Our questions about Agriculture and Food must match the complexity of the system

Before I left for my Cultivate Conversation journeys, I went on a networking blitz to have conversations with as many people as possible that work in the agri-food space. In one of these chats with a food and ag veteran, I was applauded for taking the time to learn and discover more about our global food and agriculture system. As our conversation was wrapping up, this person also warned me that I would find myself coming away with more questions than answers as I learned more about the complexities of the system. I am discovering this to be true.

I just completed my one-month mark on the road and have spoken with many farmers, agri-food businesses and consumers that have a wide range of opinions on what our food and agriculture system should look like. With each conversation, my view of the complexity of what the system “looks like” in my mental map becomes even more of a tangled mess. There are an ever-increasing number of connection points and twists and turns in the web. Every farm and conversation has left me with more and new questions about how it all fits together into a bigger solution.

In the month that I have been in New Zealand, I have lived and worked on three different types of farms. A 15-acre permaculture farm, a dairy farm and an eco-living community that is building a self-sustaining farm. At each of these places, I have come to realize that there is not going to be one solution that will completely transform our food system to meet the needs of a growing population and a changing planet.

I am discovering that different types of farms and different solutions can be complementary to each other. They are all pieces of a larger puzzle. Every farm can’t be about growing the most food to feed people the most efficiently. We need education farms, experimentation, and more time to learn about growing food in different ways than the industrial system that we have created. It will take a variety of types of cultivation to feed the world.

As I am learning to see the value in different scales and different types of agriculture, I have also continued to have conversations with people working in the space. Often, my learnings from these conversations remind me that we aren’t always asking the right questions. It is hard to know the right questions to ask without an understanding of the BIG picture of our agri-food system. One solution will not fix all, rather all solutions can work together.

The following are examples of questions that I have been asked that are worth digging into. They hi-light the one sided nature of how many people view our agriculture system: 

1. Gardens and small vegetable farms don’t produce a significant amount of food to feed the world. How can small scale gardens and farms feed a growing population?

2. As someone that cares about the environment, why would you want to work on dairy farms or large monoculture grain farms?

3. Are large, row-crop farmers aware of the environmental harm of their farming practices?

All of these are questions that I have gotten multiple times in one form or another. During my responses I often find myself asking more complex questions in return and urging people to continue to question and foster a dialog to discuss these issues. For every simple question there are a dozen more complex questions that have to be answered.

Gardens and small vegetable farms don’t produce any significant amount of food to feed the world. How do you expect small scale gardens to feed a growing population?

The rise of the urban population, as well as the structure of agriculture policy means that right now small-scale farms could not produce enough food for everyone. But rather than stopping my answer there, I ask the following questions:

• How can we expose more of the urban population to where their food comes from to promote an interest in growing their own food?

• How do we create new farmer programs to make it possible for new farmers to make their farm businesses economically viable?

• How do we create consumer demand for local produce and create a vibrant local food economy so that local producers can more significantly contribute to feeding a growing planet?

As someone that cares about the environment, why would you want to work on dairy farms or large monoculture grain crop farms?

This is a question that I have received from a number of the smaller farmers that I have interacted with during my time in New Zealand. I respond that unless we are all going to stop eating cheese, milk and ice cream, and more generally stop eating any food that is produced and processed at scale, then we are all still dependent on the larger agri-food system that exists today. If everyone that cares about creating a more sustainable agri-food system decided to completely ostracize and ignore the system that exists today, then no large scale change would happen. We are all benefiting from the large-scale system that is in place, given the accessible and bountiful and inexpensive food that we eat on a daily basis. Unless we are all going to farm ourselves, we cannot put the blame completely on the farmer. We need people that are fighting for change within the system that also understand the system. If we want bigger system change then I believe we need to reply with the following questions:

• How can we build an agriculture policy that accounts for the true cost of food? Including water and soil depletion, nitrogen run-off and other environmental externalities?

• What does an agriculture policy look like that will make it possible for farmers to manage their land in a way that allows them to stay in business but also adopt practices that are best for the planet?

• How do we support farmers in adopting these practices rather than putting the burden squarely on farmers’ shoulders to figure out how to maintain their livelihoods?  

 Are large, row-crop farmers aware of the environmental impact of their farming practices?

This is another question that I have gotten from climate or food activists that have not worked within or studied the workings of the larger agriculture system. In response to this question, I try my best to explain to them, that most farmers are doing the best that they can with the current system in place. For example, a small to medium corn and soybean farm in the Midwest in the United States right now, is not making a lot of money, or maybe even losing money. Farmers are stuck in a cycle of the only way to make more money is to produce more corn and soybeans. A surplus of grain means that prices drop, which pushes farmers to then continue to try to produce more to stay in business. The mentality of “get big or get out” is a deafening message that falls on farmers ears almost daily in the Midwest. Farmers are trying to maintain their livelihood on land that has typically been in the family for generations. I want to know the following:

• How can we help farmers get off the hamster wheel of just producing more corn and soybeans, and still be profitable? 

• How do we help farms diversify and grow different crops? 

• How do we help grain farmers adopt practices that are best for the environment when they are already barely staying in business?

• How do we help farms that want to transition to a different type of system but will have a 5-10 year period of rebuilding soil health, learning and changing practices? How do we support farmers economically during this time?

All sides of the food and agriculture conversation are at fault for asking accusatory questions without understanding the whole story. It is simple to ask these one-dimensional questions. It is easier to think in terms of black and white. But I’ve started to dig into the structural realities of our agri-food system. There is no such thing as a silver bullet answer.

So in the end, the conversation I had several months back holds true. I may have  more questions than answers, but I feel like my questions are improving as I continue to learn. After all, it is all about the questions. I don’t think I, or any of us, will ever have the ONE answer. But by helping to ask the hard questions, we begin to come up with a series of solutions that will help build an agriculture and food system that is better for people and the planet.