World food stocks dwindling rapidly, UN warns
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
Monday, December 17, 2007
ROME: In an "unforeseen and unprecedented" shift, the world food supply is dwindling rapidly and food prices are soaring to historic levels, the top food and agriculture official of the United Nations warned Monday.
The changes created "a very serious risk that fewer people will be able to get food," particularly in the developing world, said Jacques Diouf, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
The agency's food price index rose by more than 40 percent this year, compared with 9 percent the year before - a rate that was already unacceptable, he said. New figures show that the total cost of foodstuffs imported by the neediest countries rose 25 percent, to $107 million, in the last year.
At the same time, reserves of cereals are severely depleted, FAO records show. World wheat stores declined 11 percent this year, to the lowest level since 1980. That corresponds to 12 weeks of the world's total consumption - much less than the average of 18 weeks consumption in storage during the period 2000-2005. There are only 8 weeks of corn left, down from 11 weeks in the earlier period.
Prices of wheat and oilseeds are at record highs, Diouf said Monday. Wheat prices have risen by $130 per ton, or 52 percent, since a year ago. U.S. wheat futures broke $10 a bushel for the first time Monday, the agricultural equivalent of $100 a barrel oil. (Page 16)
Diouf blamed a confluence of recent supply and demand factors for the crisis, and he predicted that those factors were here to stay. On the supply side, these include the early effects of global warming, which has decreased crop yields in some crucial places, and a shift away from farming for human consumption toward crops for biofuels and cattle feed. Demand for grain is increasing with the world population, and more is diverted to feed cattle as the population of upwardly mobile meat-eaters grows.
"We're concerned that we are facing the perfect storm for the world's hungry," said Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Program, in a telephone interview. She said that her agency's food procurement costs had gone up 50 percent in the past 5 years and that some poor people are being "priced out of the food market."
To make matters worse, high oil prices have doubled shipping costs in the past year, putting enormous stress on poor nations that need to import food as well as the humanitarian agencies that provide it.
"You can debate why this is all happening, but what's most important to us is that it's a long-term trend, reversing decades of decreasing food prices," Sheeran said.
Climate specialists say that the vulnerability will only increase as further effects of climate change are felt. "If there's a significant change in climate in one of our high production areas, if there is a disease that effects a major crop, we are in a very risky situation," said Mark Howden of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Canberra.
Already "unusual weather events," linked to climate change - such as droughts, floods and storms - have decreased production in important exporting countries like Australia and Ukraine, Diouf said.
In Southern Australia, a significant reduction in rainfall in the past few years led some farmers to sell their land and move to Tasmania, where water is more reliable, said Howden, one of the authors of a recent series of papers in the Procedings of the National Academy of Sciences on climate change and the world food supply.
"In the U.S., Australia, and Europe, there's a very substantial capacity to adapt to the effects on food - with money, technology, research and development," Howden said. "In the developing world, there isn't."
Sheeran said, that on a recent trip to Mali, she was told that food stocks were at an all time low. The World Food Program feeds millions of children in schools and people with HIV/AIDS. Poor nutrition in these groups increased the risk serious disease and death.
Diouf suggested that all countries and international agencies would have to "revisit" agricultural and aid policies they had adopted "in a different economic environment." For example, with food and oil prices approaching record, it may not make sense to send food aid to poorer countries, but instead to focus on helping farmers grow food locally.
FAO plans to start a new initiative that will offer farmers in poor countries vouchers that can be redeemed for seeds and fertilizer, and will try to help them adapt to climate change.
The recent scientific papers concluded that farmers could adjust to 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) to 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees) of warming by switching to more resilient species, changing planting times, or storing water for irrigation, for example.
But that after that, "all bets are off," said Francesco Tubiello, of Columbia University Earth Institute. "Many people assume that we will never have a problem with food production on a global scale, but there is a strong potential for negative surprises."
In Europe, officials said they were already adjusting policies to the reality of higher prices. The European Union recently suspended a "set-aside" of land for next year - a longstanding program that essentially paid farmers to leave 10 percent of their land untilled as a way to increase farm prices and reduce surpluses. Also, starting in January, import tariffs on all cereal will be eliminated for six months, to make it easier for European countries to buy grain from elsewhere. But that may make it even harder for poor countries to obtain the grain they need.
