[p2p-research] metropolitan agriculture in detroit and flint, michigan

[Samuel Rose]

I agree with what Steve said.

>From the other side of the spectrum, here in Michigan we are getting
people going with just directly growing their own food for their own
consumption, aided by open source technology and software. This
results in an "on the job training" entry into food production for
many urban people. They don't need their own space, either.
http://lansingwiki.org currently displays the spaces where the county
has vacant land available. In the coming 2-3 years we'll look to
create hoop houses, plus implement some solar and wind powered indoor
hydroponic production. On top of this, open education resources and
programs can help train people to start and sustain long tail
processing and preparation. Open source software (like ofbiz, etc) are
going to be used to help people manage their businesses. Most
importantly, where we are involved, activities among willing
participants are already emerging that help people understand where
financial transaction is an appropriate choice, and where co-governed
sharing is at times a better and more long-term effective option. The
reality is that everyone really does not want to buy and sell
everything, plus the fact that there are some things that simply are
not for sale.

We'll write more about this in the coming months and year. Possibly
create some videos, etc too. Right now we're focused on community
currency (currently around local journalism), soil production, and
open source software and technology rainwater irrigation. Once we have
the rainwater irrigation complete, we're going to move on to barcode
tracking, and working with partners here on the open education
component.

On Sun, Oct 17, 2010 at 12:46 PM, Steve Bosserman
<steve.bosserman at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Michel,
>
> While I appreciate the positive tone articles like the one from
> Worldchanging offer about the advance of urban or metropolitan agriculture,
> they give short shrift to the real problem at hand - the absence of tasty
> and culturally familiar, affordable, quick and convenient, and healthy and
> safe meal choices that provide daily calorie and nutritional requirements
> from sustainable local food systems.
>
> Instead, they focus on increased food production and improved distribution
> to the point of retail.  This addresses some food system issues, but not all
> or even the majority.
>
> For instance, one of the unintended (or intended depending on one's position
> in the current food system!) is that the dominant culture maintains tight
> control over what I call the "last mile" of food systems--the economic and
> geographic "distance" between availability of meal ingredients and the
> consumption of complete meals.  This last mile includes the two highest
> revenue generating and profit-making value-added steps in the food chain:
> food processing and food preparation.  Small wonder the food industry does
> not want to relinquish regulatory and financial oversight!
>
> At this point, the U.S. is nowhere in truly localizing food processing /
> food preparation.  And until we address this shortcoming, sustainable local
> food systems that meet the needs of the bottom 80% rather than the top 20%
> will be an illusion supported by subsidies (grants, gifts, and premium
> prices).  The good news is that ongoing developments in DIY, distributed
> manufacturing, maker revolutions, hackerspaces, etc. will provide the means
> by which the bottom 80% can meet their needs without total dependence on
> those outside their communities, neighborhoods, and rural areas.  These
> developments constitute one of the major areas where capable and committed
> people like Sam Rose and others in the P2P network are making a profound
> positive difference.
>
> In thinking about postings on P2P about urban / metropolitan agriculture,
> let's take the opportunity to reframe the dialogue about local food systems
> from a humanitarian standpoint and redirect the actions in those systems so
> they meet the total food needs of each member every day.  That's more
> effective than getting counting the bunches of radishes and pounds of
> tomatoes grown in community gardens and sold at a premium to the top 20%.
>
> Would this be of interest to you?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve B.
>
> On Sun, Oct 17, 2010 at 4:24 AM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> hi sam, (and steve)
>>
>> if you have time, a reference to this in our p2p blog would be veryu
>> welcome,
>>
>> see below in the worldchanging article for reference to your region of
>> activity,
>>
>> Michel
>>
>>
>>
>> URL = http://www.metropolitanagriculture.com/
>>
>> [edit] Description
>>
>> "Metropolitan Agriculture is an organization dedicated to creating better
>> links between metropolitan areas and food production. They hosted their
>> first global summit and launched their 'Innoversity' at the end of
>> September. They currently bring together six cities: Amsterdam, London,
>> Detroit, Flint, Johannesburg, Sao Paolo, and Chennai to work on issues
>> around sustainable food production, exchange ideas and best practice. The
>> phrase 'metropolitan agriculture' quickly conjures up images of urban
>> farming, food production on large vacant lots in otherwise heavily built up
>> areas, and this model is certainly represented amongst the cities
>> contributing to the conference. In actuality, however, that kind of urban
>> farming is appropriate to a minority of cities. Much of the potential for
>> urban agricultural reform is hidden further from view -- for example in
>> reconfigured supply chains, or in policy focused on poverty reduction or
>> better nutrition." (http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/011671.html)
>>
>> --
>> P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
>>
>> Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss:
>> http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/p2presearch_listcultures.org
>>
>> Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens;
>> http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
>>
>> Think tank: http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>



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Sam Rose
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