{"id":5707,"date":"2019-09-19T10:46:03","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T09:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ripess.eu\/?p=5707"},"modified":"2021-03-29T15:53:23","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T14:53:23","slug":"community-supported-agriculture-and-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/community-supported-agriculture-and-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Supported Agriculture and Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How does the Social Solidarity Economy (SSE) contribute to \nthe fight against global warming? Judith Hitchman, President of Urgenci,\n explains the role of Community Supported Agriculture and its benefits \nin mitigating our impact on the climate.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by Judith Hitchman, President of Urgenci<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate change, or climate crisis as it is now more correctly called,\n is the elephant in the room. Everyone knows it is there, and is acting \nas though it is invisible. Yet it is the single most deadly threat to \nhumanity and life on earth. This September will see several key global \nevents, from the Climate Action Summit<\/a> to the Global Climate Strike from September 20th to 27th<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, when you work deeply on the Sustainable Development Goals<\/a> (SDGs)\n at UN level, you fast realise that they are built on an inherent growth\n model that continues to exploit more planetary reserves and fossil \nfuels than our planet or climate can support. And that the indicators \nthat exist can not be changed. But that should not and hopefully will \nnot stop us from acting on the ground!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet although we have probably now reached the tipping point where the\n damage to our climate has become irreversible, we can still do much to \nmitigate the impacts. And indeed we must address the issues as urgently \nas possible, with legal frameworks at State and Local Authority level. \nPlacing the responsibility on individual consumers is not and can not \nprovide more than a sticking plaster on the haemorrhage of runaway \nclimate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So let us look at some of the aspects where it might be possible to \nmake small but significant impacts to mitigate the burning issues. And \nburning they are right now, from the Amazon to the Arctic\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The benefits of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Peasant agriculture, small-scale family farming, artisinal fisheries \nand Indigenous practice combine in agroecology to provide us with a \nscience, a practice and a social movement that includes solidarity \neconomy. This has been recognised by the Food and Agriculture \nOrganization of the United Nations (FAO) in the 10 Elements of \nAgroecology. And short\/direct food chains, especially Community \nSupported Agriculture can be placed high on the list of linking \nproducers to consumers to build sustainable territorial food systems. \nThe Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model works on the basis of a \ntandem of producer\/consumer direct localised solidarity-based relations,\n and has the concept of shared risks and benefits at the heart of the \nconcept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does CSA benefit the climate? Well firstly, agroecological \npractice involves using no chemical inputs or plastics (in some cases \nthis may involve a transitional period). It uses techniques such as \nmulching and cover crops as well as the use of good old-fashioned manure\n as fertiliser. And it is possible to fight insects and pests through \neither companion crops or natural insecticides produced on-farm. So no \nfossil fuels or externalisation involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also a number of ways in which the impact on the soil can \nbe minimised, such as \u2018no till\u2019 or using draft horses to plough the \nfields. Again, no fossil fuels involved. In the case of harvesting, much\n is done manually as well, as in the case of Rupert Dunn<\/a>,\n a wonderful peasant-baker who grows his own heritage grains in Wales, \nand harvests the fields using a scythe! In most CSAs, there are also \nfarm days when the CSA members come and help on the farm. My grandsons \nsoon learnt that picking up potatoes on their CSA was hard, \nback-breaking work. They now have a new appreciation of what work goes \ninto the potato crop!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the climate becomes increasingly unstable, it is essential to use \nlocal peasant seeds that can adapt progressively to these changes. They \nstand a far better chance of resilience, compared with hybrid or even \nGM- CRISPR modified seeds sold by the big seed companies. They are also \nfar higher in nutritional value, both instrinsically and because the \nsoil is healthy, living soil with a rich micro-biome. Which leads to a \nhealthy human micro-biome and healthier, happier people!