In an effort to promote free markets, the European Union has been in the process of reducing farm subsidies and this has accelerated the process.
"It's much easier to do with the new economics," said Michael Mann a spokesman for the EU agriculture commission. "We saw this coming to a certain extent, but we are surprised at how quickly it is happening."
But he noted that farm prices the last few decades have been lower than at any time in history, so the change seems extremely dramatic.
Diouf noted that there had been "tension and political unrest related to food markets" in a number of poor countries this year, including Morocco, Senegal and Mauritania. "We need to play a catalytic role to quickly boost crop production in the most affected countries," he said.
Part of the current problem is an outgrowth of prosperity. More people in the world now eat meat, diverting grain from humans to livestock. A more complicated issue is the use of crops to make biofuels, which are often heavily subsidized. A major factor in rising corn prices globally is that many farmers in the United States are now selling their corn to make subsidized ethanol.
Mann said the European Union had intentionally set low targets for biofuel use - 10 per cent by 2020 - to limit food price rises and that it plans to import some biofuel. "We don't want all our farmers switching from food to biofuel," he said.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Operation Grapes of Wrath
Operation Grapes Of Wrath
By: Michael Vail
"Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world."
-Heinz Alfred Kissinger
Would you trust your government with the lives of your family? During a national emergency would you wait for help or make efforts to safeguard your family? The government devours roughly 40% from the average American family's budget through taxes and what services do they get in return? The proper role of government according to the constitution is to guard life, liberty and property. It is sad to say but if America was the name of a ship sailing upon choppy waters and our government officials knew we were headed for the ‘perfect storm'[1] they would be guarding the life rafts and jumping ship.
I could cite[2] so many different examples[3] showing that the government does not concern itself with the safety of Americans but if you are honest with yourself you know it as well as I do. The stark reality is that the politicians and monopoly men view the common man and woman like cattle. We are branded with names like ‘useful idiots' and ‘useless eaters' and of course they must thin the herd to ensure their own survival. This idea has been passed down from gangrenous minded individuals like Giammaria Ortes[4] and Thomas Malthus and many in this generation who want 80 percent of the world to be culled.
In 1961 Frederick S. Jaffe, then vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), sent a memorandum to Bernard Barelson, president of the Population Council, in which he proposed various measures to reduce U.S. fertility.
Social constraints would include postponing or avoiding marriage, altering the image of the ideal family size, compulsory sex education and family limitation, encouraging increased homosexuality, encouraging women to work and putting fertility control agents in the water supply.[5]
John D. Rockefeller and other so-called elites have taken great care to invest part of their fortunes into the eugenics and population control movement. They are responsible for pushing abortion under the name of ‘Planned parenthood'. John D. Rockefeller is also responsible for putting fluoride in the water supply which is causing spontaneous miscarriages. Fluoride has a disastrous effect upon the mind and body.
1953: In a joint speech, U.S. Surgeon-General Scheele and Health, Education & Welfare Undersecretary Nelson Rockefeller announced hopeful plans to put more medicine than just fluoride into the U.S. water supplies:
"Dr. Scheele, in discussing mass-application methods for preventing non-infectious diseases, said a case in point was fluoridation of water supplies to reduce tooth decay.
Nearly 800 cities throughout the country have adopted the technique during the past 10 years, he said. Such a community-wide attack on "far more serious diseases than dental decay" probably will be forthcoming after laboratory tests have paved the way, he predicted." (Paterson Evening News, 11/6/53)
Today some of the richest Americans such as Bill Gates[6] are actively participating in mass genocide[7]. They want to bring the one-child policy from China to America and they don't mind spending millions to get it done. The important question is what happens when the rat poison in our water supply, forced sterilizations and other methods to mass murder the populace isn't decreasing the population as fast as they had hoped? That is the question that keeps me up at night but I think I know the answer.
Over the past six months I have seen a most disturbing trend. The American economy is on its last leg as the dollar slides towards oblivion and the prices of food[8] have started to rise sharply. Farmers have been worried about Monsanto[9] and DuPont, as they are trying to corner the seed market. Both companies are producing ‘genetically modified crops' and you will be eating the Frankenfoods[10] regardless of what food you buy unless you buy your own seeds now and produce your own vegetables.
