"Farmer in Chief"

An article in the New York Times today entitled "Farmer in Chief" posed some very interesting ideas regarding our nation's food supply system, and it raised some very common-sense alternatives to our current addiction to using fossil fuels during food production.
Did you know
- that we currently use 10 calories of fossil fuels to produce one calorie of food,
- that 40% of grain grown in the U.S. is used to feed animals in feedlots,
- that putting plants and animals on the same farm reduces needs for pesticides and herbicides,
- and that polyculture farming is more productive and more healthy than monoculture farming?

I also found out that when Eleanor Roosevelt publicized her "Victory Garden" in 1943 as a way to help sustainably feed ourselves and support troops overseas, it led to the creation of 20 million family plots--people growing organic food in their own backyards!

In China, I've become very accustomed to local farmer's markets. In fact we have a pretty large farmer's market behind our school. Inside I can find anything from fresh, hand-pulled noodles or rice cakes to fish caught earlier that day, from tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce, to apples, oranges, and other fruits and vegetables I've never even seen before (papaya, dragon fruit, pomegranate, and many types of melons). I can buy eggs or the chicken (both fresh although I doubt the eggs came from that particular chicken...).

I also often find trucks parked by the side of the road loaded down with oranges (since we're in the wet, Florida-like south), or a wagon filled with vegetables hitched to tricycle. Presumably all this food comes from the surrounding area and its all fresh (within days of being picked... sometimes on Monday a seller's oranges start out green but by Friday they're more yellow...) but they never seem to run out (which leads me to believe the bountiful fruit farm must be close!).

I write all this to ask: How can a "developing country", like China, have ubiquitous access to organic, locally grown foods and farmer's markets (even in a dense city of 10 million), while the United States, whose citizens struggle with a very poor, corn starch heavy, bad calorie, junk-food diet, has erected barriers to the development of local, organic foods and food markets?

I can't remember the last time I saw a farmer's market in America. Moreover, I can't remember the last time I saw someone buy an animal that looked like an animal (I grew up knowing meat was packed and that's that!). The fact is that local, organic food not only reduces carbon emissions, supports local economies, and protects our food supply from terrorism (... living in America it seems you almost have to add that one as a selling point these days), but it's healthier. Healthy diets lengthen lifespans, fight disease, and naturally support our bodies' inherent chemical and biological functions. Healthy diets that rely on good calories (from fresh fruits and vegetables, not fats and oils) can reduce long-term medical costs and relieve some of the financial burden from government funded programs like MediCare and MedicAid.

Maybe it's time we all start our own little victory garden, for our own health and the health of our nation.