Welcome to Farm School

[phantom power]

But... my lucrative and fulfilling software career... and my electrons -- where are my electrons?
:rofl:

Romantic notions aside, some research suggests that with the evolution of the global food system beyond peak oil a good number of us day-dreamers will need to snap out of it and actually get our hands dirty.

...

"There's a lot of talk, and a lot of effort, around greening local, regional food systems, human scale food systems, direct market food systems, and very little discussion and very little effort around preparing people to actualize that system, to make it happen," says Kwantlen's Mullinix.

Which is why he and his colleagues launched the Richmond Farm School. The school is part of a larger body of research to "actualize municipal enabled sustainable agriculture," that will develop a bio-regional food system.

And farming can be an economically viable choice, as Bodnar and other new farmers in B.C. and Ontario have learned, if it's scaled appropriately, and close enough to cities or suburbs that they can market directly to consumers.

http://thetyee.ca/News/2010/11/19/FarmSchool/

[Confusious]

1. I really get turned off by marketing buzzwords

"around preparing people to actualize that system"

I get the feeling someone's going to try to get me to buy a bag of bullshit.

[dbt]

2. Well, they're already able to get us to buy bags of cow shit.

Coulda knocked me over with a feather when I first saw the display outside my neighborhood Harvest Foods: 40 pounds, just $1.99. It was good shit, too!

I share your distaste for marketing buzzterms, but I think this school system has merit--to the point where it could make the giant food congloms nervous.

[druidity33]

3. That type of terminology is used

to apply for grants and other funding. Can't blame them for hyping what they see as a solution to some of our ills. Besides, the story is about a farmer that goes straight from School to the Soil. That sounds like the wording of a PhD candidate. A real 'Murikin farmer would say, "We need more people out here diggin' in the dirt!"... but i guess he's Canadian, so...

:shrug:

:)


K&R, because it is a good idea...