and their children, have a fit place to live. And we must save heirloom seeds, because that gives us power. And our world must be biodiverse.

Poster of Mark Baker in HOGWASH: THE AMERICAN PIG TALE

Mark Baker said “No.” A retired Air Force veteran, and Michigan farmer, who had carefully selected heritage pig breeds that would do well in the cold climate of Michigan, disobeyed an order from a state agency, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), to massacre his managed herd. Many of his fellow Michigan farmers gave in and destroyed their livelihoods by shooting their herds of healthy pigs. Mark Baker defied the order. I published a post last October about this case, “Hogwash in Michigan!” Read the latest about the legal proceedings here.

Today, I read about filmmakers Kyle Miron and Drew Allegre who have filmed the story HOGWASH: THE AMERICAN PIG TALE, the documentary-in-the-making of Mark’s defiance of DNR demands. Here’s what the director, Kyle Miron, has to say: “It is not too late to reverse this Hogwash and to hold those responsible for attempting to rob American citizens of their livelihoods. We are a video production group based out of the Midwest that specializes in producing documentary style videos for independent farmers from around the world. We also donate our time to working with non-profits in our community. For nearly two years, we have been filming this historical tale of corruption happening in the great state of Michigan. Over 150 hours of footage has been recorded so far and we are in need of 20+ more interviews, (coverage of) three more court cases, and miscellaneous (footage) to serve as glue to the film. The footage we have showcases only one side of the argument. Interviews with biologists, senators, lawyers, DNR officers, authors, and hunters will help to clarify the reasons why this has happened in the first place. Mark Baker and his family’s courage to stand up to tyranny has been inspirational and we will be by his side ’til the end.” The film needs additional funding and if you can donate, in any amount, you will be investing in family farmers, and for your own food security. Click here to donate. (I am not affiliated. I am only passing along information.)

For, as surely as it’s happening with heritage pigs, it is happening with raw dairy for consumption and it will happen with chickens, rabbits, fish, and of course, it’s already been happening, for decades, with plants. Try finding an Hawaiian papaya that isn’t genetically modified (GMO). In fact, it’s paradise no more in Maui with Monsanto deeply vested in developing genetically modified seeds there. Learn more about agriculture and biotechnology concerns in Hawaii at Hawaii Seed. Their motto: The future is seeded by the actions of today. 

The laws being set up are not set up for the people, but to protect corporate profits. In Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, did it say, “government of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations?” No, it said, “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” Ever stop to think that every chicken, every turkey, all the pork, all the beef that passes through the industrial food chain to arrive in a grocery store is only ONE BREED per animal? Back when farming ruled the country, people raised all sorts of breeds of livestock, depending on how well they suited the local climate – Mark Baker’s heritage pigs are well-suited to the harsh cold in Michigan – and other variables. Biological diversity is sustainable. Industrial agriculture, in which plants and animals are grown in a monoculture dependent on chemicals, is not sustainable.

Congress fears what corporations fear. Why do you think BigAg corporations don’t want to label their GMO’s, why do they fear a few farmers raising heritage pigs, why do they fear a few hundred dairy cows producing raw milk for consumption (compared to millions that produce milk for processing into a milk product)? They don’t want people to remember, recall, learn, relearn, experience, that whole, raw milk is good for you, that biodiversity doesn’t require millions of tons of chemicals, that toxic food causes disease. – If you shoot a toxic gene into a seed, does that not make a toxic plant, from which pollen drifts in the air and falls where it falls? GMO’s are impossible to contain. – And to insure that people won’t learn or relearn these basic facts, coporations line politicians’ pockets (who become lobbyists for corporations when their time in Washington is done) with lots of cash, so they will write the laws in their favor.

Spread the word so everyone is aware: Variety IS the very spice of life! It is the stuff of LIFE. Diversity IS life! Don’t wait for corporations to do the right thing, because they won’t. They aren’t individuals, in spite of what the U.S. Supreme Court says. They are companies in business to make a profit.

These issues affect us all, whether you are growing your own, or whether you rely on grocery stores to feed you. All creatures, animals and plants, especially bees, are affected by chemical pollutants, toxic air, unclean water and un-fertile soil. These are the results of industrial agriculture. Not to mention, it has driven a whole lot of people away from farming the land to look for work elsewhere.

I have seen Wendell Berry’s name repeatedly in my two decades of food activism, and my two years as an urban farmer, but I had never really known about the man who’s made it his life’s work to care for the Earth, in written word and deed, until I saw the splendid profile by, in my humble opinion, our country’s greatest living journalist, Bill Moyers: “Wendell Berry: Poet & Prophet” That hour and eighteen minutes just may change your life. One of his many profound quotes:

“There is no justification for the permanent destruction of the world. The world and our life in it are conditional gifts. We have the world to live in, and the use of it to live from, on the condition that we will take good care of it.” – Wendell Berry

Thanks for reading! I know it’s long, but I hope you will share this, go to the links and read. I have learned everything in this article since I started growing food two years ago. I have even met Dr. Shiva and heard her speak. What actions are you taking to make the world a better place for all living things? Late Bloomer Facebook page is chock full of links, articles and resources if you want to get started. Join a local seed bank, community garden, garden club, or as South Central Los Angeles urban guerrilla farmer Ron Finley says, “Plant some shit! – Kaye 

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Tags: Baker's Green Acres Farm, BigAg, Bill Moyers, biodiversity, CAFO's, DNR, do-it-yourself, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Drew Allegre, Earth Democracy, farming on small scale, food safety, food security, gardening, gardening web series, genetic engineering, genetically modified organism, Gettysburg Address, GMO, GMO's, Green Acres Farm, green your world, growing your own vegetables, Hawaii, Hogwash: The American Pig Tale, industrial agriculture, Kaye Kittrell, Kaye Kittrell Late Bloomer, Kyle Miron, Late Bloomer, Mark Baker, Maui, Michigan farmers, Monsanto Protection Act, organic, Ron Finley, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, urban gardening, Vandana Shiva, Variety's the spice of life, Wendell Berry, William Cowper

Category: Community, Environment, Food Security, Seeds