bix6 2 days ago

I have the pleasure of working with some small scale farmers and they are the truth.

We are destroying our soil health for short term profit. We need more regenerative farming but PE doesn’t like the margin on that.

Yvon Chounaird advocates for bringing small scale farming back. It’s good honest work that could help with our unemployment and purpose issues while restoring planetary health.

  • deepfriedchokes 2 days ago

    Can small scale regenerative farming scale enough to feed everyone? I would love to read more if you can point me to some resources.

    • bix6 2 days ago

      I’ve heard it can if we apply some of the techniques to larger scale farming.

      Yvon talks about it a bit in “Let my people go surfing” but if you want something more focused I’m not sure. I’ve mostly picked stuff up through convos here and there, haven’t done a deep dive.

      I haven’t read this but it sounds promising: https://www.patagonia.com/product/regenerating-earth-farmers...

branon a day ago

Thanks for this. My wife is a clinical dietician and we try very hard to extend her knowledge (dieting for sick people) into our home so we can eat foods that will keep us healthy. Always very nice to see other people doing/writing similar things. Big fans of Salt Sugar Fat/Michael Pollan as well!

willvarfar 2 days ago

Its interesting that just today I randomly watched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1QvVnjiegE that lists some points an American living in the UK found to compare Europe and the US. And one of those points was about how American food is so much less healthy.

Whilst it was an interesting video and worth watching, it's interesting that this article shows a chart showing that the UK is very close to the the US in calories coming from ultra-processed food (with mainland Europe being much less, with a general south-is-healthier trend).

The video is also related to the point in the article about McDs being about freedom, and how Europeans and American's see things when they look across the pond.

1ark 2 days ago

It is very easy and sad to see how fiat affects farm to table.

burnt-resistor 2 days ago

And also how a few megacorps supply ultraprocessed junk to restaurants around America who choose to or lack suppliers to make things fresh.

I Tracked Down The Company Ruining Restaurants https://youtu.be/rXXQTzQXRFc

Sysco has always been a major broadline vendor to restaurants for 30+ years. What I didn't know is they exploit/ed 13a exception prison slavery and overseas slavery too. Honestly, I'm surprised they're not yet completely owned by private equity.

megaman821 2 days ago

There is a point somewhere in there, but half the article is just rambling. Preserving food by freezing it doesn't somehow make it ultra-processed or bad for you in some way. Why is citric acid scary, because it is an unfamiliar word? What on earth does any of this have to do with capitalism? Do communist countries not have fast food or snacks?

fasteddie31003 2 days ago

As much as bashing capitalism is in vogue. I'd take capitalism running the food system over communism any day. The reverse article could have been written 50 years ago. "Starving communism: How collectivism killed the kitchen"

  • bell-cot 2 days ago

    Well, yes - but that's a false dichotomy. In most western countries, food & agriculture are so regulated/subsidized/twisted that "capitalism" is as much an ideological facade as it is a description.

  • 131012 2 days ago

    There is more to life than Pepsi or Coca-Cola.

  • heyimada a day ago

    I grew up in a post-communist country, freshly out of the waiting lines for oranges. It's not about that. We can take the beneficial from capitalism and use it to run the food systems too. And we are. But I think it's just good to be aware of what you put in your body, as the supermarkets or food producers don't really incentivize that.

Findeton 2 days ago

Capitalism will sell you guns and crosses, it depends on what people demand. If you go to Italy there are no mc donald's. It's a cultural issue, not a problem of the the economic system.

  • bix6 2 days ago

    Disagree. Why does the US monocrop soy? It’s a higher short term profit for less work. The economics are causing us to destroy our food supply.

  • buggeryorkshire 2 days ago

    > If you go to Italy there are no mc donald's

    Eh? https://www.mcdonalds.it/

    • Findeton 2 days ago

      Sorry, the example is bad, there's no Domino's in Italy.

      • LargoLasskhyfv 2 days ago

        But there was. Just didn't get enough customers. So they bailed out :-)

        That aside, in the context of healthyness, one has to wonder if Pizza as such is good for you, no matter how and with which ingredients it is prepared, if eaten too often?

silexia 2 days ago

Most of what you see in the grocery store is bad for you. Just buy plain food items close to the source; fruits, veggies, meat, etc.

  • qwertytyyuu 2 days ago

    most gorceries are bad for you...? That doesn't sound right?

    edit: Right 60% of calories from ultra process foods, yikes.

    • bix6 2 days ago

      They’re saying the packaged stuff is bad so buy the natural stuff. Buy a vegetable instead of a vegetable snack in a bag that’s only 20% vegetable.