Thread by @eatcookwrite

THREAD
This essay by @SylvanaquaFarms is dead-on in its analysis of the economics of peri-urban/farm to table agriculture.

medium.com/sylvanaquafarm…

#fafdlstorm

1. Any quibbles I have are with issues that are with stuff that lies outside of the theme of the piece –– in regards to what sustainable farming means.

2. And much of that is moot, as I believe that farm to table agriculture makes important contributions to improving the dense, livable cities I see as central to sustainability.

3. I remember when a yuppie/hippie grocery store went out of business in Portland circa 2003 ...

4. ... I was firmly in the Pollan / Waters camp and thought that it would be great to have that space open as a market that sold toilet paper, cold medicine, and dish soap plus local farmers selling their wares basically on consignment.

5. (The space was particularly well suited to something like that.)

6. I think the idea of peri-urban / farm to table collectives or coops is spot-on . –– CSAs are never going to do anything other than limp along except for exceptional players at the margin.

7. His analysis of the market forces holding them back is spot on. The idea that the Jeffersonian ideal is holding them back is spot on.

8. The peri-urban / farm to table movement is an important part of creating dense liveable cities. It needs to grow up and evolve into a viable, scalable business model.

9. Whether that's Farm to Table Corp or Mondragon Farms remains to be seen. I'd prefer Mondragon Farms.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon…

10. fafdl.org/blog/2018/03/0…
"a Jeffersonian peg jammed in a Hamiltonian hole"

11.

~fin~

#fafdlstorm

P.S. This piece on Frank Lloyd Wright's conception of how "The Machine" (industrial systems) ultimately democratizes an arts and crafts economy accessible to the broad middle class.

It really lays out the groundwork for an understanding how craft/artisan farming isn't in opposition to industrial society and industrial farming, but layered on top and enabled by it.