Many of the people I have talked to in my first year of farming have lamented to me about the trouble of eating organically, “It’s just too expensive.” … “Only rich people can really afford to eat organically.” … “That’s just not in our budget right now.” Ironically, I find that the people saying this are the same people who eat out twice a week, thoroughly enjoy their Netflix subscription, spend 5 dollars on their daily Starbucks latte, sit in front of their flat-screen every night, and drive a car they can’t afford. To a certain extent, we cannot escape the living contradictions that we are and I admit that it is difficult to be fully aware of all of our blind-spots. But more often than not, it isn’t a problem of being able to afford good food but rather an issue of what we value.
So why should we care about the tomato on our plate? Why should we wonder where it was grown and how? Why should we care where we do our grocery shopping or consider the people behind the food we consume? Why does the current state of Agriculture matter to the average business man working his high-rise desk job-- not just the farmer?
Wendell Berry said it pointedly, “Eating is an agricultural act.” When we sit down for dinner and partake of the food before us, we are participating in a system. A seed had to be sown months previous, patiently nurtured, watered, given what it needs to thrive in order to produce its fruit and feed the consumer. This plant came from somewhere and was grown in someway by someone. We, by purchasing the item and consuming it, are active participants in the system. When we choose not to value good, sustainably-grown food we are also feeding a system in which food is continually undervalued, crops worth less, farmers underpaid and therefore forced to submit to the Industrial demands of unrealistic yields of unblemished produce possible only through the use of heavy machinery and chemicals.
Needing to eat is one of the most basic and foundational aspects of what it means to be human. God created us to be dependent, finite creatures with stomachs that regularly grow hungry and bodies that need to be nourished to have energy to function well. Food is universal. There is not a person living on this planet that does not depend on it for their survival. So why has good food, which is essential, suddenly become something pushed to the sidelines, under-valued, sacrificed in order to make room for the extraneous in our family budget?
I could go many different routes with this argument. I could try to convince you of the nutritional benefits of eating lettuce grown organically in your local community over lettuce grown in a sterile tube in a fluorescent lit factory in a location thousands of miles away. I could tell you of the deep reward of joy that comes from being able to know the very soil that your spinach was grown in and the ways in which is was nurtured and cared for in order to bring it to your table. I could tell you of the wonder that comes in being an active participant in a healthy system that works towards the flourishing of all players involved and watching a world that was brilliantly designed to function with all parts benefiting.
For now I just want you to consider that there are people behind the food that you consume. Eating has unfortunately become such a passive act that we have forgotten to stop and contemplate what it takes to bring a tomato to our plate. We have forgotten that nature does not work in our time-table and prefers a much slower pace requiring patience— forcing us into times of abundance and times of waiting, times to feast and times for thrift...that she works in seasons and does not produce tomatoes in the middle of December. We have forgotten to consider the labor behind the food we enjoy. We have isolated the food from the farmer and have ignored the reality that what we consume affects those who laboring for the fruit.
There is so much joy in knowing the faces behind your food. In not just purchasing organic, sustainably grown food for it’s nutritional benefits (although that is terrific!) but because you know that it is helping support someone who isn’t willing to sacrifice quality for quantity, ease and efficiency. A farm that respects the ecosystem in which it functions and all the limitations that entails. A farmer that knows their customer’s names and cares for their well-being not their wallet.
Caring for the people behind your food is a crucial step to becoming more Agriculturally-aware and more conscious of the effect your purchase may have. Get to know your local farmers, ask them why they care, hear their story, ask them how you can play a part and support them (and no-- buying their product is not the only way!) Thank them for their labor and thank them for not compromising by giving in to the demands of modern-day Industrial agriculture. The more we understand and care for the people behind the food we enjoy, the more we’ll have hearts replete with gratitude.