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of nutrition, climate change is set to reduce the \nnutritional value of food in a serious way. The agroecological approach \nand fast food-to-fork turn over means that nutritional value is \noptimised. Many greens lose 30% of their nutritional value and vitamins \nin particular after the first 3 days. Chemical inputs (pesticides and \nfetilisers) are now proven to cause over 20% more cancers than a diet of\n organic\/agroecologically grown food. So imagine if your salad is grown \nin the South of Spain, on a farm using chemical inputs, and has \ntravelled for several days to reach your supermarket\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact of our current model<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The global trend is also the capture of the complete food chain by \nthe industrial food companies (the same groups as those who own the \nseeds, the inputs, and the farms also own the food processing companies \nand supermarket chains\u2026). Sadly \u201ccheap\u201d processed food and ready meals \nthat are high in fat and sugar are widely bought by many consumers. \nPeople have in many cases forgotten how to cook, if indeed they ever \nknew how, which is the norm for many of the younger generation. This \nrepresents a quadruple danger: the destruction of the environment and \nclimate change through industrial agriculture; the myth of \u201ccheap\u201d food \nbased on exploitation of labour and lack of real nutritional content in \nthe food (calories versus nutrition is a serious global issue); the \nexcessive use of fossil fuel in the processing, transport and excessive \npackaging. And finally the cost of excessive healthcare linked to \nobesity and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) from eating an unhealthy \ndiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article would not be complete without some mention of climate \nchange and the management of our rivers and oceans. Excessive chemical \ninputs on large industrial conventional farms and release of slurry has \ncreated a very toxic situation for many of our rivers through the \nrun-off first into streams and rivers and then into the oceans. And this\n in turn contributes to the acidification of our oceans. And just as \nlarge-scale industrial farms are producing poor quality meat and \nvegetables, industrial fisheries are destroying the oceans. Artisinal \nfishers can provide local communities with fresh fish, and there are a \ngrowing number of Community Supported Fisheries that operate in the same\n way as Community Supported Agriculture. Urgenci is currently working to\n develop this activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of sustainable territorial food systems, and CSA in \nparticular, there is also a low carbon footprint concerning the delivery\n from farms to the eaters. Delivery points are often in the schools or a\n neighbourhood caf\u00e9, so parents can easily access these points without \nhaving to use their car any more than they already would be using it. It\n is aslo quite common to have multiple producers deliver at the same \npoint, thus allowing consumers to do a \u2018one-stop-shop\u2019 just like at the \nsupermarket. Except that it is far more convivial!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The importance of community lands<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There is also a shift to the remunicipalisation and relocalisation of\n public procurement: moving to local food production and preparation for\n school meals and Green Public Procurement is a strong emerging trend in\n many cities. It can even involve Community Land Trusts, or use local \nMunicipal Land to grow the food. The question of land is indeed one of \nthe key issues today in building sustainable territorial food systems \nand guaranteed urban rural linkages. Green belts need to be preserved to\n ensure food production can continue, and access to land for young \nproducers also needs to be facilitated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community Land Trusts are one of the key ways of doing this, as well \nas incubator farms and agroecology farmer-to-farmer field training \nschools. Local Authorities have a vital role to play in facilitating \nthese aspects. Good policy exists in terms of the FAO Voluntary \nGuidelines on the Governance and Tenure of Land, Forests and Fisheries, \nas well as the Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Small-scale \nFisheries. Likewise, there are a growing number of farmer-led and \nconsumer led co-operative shops, and many different manifestations of a \ngrowing movement to relocalise our food systems and fight climate \nchange. This shift is clearly aligned with many values of solidarity \neconomy, generally involves participatory governance, and has the \ngrowing implication of Local Authorities at different levels. Different \nmechanisms exist to ensure affordability for those who are socially \nexcluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commitment to CSA does involve learning to use what is in your \nweekly share and to cook somewhat differently than if you make a \nshopping list and go to the supermarket, but it is a collective \nadventure and generally a return to how our grandparents ate and cooked.\n Community Supported Agriculture and Community Supported Fisheries are \nby far the most committed model, and the fight to re-appropriate our \nfood system through food sovereignty and the right to food lies at the \ncore. Human rights are indivisible. The rights of Mother Earth and the \nright to a healthy nutritious diet are closely linked and at the core of\n our fight to stop runaway climate change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How does the Social Solidarity Economy (SSE) contribute to the fight against global warming? Judith Hitchman, President of Urgenci, explains the role of Community Supported Agriculture and its benefits in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7021,"featured_media":5704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2038],"tags":[2373,1272,256,443,1383,1767],"class_list":["post-5707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-from-the-network","tag-443-2","tag-agroecology-2","tag-agroecology","tag-csa","tag-global-warming","tag-nl-0919-en","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}