Local Agriculture

There are few things as profound as locally grown food to give folks a connection and a sense of place for where they live. There is something very basic about consuming food that was grown in local soil. Compelling as that essential connection is, there are many corollary connections to a sense of the place that we live that are to be made by eating locally grown food. Eating locally grown foods provides a profound sense of season. Eating locally means eating the foods of the season that you live in. Luckily, we live in a place that provides food the year round. Locally grown fruits and vegetables are allowed to ripen in the field providing more pronounced taste.

Best of all, when locally grown foods are bought in a farmers market from the farmers themselves, the direct connection to the producers provides an intense sense of connection to the place that we live and what grows from its soil. As a bonus, open air farmers markets tend to be a place of community gathering attracting a broad cross section of the community. A trip to the grocery store is a chore to be rushed through; going to a farmers market is an enjoyed event that lends itself to the sort of leisure that builds community.

In the Brazos Valley local agriculture is largely about big production: cotton, sorghum and cattle operations that sell their goods in the world market. For several generations there has been very little agriculture, outside of back yard gardens, that has connected or nourished local residence. But due to changing conditions, such as the cost of fuel and global warming, there is an increased demand for locally grown produce. Unfortunately, the supply is lacking. It is lacking because we do not have a tradition of the sort of small intensive production methods that make production for local consumption more possible. In the absence of this sort of production we have not evolved the methods and plants specific to our climate and soils as has been done in other areas of the country.

These obstacles will be overcome and the demand will be met. The only question is how this will happen. The potential of local agriculture as a means of reducing stress on the environment, providing improved products, and building community is too great not to deal with this intentionally, as the precious resource that it is. Without intentional planning and design, this will happen more slowly, haphazardly and without the full benefit of community development. To make this happen we must take a holistic approach that includes all stake holders.

This is a process that is anathema to the prevailing reductionist paradigm of compartmentalization and specialization. As such the process itself provides heuristic and an opportunity for community building, as matters of necessity.

While we seek an organic and holistic process that seeks permeability of specialization and compartmentalization we must, nonetheless, categorize the components of the process in order to manage details. But we first we must define the boundaries of the system that we seek to affect. That system, as I see it, is contained by the intersection of agriculture for local consumption and community.

In terms of the categories by which we might look at this system, there is supply (farmers and ranchers,) demand (consumers,) the market and community. To be sure, there are other ways to categorize this system, but if development in, and connection between, these categories can be achieved then success is likely.

The matrix of success would include increase production of foods grown locally; a clearer demarcation of urban and rural land; increase public investment in local agriculture in terms of education and the development of public space to provide and support market; increased public awareness of the value of local consumption; Increased and broadened activities happening in conjunction with the sell of local produce.

Development along each category is inherently nonlinear. Demand cannot be met without supply and the market will not grow outside of the context of community. Success will depend on the integration of a wide range of entities including, educational, production and civic each working together and informing the other.

A&M has the ability to provided unique resources in this effort. But universities are uniquely geared to a reductionist and protectionist paradigm that tends to punish cross fertilization even within departments much less across disciplines. This project would be well served by input from programs in agriculture, public policy, sociology, anthropology, cultural psychology, architecture and many others. This project provides value in its ability to provide real word applicability and cross discipline collaboration.

Similarly, we will seek cooperation from various municipal entities that are not well practiced at collaboration. City, County and even state interests should be brought to bear on this project.

While the scope of this project presents difficulties, reducing the scope would diminish its effectiveness and sustainability.

Funding sources for this project should include the university, municipalities, the state, community and philanthropic outreach as well as self funding.