Dear Bob,
I agree with your predictions but I would also add:
1. Some agribusinesses will continue to try to end-run around organic
farming and community supported agriculture by marketing their products as
"sustainable", "environmentally friendly" "natural" and other such undefined
terms thus taking advantage of new consumer awareness without really doing
anything to deserve it. Even artificial additives and genetically altered
organisms will be marketed under these concepts. The tendency will be the
same: take food production out of our hands and put it under control of a
few corporations who spend millions on lobbying and advertsing to convince
people that their getting better, cheaper food.
2. Independent farmers, especially indigenous and third world farmers,
conscious consumers and committed businesses will increasingly rally around
the concept of certified organic products because they have a written
definition and because organizations like OCIA allow their members to modify
standards democratically. Communities will increasingly organize to counter
the aggressive commercialism of industrialized food purveyors and keep food
quality under their control and within the limits of their ecology.
3. Academics will continue to be ambivalent, some going for the money
provided by industry to do research for them while others, the minority in
most institutions, will be committed to supporting independent farmers and
communities and to protecting consumers. The glamour of High Technology will
attract more and more scientists while the social and cultural aspects of
food production will be increasingly delegitimized as proper concerns of
"science". In general, the social sciences will be hard put to defend their
traditional place in many academic institutions.
I hope SANET will continue to play a role in clarifying these issues and
contributing towards an ecologically sound and socially responsible world
food system. Happy New Year!
Ronald Nigh
Dana Association
Chiapas, Mexico