in
& d ec a d e
13
street roots
Education ♦ Dialogue * Independence
Urban farmers sow the seeds of local sustainability
BY ALEJANDRO QUERAL
"C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R 7-
few years back, an old friend
mentioned that he and his wife were
looking to buy some land in Iowa
where they would build a self-sufficient
farming community. Their rough
calculations told them that between climate
change and war, a catastrophic change'
would soon ensue and advance preparation
was necessary to continue as a species." I
don’t know if they were also thinking about
economic collapse, but the near-failure of
the world financial system earlier this year
made me wonder about my own self-
sufficiency. I realized that, other than
tomatoes, beans and lettuce, I haven’t the
slightest idea of what’s growing in my
housemate Mark DeMaret’s garden.
I suppose that if pressed to Survive I
would manage to grow some beans, corn
and chiles and go back to my ancestral Aztec
roots (the imagined ones). But that certainly
would leave mé - and anyone dependent on
my abilities - badly malnourished and prone
to illness.
Now, if you buy most of your , food at the
grocery store, you may not be convinced
that my horticultural ignorance is all that
problematic. And in Portland, it’s difficult
not to run into a farmers’^ market almost any
day of the week, soT could get as much local
fresh produce as my budget - and my
limited cooking experience - would allow.
There’s been no shortage of food in this
country since World War II, so why worry
about gardening if if s not your hobby, right?
But the reality for many Americans is
very different To take an extreme example,
consider Detroit, where there are no
grocery stores within the city limits; If you
want to get fresh fruits and vegetables, you- »
have to travel more than 30 miles toget to a
real grocery store. Your options otherwise
are the comer store or starting a small
garden, if you’re lucky enough to have
access to land. And this is not confined to
the battered state of Michigan: I am told
that parts of eastern rural Oregon are also.
severely limited in the quality of food they
have access to, mostly because it is not
profitable for food companies.
In Oregon, like in most of the country,
. organic produce is still prohibitively
expensive for most low^ncome people^ and
not all farmers and merchants at farmers’
markets can process Oregon Trail card
transactions. And in a depressed economy
with still-rising unemployment claims, thé
number of people in need of healthy and
affordable food is rising.
The options that remain, whether you’re
in Detroit or in rural Oregon, are scary:
mostly processed or fast foods full of sugar,
salt, fats - all contributors to the obesity
crisis, diabetes, high blood pressure, and
■
other chronic diseases and overall poor
health.
This is where urban farmers like Mark,
and thousands of others in the metro area
and other urban conglomerations
throughout the state come in. These folks
are thefundamental building blocks to
re-creating local, organic food systems that
provide nutritious and affordable food to our
communities, rather than solely relying on
what industrial agriculture has provided
since the 1950s.
In’ a-sense, urban farmers represent the
most direct transition link between a food
system that provides lots of calories but
relatively little nutrition,’ or with significant
drawbacks like tomatoes containing fish
genes, to a more local, energy-efficient and
independent production and distribution of
organic and nutritious food. Of course, small
family farms in rural areas will also play a
significant role in this revolution, but the
daily connection between city folk and our
food will be in parcels like Mark’s North
Portland farm.
Mark spends a significant amount of time
at the farm and tends to seedlings
continuously growing m a small greenhouse,
along with several garden plots scattered
throughout the city, including our own
backyard. Garlic, spinach, mushrooms,
tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants, arugula,
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1
Support Sisters
Of The Road!
Friday, Oct. 23
6-10 p.m.
,
Portland Art Museum’s
Kridel Grand Ballroom
u
B
E
I
PDC urges citizens to help restore Portland's
I
iconic sign by purchasing a commemorative
J
Hung Far Low t-shirt available at Ping restaurant
I t H
in Old Town/Chinatown.
ji *•-' 1-
Wl -
Investing in Portland's Future
P O U T U N P DEVELOPMENT C O M M ISSIO N
www.pdc.us/business
educating Portlanders about the im pact of
genetically modified plants and animals on
humans and nature, As a founding member
of the group Northwest Resistance Against
Genetic Engineering (www.nwrage.org),
Mark is worried about the long-lasting
consequences of releasing genetically
engineered mutants into the environment,
and about the increased power of corporate
agribusiness and the biotech industry over
their regulators.
