3. Airports Serving… Sustainable Foods?
Or take La
Guardia airport - yes, you read that right.
An airport
is also sticking it to Monsanto, Bayer and Syngenta by
serving organic, local, and sustainable food at their
upscale eateries scattered through different terminals (read
also
Russians Prove Small-Scale Organic CAN Feed the World).
Agribusiness advocates such as Steve
Kopperud need a reality check.
They think you can't feed
the world on organic, sustainable, non-GMO food,
but
they are dead wrong.
4. The UN Admits We Don't Need GMOs
Even
the United Nations once
admitted that,
"organic and other sustainable farming methods that
come under the umbrella of what the study's authors
called 'agroecology' would be necessary to feed the
future world."
You can
read the full report here.
5. Sustainable Agriculture =
Increased
Crop Yields
Further, an editorial in New Scientist stated
that low-tech sustainable agriculture is increasing crop
yields on poor farms across the world, often by
70 percent or more.
This is achieved by replacing
synthetic chemicals with natural fertilizers and natural
pest control methods, while the Union
of Concerned Scientists has pointed out that GE crops
are failing to yield:
"...GE soybeans have not increased
yields, and GE corn has increased yield only
marginally on a crop-wide basis. Overall, corn and
soybean yields have risen substantially over the
last 15 years, but largely not as result of the GE
traits.
Most of the gains are due to
traditional breeding or improvement of other
agricultural practices."
Conversely, vertical organic farming is going high tech
and big-scale.
Utilizing the space equal to a small
one-bedroom apartment, healthy food can be grown for a small
family.
"Using a combination of new growing techniques
and more sustainable energy practices, food markets
around the world could soon benefit from the adoption of
plant factories taking up a lot less space than
traditional agriculture but boasting
significantly more production."
6. Aquaponics
Also look at places like Urban Organics in Minnesota.
They use
aquaponics to grow food sustainably. The company
was established in an old brewery, which was vacant for
almost two decades. They now grow a variety of herbs and
healthy vegetables.
7. States Taking Action
Maine is also growing loads of organic food.
The Maine
Organic Farmers and Gardener's Association suggests this
economical solution:
"Consider the fact that half a pound of pole bean
seeds, which you can buy for between $4 and $15
depending on the catalog and variety of bean, will
plant a 100-foot row that can yield 150 pounds of
beans.
The
price of fresh, organic green beans at Maine
farmers' markets is about $3 per pound, so even if
you paid $15 for your seed, that 150 pounds would
have grossed $435 for you!"
8. Home Gardening
- Grow Your Own Food!
Even home gardeners are increasing their organic
food yields with tried and true techniques that
have been around for ages.
Just planting according to your
growing region can help you yield a cornucopia of fresh,
healthful food. For a list of the best
regional varieties, look here.
Biotechnology companies like Monsanto rely heavily on
claims that GMOs will 'solve world hunger.'
Their marketing strategy says it all:
"Produce more. Conserve
more. Improve lives,"
...but we can produce more, and of a
much higher quality without
resorting to biotech tricks.
