Back From Terra Madre

We're home. After two days of traveling with three planes, four trains and seven buses we have surmounted the travelers obstacle of public transport and found our way from a converted monastery in the Italian countryside to a semi remote ranch in the Alberta foothills. After a month in Europe we are happy to be in our own beds again. Europe is a wonderful place to visit, but give me a home where the buffalo roam any day.

The main objective of our journey was the Slow Food Terra Madre conference in Turin, Italy. This is our second visit to this international food conference. Slow Food International invited over 7000 delegates from 154 countries to attend this biannual event. Almost 5000 small scale farmers, 1000 cooks and host of academics and government officials were brought together to examine the issues facing global food production. Terra Madre is the antithesis of global industrial agriculture. Farmers are selected to attend this event for their dedication to preserving rare breeds, plant varieties an practicing sustainable agriculture. The cooks in attendance are chosen for their dedication to using the produce of the local farmers practicing this more sustainable agricultural methods. Industrial agriculture is unsustainable in this era of climate change, peak oil and a ballooning world population. Slow Food seeks to preserve the agricultural methods, animal breeds and seeds that have proven themselves to be sustainable over the past 10,000 years of agriculture. Today we are eating a considerable amount of oil with every bite of food we eat. It is estimated that industrial agriculture contributes up to 1/3rd of all greenhouse gases in the world through its excessive usage of petroleum and petroleum products to produce and ship agricultural worldwide. A farm is a solar panel and should produce more calories of food than calories of energy it uses. Currently our industrial agriculture systems use 10 or 20 times as much energy in the form of fossil fuels to produce and ship food to global markets. Terra Madre is about local food and food security for all the people of the world. Food that is Good, Clean and Fair.

It was interesting that the global financial crisis was occurring just as the conference was being held. The global food crisis and peak oil were to be some of the main topics discussed at Terra Madre. In the background while banks were collapsing, countries were declaring bankruptcy, the discussion was about getting back to a real economy and not an economy based on speculation. We are in an era where a container ship of rice crosses and ocean and the cargo changes hand, on paper at least, three times before it reaches port. It's precious cargo upon arrival is now too expensive for it's intended customers. We are witnessing an era where the United Nations World Food Program has been seeking $10 billion in aid to help feed the 900 million poorest people in the world and has been unable to get that money after several years of efforts. While in the span of a few short weeks more than $2 trillion is found to help the richest people in the world. Terra Madre is about justice for all and the basis human right for everyone in the world for food security.

Terra Madre was a life changing event. It represents a blue print for the future of food and agriculture. Sustainable agricultural methods can produce more food, cause less environmental damage and lead to food security worldwide. As I find more time and can distill the lessons of Terra Madre I will write more on specific issues.