Fairfax environmental journalist Matt Cawood has been quoted as saying
“Agriculture is the most fundamental human activity. Without it, we don’t have cities, the Internet, cappuccino. And we are quickly realizing that how we conduct agriculture determines the health of the planet.”
Yesterday Bess Gairns sent me via twitter a link to this video The Food Machine with the comment ‘Amazing would love to see an Australian version’
If you have time ( its runs for 50 minutes) do watch it. Its just mind blowing
Reflecting back on a previous post where I quoted Dr Jude Capper
“We have cars and airplanes. We have treatments for cancer and heart disease. Why is it that in every other business sector we celebrate increased efficiency and productivity thanks to new technology while when it comes to food more and more people want it done the old-fashioned way?”
The key thing The Food Machine reinforces to me is just how much as Matt Cawood reminds us we wouldn’t have if agriculture did business like it did in the 1950’s .
Surely it is time we let the Little Golden Book idea of farming go. It is imperative we acknowledge the world is a totally different place in 2013 than it was in the 1950’s and if we are going to get the best outcomes for our landscapes, waterways, our people and our animals and the economy we have to start were we are at and learn from our mistakes and not focus on where we have been.
Matt Cawood sums it up perfectly for me
“The future lies in developing technology and thinking that lessens our ecological footprint and respects the natural processes that underpin all life,”
UPDATE – once again twitter delivers ( Thank you Alison Fairleigh) we do have an Australian version thanks to ABC24 just loaded today. BTW it only runs for 3.4 mins