IFAD’s Cape Town meeting – presenting the Rural Poverty Report 2011

http://on.fb.me/m4TXXJ #rpr2011 #ifad #agchat
IFAD’s Cape Town meeting – presenting the Rural Poverty Report 2011

Biogas makes people not poor! For lights and cooking. These cost $260 to make, the Chinese government pays half.. See biodigestors in action in China.. a new socialist village: environmentally sustainable, socially harmonious. Anything done by small farmers in China makes a huge impact overall.. Over 8 million animals accounted for in that rural sector of the world. The scope of it blows my mind. There are fantastic testimonials and a good name behind it, IFAD (http://www.ifad.org/) OECD development pages. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCRps9Jnwbk #energy @OECDlive

…as long as fiscal tightening is recommended unemployment will hardly stop. The consumerism is sloppy if we don’t back our currency (US$) with real production. Instead of encouraging fiscal tightening, developed countries should thus encourage new routes to develop production markets. Vegetables, for one. Vegetables ship well at 1 and 1/8 bushel crates, can be made plentifully here in the United States, and are in global demand. Organic vegetables are another step that many farmers may want to take that ensures them a local market. Small industry, for another. Many of the parts that support small agriculture are freely available laying around the ruins of a former industrial tower.. Factories are now scrap-yards ready to make a new Economy. The industrial park, and JVS and small workshops, should not be left out of our #economic solution.

Small agriculture is doing much better this year in the United States than large monoculture farms. A wet Spring has most farmers behind already. The price of corn internationally is shown in a chart below:

Please consider what a dependence on cheap corn will mean if corn does badly this year, for the whole world we export grain to. The United States for it’s irresponsibility has left the world open to more food insecurity, even without the oil factor, from a bad season in Northern Ohio and the Central states. #Midwest, #Corn, #Sustainable. Meanwhile, at the organic farm we have 36 crops already and are busy every day. Most monoculture farms are big fields and nothing is planted yet. I find comfort knowing that my job every day provides food for Northern Ohio’s good and neediest families to eat a fresh variety of foods at a dependable price. #agchat

The Oberlin 2025 Planning Meetings

I just attended the final community feedback meeting for Oberlin’s planning commission to craft a plan for Oberlin in 2025. They have been held by the College, City, Library, different Non-profits, Churches.. etc. This one was held by the WRLC. If you live in Oberlin, I doubt you haven’t been invited to one. Fascinating table and the ability to be heard by city government. Really, the ability to craft our future as an area.

So exciting that we can build and prepare these networks to be ready for whatever happens. We should decide to go on a “green belt” that would be around Oberlin (the School district) and would provide Oberlin’s restaurants and schools with fresh healthy food, and Oberlin’s residents (esp. low-income) with a chance to grow on their own land to start.

If anyone in Oberlin is interested in growing, go with it! Get those seeds in and see if you can help it grow. It was organic gardening that got me started along a path that others can follow to be our future agricultural economy: access, vegetable/community gardening, small animals, farm intern, market gardener … (program at LCCC?)
In Massachusetts, an organization that I recommend ithe New Entry Sustainable Farm Project (http://nesfp.org/). They are amazing and have a class that leads into an intro program where you practice CSA growing on 3/4 acre.

For anyone who’s interested in Energy sustainability, BU has a great grad school program on it, very good and some of the top energy and environment professors in the country there. For energy, try to do something tangible like a utility-scale solar field or reducing how much you/we use. Here, last night I had great luck challenging the city council people that were there on it; they took up the challenge.

I hope that as we move forward we can rise to meet these challenges, as a nation and globally. A shout out to the folks in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts who are now beginning the 2 community discussion meetings on these topics!
-Eddie
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