“Companies like Monsanto, Dupont, and
Bayer have blocked independent testing of
their products through patent laws,” Mark
tells me. Millions of taco shells that were
recalled after a number ofpeople reported
allergic reactions to a protein produced by a
foreign gene in com used to make thé
shells, he says.
Mark is not alone in his worries.. The
Union of Concerned Scientiste, The Center
for Food Safety, and many independent
scientists have raised serious concerns
about the impact of GMOs on human health
and the environment A recent editorial in
Last Chance to Snag Hoedown Tickets, Partner!
PDC is proud to help preserve the
historic Hung Far Low sign -
a symbol of the rich cultural heritage
)ld Town/Chinatown.
DC assisted the project w ith a Signage and
Lighting Improvement Program (SLIP) grant.
The program provides property owners and
tenants w ith funds to upgrade signage and
awnings, and improve w indow and facade
lighting. This in turn helps create a positive
retail and pedestrian environment in our city.
broccoli... all organic, all local and, when
done by an experienced horticulturist like
Mark, abundant (The basement serves as
storage for several varieties of dried garlic,
barley, and all sorts of grains and beans.)
But in addition to farming, Mark has also
spent a significant amount of his time
Scientific American raised questions about
industry practice - with government
support - of blocking access to GMOs for
independent studies and rightly concluded
that “food safety and environmental
protection depend on making plant products
available to regular scientific scrutiny.”
“The truth is that we really don’t know
what impact these untested products will
hâve on the environment, on our health,”
Mark continues. And as consumers, we have
been given little choice when it comes to
GMOs in our food, particularly corn,
soybeans, sugar beets, and a few other
crops, From seed contamination to cross-
pollination, human-made or human-inserted
genes are making their way into our food
supply, threatening organic producers and
native plants and ecosystems. (A recent
article in the Corvallis Post-Gazette raised
concerns about GMO beets contaminating ’
thé organic beet supply in the Willamette
Valley.)
Farmers, urban or rural, have probably
the most at stake. In India, Mexico and
other heavily agricultural countries, thè
agrichemical industry is displacing
traditional farming and hybridizing
techniques with false promises of greater
yield and reliability. This, and a healthy dose
of lawsuits against farmers whose fields are
contaminated by GMO pollen (for violating
patent and intellectual property law)
discourage any seed-saving and encourage
full dependence on biotech products.
But published studies suggest that
genetically modified crops fall well short of
the promised yield, while traditional
techniques continuously have greater crop
yields. Other studies suggest organic foods
have greater concentrations of key nutrients
and anti-oxidants, though the research is-
inconclusive.. ..
For Mark, these are more than enough
reasons to fight the biotech industry - with
tactics as varied ascollecting and storing
seeds, educating consumers in the aisles of
grocery stores, and mobilizing people to
pressure businesses to drop GMO products
from their shelves.1 The goal is simply to
ban all GMOs from ever reaching the fields,
much less the consumer.
As I begin to understand the nature of
food and the vital importance of producing
organic grains ând fresh fruits and
vegetables that are accessible and
affordable, ft is clear that urban farmers like
Mark win not only help pass the farming
knowledge to newcomers like me. They can
also play a key role in educating the
unenlightened about the threats of biotech
to our food supply, to our health, and to our
gardens and forests. And, hopefully spur on
a political moyément that is vital to our
survival.
¿d
Hoedown is our biggest fundraiser of the year, and this year it’s going to
be an extra special affair honoring all the great work Sisters has done in
2009 and celebrating our 30th birthday!
Bring your partner and be ready to twirl to the fabulous music of Uncle
Earl -and Casey Neill & The Norway Rats at the Hoedown square dance!
To purchase your tickets to this amazing event, go to www.sistersoftheroad.org or call
Monica Beemer at 503-222-5694 ext. 19
Tickets are $85; tables of ten are $850; and limited patron tables are available for $1,300.