Sustainable-Organic
A.Harris@mirinz.org.nz
Fri, 16 Feb 1996 15:33 +1200
Hi Saneters
I have enjoyed the debate on above topic. I was away for a week at a
workshop on sustainable wine production. It has taken some time to
catch up with the debate.
I wonder why it is that so many good thinkers on the network seem
ignorant of the roots of scientific studies in this area.
Rodale may well have coined the term organics (I am not sure of that),
however he began by popularising the scientific work of Sir Albert
Howard. Howard's concern was with the maintenance of soil fertility
and its relationship to plant, animal and human health. Hence the name
of the British group of Soil and Health Association.
Howard, I think correctly, recognised that the basis of any permanent
system of agriculture was biological.
Sustainability has a primarily economic connotation to me, whereas the
mind the term REGENERATIVE conveys the reality that all food
production has a biological base. In the words of Freudenberger *"The
word "regenerative" refers to the idea that, in the 21st century,
agriculture will regenerate, not just sustain, its resource base of
soil, water, plant and animal life." His article The Agricultural
Agenda for the 21st Century-Strategies for Regenerative Farming
Systems" is well worth a read.
Further I think that it is important to talk about regenerative food
production rather than just regenerative agriculture. Much of the
environmental, social and economic problem comes from the processing
side of food production and it cannot, in my opinion, be considered in
isolation from production.
*Kidma: Israel Journal of Development Vol 10 No.2 1988, reprinted in
Earthkeeping Vol5 no.1 Feb 1989