Farmers feed the world. Can SLO agriculture feed the world? Proponents of SLO agriculture fervently believe the answer is yes. "Fervently" as in not only can SLO agriculture feed the world, but SLO agriculture must feed the world; it's the only way. Others are skeptical.
Dan Barber is a world-famous chef at Blue Hill at Stone Barns north of New York City. Mr. Barber gave an interesting TED talk about SLO agriculture: Dan Barber's foie gras parable. He does not use the terminology "SLO agriculture;" that's my terminology. But that is what the talk is about. Now what can SLO agriculture possibly have in common with foie gras? You'll have to watch the video to find out. In 20 minutes, and especially in the final three minutes, you will gain a better understanding of the philosophy of SLO agriculture.
Among the skeptics I'm pretty sure we would find Dr. Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution. I think it is fair to say that another skeptic is Bill Gates. Last fall Bill Gates gave his first major speech on agriculture—in which he praised the legacy of Dr. Borlaug, who had died the preceding month at the age of 95. Bill Gates used the word "small" 21 times in his speech, and so in that regard he might be consistent with SLO agriculture. But both Bill Gates and Norman Borlaug favor the use of all available technology, including chemicals and genetic modification, and that is anathema to SLO agriculture. Links to earlier posts about these two men: Norman Borlaug, Bill Gates on Agriculture.
Each year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, some of the world's leaders gather to discuss current issues. At the 2010 event six weeks ago there was a panel discussion on Rethinking How to Feed the World. Bill Gates was on the panel. Dan Barber was in the audience. And Felix Salmon blogged about it: World hunger and the locavores.
(Close readers of this blog may recognize Felix Salmon. He wrote "Recipe for Disaster: The Formula That Killed Wall Street," which I mentioned in this earlier blog post.)
I do not know the answer to the question posed by the title of this post. I doubt anyone does. My purpose in this post is to provide links to interesting discussions about this question, so that you can think about the question yourself.
I'll close this post with a thought inspired by the NOFA-VT Winter Conference last month. Peter Forbes opened the conference. During his comments he played portions of a TED video by storyteller Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story. Perhaps the question posed by the title of this post is an issue on which we should keep an open mind, and avoid the danger of a single story.
Related posts:
SLO Agriculture
SLO Agriculture and Relationships
