Deep Economy: Reading Guide 2
Chapter 2 – The Year of Eating Locally
“...if the larger society is running up against the realization that More is not necessarily Better, then one of the alternatives is to think on a different scale” (p. 47).
McKibben’s next chapter centers on just what its title promises: his experiment of eating locally for one year in order to understand “what a truly local economy might feel like” (p. 47). The aim of his experience was to gain a deeper understanding of how a local economy could be structured and whether or not it was feasible. McKibben finds that our current method of large-scale, industrial farming cannot be environmentally sustained. What is more, this method of farming devastates entire communities. What he advocates as an alternative is a local food economy, perhaps modeled on the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) networks and farmers’ markets in which he must participate if he is to survive the year.
The following outline breaks down three main themes within this chapter.
The Efficient Factory Farm- McKibben begins his investigation into agriculture by taking a look at our current methods of food production. The vast majority of American food is produced by factory farming. The underlying idea behind this method is that it is the most “efficient” way to produce food. In other words, a great deal of food can be produced very cheaply. Since World War One, McKibben notes, oil has been cheaper to buy than human labor (p. 67). Hence, it has been more “efficient” to use more machinery and fewer farmers. One man on a tractor can look after hundreds of acres of crops. As McKibben notes, “the number of farmers has fallen from half the American population to about 1 percent, and in essence those missing farmers have been replaced with oil” (p. 64). Tractors “replace horsepower with oil power”; fertilizers and pesticides replace farmhands (p. 64). While this method may work well to produce a surplus in food, it devastates farming communities. Agricultural companies continuously purchase and consolidate farmland, making the traditional “family farm” obsolete. This has increased the poverty rate throughout the mid and middle west (p. 57). McKibben points out that “part of the reason that [we pay a] low, low price for food is that we pay many fewer farmers a smaller percentage of our food dollars” (p. 58). These displaced American farmers may have an opportunity to look for jobs elsewhere. However, McKibben stresses that over half the global population are farmers, who are now being encouraged to produce food in the same manner we have. He questions what will happen to entire populations when consolidation of farming plots and advances in machinery make their jobs obsolete as well (p. 58).
McKibben is also quick to point out that this “efficiency” – producing more food in the cheapest way – is really an illusion. Factory farms may need less human labor, but the cost of farm machinery and especially oil is rising. What continues to make American food so cheap is government subsidies. The majority of these federal aid dollars are granted to the largest farming companies (p. 86). As a result of these subsidies, federal funds are channeled into growing a few key commercial crops such as soybeans, hay, corn, and oats (p. 86-87).
Hidden Costs – Factory farming has been so successful because of the availability of fossil fuels. Statistically speaking, McKibben notes that “between 1910 and 1983, U.S. corn yields grew 346 percent. [But] energy consumption for agriculture increased 810 percent” (p. 64). Processing and packaging food once it has been harvested also relies heavily on oil. This is where the majority of environmental pollution caused from farming comes from. Globally, the international food trade “releases five to seventeen times more carbon dioxide into the air” (p. 65, 66). As he stated in Chapter One, this carbon dioxide pollution is inevitable and it can’t be easily remedied. What is more, our oil supplies will not last forever, and at the rate it’s being used, neither can our water. McKibben states that “70% of the water used by humans goes to irrigate crops.” The source of this water is underground aquifers which rely on electric and oil fueled pumps to extract the water (p. 62). These aquifers are now facing depletion. McKibben recounts the observation of Lester Brown, eco-statistician, who notes that “we have created a good bubble economy...the question is not whether the bubble will burst, but when” (p. 63).
Another unfortunate side effect of this farming system is worker abuse. In factory farms everywhere, workers risk their health and their lives in the name of “efficient” farming. McKibben examines numerous examples, from Missouri to Brazil to Central America, where workers risk disability or death because of lower safety standards and cut corners. For the global population, this method of farming may produce even higher losses. McKibben declares that centralized food production is highly vulnerable to sabotage and outbreaks of infectious diseases such as avian flu and salmonella (p. 60, 61). McKibben stresses that this manner of farming is not necessary. We could sacrifice “a little efficiency for slightly more human working conditions or slightly better sewage treatment” (p. 62).
A Different Vision of Efficiency - As an alternative to factory farms, McKibben offers the model of local and sustainable farming. He supports this with evidence that smaller farms actually produce more food if the right farming methods are used (p. 67). This kind of farming is efficient in a different way. Proper, small-scale farming methods can render by-products, such as animal waste, into reusable materials, like fertilizer. McKibben stresses that sustainable agriculture is a far-reaching term. It includes practices from cover-cropping to using herbs and other plants which are natural pest deterrents (p. 69). McKibben uses the example of Cuba’s “semi sustainable agriculture,” Vermont’s CSA farms and Detroit’s urban community and microfarms as case studies to show these methods work. They produce surpluses of food without the environmental and human costs that factory farms must have, even if we often don’t notice them. More importantly, people work together to produce their own food. They know from where and from whom their food comes. McKibben reiterates that these techniques are not pipe-dreams; they are effective farming methods which can feed an entire population (p. 71-77).
Moreover, he wants to show that local farming methods are ultimately more satisfying. He states repeatedly that locally grown food tastes better than food that is shipped across the country and selected for its shipping toughness, not its juicy flavor. He is quick to point out that these preferences for better tasting, locally produced foods are not just “yuppie indulgences.” He shows that some of the busiest farmers’ markets serve lower-income communities (p. 90). He sums up his experiences during his year of eating local foods by reiterating that, while this method of eating was costly in time (but less costly in terms of money), what he gained in satisfaction and in forming new community connections more than made up for the time invested in buying, canning, storing and cooking (p. 94).
