It’s an interesting thing to learn about corporatism and just how pervasive it is in American life.  It’s also an interesting ride to sit in the vehicle that got us there.  It’s no secret that many of us are in that particular driver’s seat in so many ways.  Crazy, you say?  Check this out.

When you ask the average American where they get their food, the number one answer in America today is “the local supermarket, of course, it’s so convenient”.  Of course?  Convenient?  Consider this.  Just 100 years ago American society was 87% agricultural and since the “Industrial Revolution” and the “Urbanization” of America, that number has plummeted to about 10%.  Of that 10% most of the agricultural presence in America is large scale CORPORATE FARMS.

So you still think we have not contributed to the corporatization of agriculture?  Do you still think that you are better off with the convenience of a supermarket?  Check this out…

I am going to ask you a question.  What would you do if there was a serious interruption in the energy supplies that are required for the delivery of your corporate food from a corporate farm somewhere in the heart of America?  The stores carry about 7 days food for each local section of a city that it supplies.  Hunting is no longer an option in the city so where are you going to turn if something goes wrong, terribly wrong?  Crazytalk you say?  Check this out…

The economy is teetering on the brink of the worst financial disaster since The Great Depression.  Over two million people starved to death in America during The Great Depression.  All of them caused by food scarcity.  Most of this scarcity was caused by the Dust Bowl that ripped out the heart of our food supplies during that time as well. 

The global community is reeling trying to stop the hemmoraging that is going on in the credit crunch atmosphere that has surrounded it.   The G20 is now admitting that the global debt ceiling has been ubiquitously reached.  The concensus is that the global money supply linked to the current economic paradigm cannot support the ”bubble economy” lifestyle that the developed world lives under and the developing world craves.  90% of global equity is engaged in supporting global debt lifestyle.  This means that the entire system literally cannot be raised realistically anymore.  That means no more bubbles. 

On top of that food scarcity is at an all time high globally.  The recent floods in the midwest and the resultant devastation of the 2008 food crops are not even being mentioned.  The only thing that is keeping the food cheap is the global hegemony of the US Economic Influence that this nation currently benefits from (rightly or wrongly) at a cost of nearly 3 trillion dollars per year.  Ultimately all this news can be summed up in one word: unsustainable.  We have to rethink and retool NOW.

In this kind of environment the thought of URBAN FARMING starts to take on significance as part of the URBAN ENVIRONMENT with just as much merit as the buildings that make up the traditional landcape of an urban planner’s designs.  Increasingly the idea of food security is coming to the fore in American thought.  Currently the state that is leading in this endeavor is the state of Oregon.  In many parts of the state local homeowners are coming together and starting “Urban Farm Cooperatives” where each homeowner will go out and buy a rototiller, some compost generation tools, some garden tools, a good pair of gloves and some seeds and agree to grow a certain type of vegetables/foodstuffs and exchange with other cooperative members at harvest.  Around this is growing up an entire homegrown industry where people who specialize in canning as well as preparation of meats for storage are showing the entire nation that urban farming is here to stay.

Check out this link to the Urban Land Institute for more information:

http://www.uli.org/

Submitted by Benjamin Alexander De Mers

Benjamin is the CEO of I Am Marketing and Media Services, a global provider of marketing and media services.  Benjamin also publishes around the web for various ezines, newsletter and blogs on a variety of subjects from internet neutrality to alternative energy.