Food

Second only to air and water, food is among the most fundamental human needs.

However, more so then breathing air or drinking water, acquiring food has a significant and partially unavoidable impact on other living beings. Humans and all animals depend on eating plants or animals to live — which tends to have a critical impact on the individuals that are eaten. In the case of humans however, that is dwarfed by the additional impacts of agriculture, food processing, transport and waste — and these impacts are avoidable.

The negative effects of agriculture largely stem from the approach to food cultivation that reduces human energy and financial input by using chemical fertilizers and pesticides on large mono-culture plantations which are transported long distance and heavily processed before being eaten. At each step the ecological and health costs are increased to reduce the financial cost.

For best holistic results food should be cultivated in a way that:

• Maintains healthy soil by:
     - avoiding water and wind erosion
  • producing and reusing composted and organic soil amendments
  • minimal tilling
  • crop mixing and rotation
• Requires minimal irrigation
• Provides food close-by to those who eat it