Food banks which supplies foods to our nations poor have recently been reporting critical shortages and some even closing down. Many of these food banks also provide food during national emergencies. Now Americans may face stagflation, a situation where prices rise but growth slows. Recently the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research(CGIAR)[11] released a report about the world's food situation while at the same time working in tandem with Bill Gates and the Rockefeller Foundation, Monsanto and DuPont to create a ‘doomsday'[12] seed vault in Norway. This seed vault will contain, "It will contain up to three million different varieties of seeds from the entire world, ‘so that crop diversity can be conserved for the future,' according to the Norwegian government."
We can only speculate as to the reasoning for this seed vault but their agricultural Noah's ark will not be for public consumption. Also these GMO frankenfoods may have catastrophic effects on our bodies and the environment. Warn your friend and families about GMO products and let's live off our own land like our forefathers.
Michael Vail
"We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis...."
--David Rockefeller speaking at the UN, Sept. 14, 1994
1. This is money. World economy heading for 'perfect storm'. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=426994&in_page_id=2&ito=1565.
2. NY Times. Landfill Has 9/11 Remains, Medical Examiner Wrote. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/24/nyregion/24remains.html.
3. New Statesman. The poisonous legacy of 9/11. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.newstatesman.com/200706040025.
4. Economist. Like herrings in a barrel. 1999 cited; Available from: http://www.economist.com/diversions/millennium/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=346605.
5. Life Issues. License for Parenting? 2001 cited; Available from: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/hab/hab_04parenting.html.
6. Insight Magazine. Population Control. 1999 cited; Available from: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_23_15/ai_81139234/print.
7. John Lofton. Bill Gates Funding Of Abortion Reveals Him To Be Liar When He Says "All Lives" Have "Equal Value". 2006 cited; Available from: http://www.theamericanview.com/index.php?id=648.
8. Mclatchy Newspaper. Egg, Beans, Chicken, Milk: Prices for Key Foods Rising Sharply. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.mindfully.org/Food/2007/Price-Foods-Rising14aug07.htm.
9. ZNET. Challenging Monsanto's Monopoly. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=12703.
10. Karen Barlow. Researchers create cholera rice vaccine. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2007/s1948658.htm.
11. Earth Times. World's poor threatened by rising food prices - report. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/152672.html.
12. Global Research. "Doomsday Seed Vault" in the Arctic. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7529.
By: Michael Vail
"Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world."
-Heinz Alfred Kissinger
Would you trust your government with the lives of your family? During a national emergency would you wait for help or make efforts to safeguard your family? The government devours roughly 40% from the average American family's budget through taxes and what services do they get in return? The proper role of government according to the constitution is to guard life, liberty and property. It is sad to say but if America was the name of a ship sailing upon choppy waters and our government officials knew we were headed for the ‘perfect storm'[1] they would be guarding the life rafts and jumping ship.
I could cite[2] so many different examples[3] showing that the government does not concern itself with the safety of Americans but if you are honest with yourself you know it as well as I do. The stark reality is that the politicians and monopoly men view the common man and woman like cattle. We are branded with names like ‘useful idiots' and ‘useless eaters' and of course they must thin the herd to ensure their own survival. This idea has been passed down from gangrenous minded individuals like Giammaria Ortes[4] and Thomas Malthus and many in this generation who want 80 percent of the world to be culled.
In 1961 Frederick S. Jaffe, then vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), sent a memorandum to Bernard Barelson, president of the Population Council, in which he proposed various measures to reduce U.S. fertility.
Social constraints would include postponing or avoiding marriage, altering the image of the ideal family size, compulsory sex education and family limitation, encouraging increased homosexuality, encouraging women to work and putting fertility control agents in the water supply.[5]
John D. Rockefeller and other so-called elites have taken great care to invest part of their fortunes into the eugenics and population control movement. They are responsible for pushing abortion under the name of ‘Planned parenthood'. John D. Rockefeller is also responsible for putting fluoride in the water supply which is causing spontaneous miscarriages. Fluoride has a disastrous effect upon the mind and body.
1953: In a joint speech, U.S. Surgeon-General Scheele and Health, Education & Welfare Undersecretary Nelson Rockefeller announced hopeful plans to put more medicine than just fluoride into the U.S. water supplies:
"Dr. Scheele, in discussing mass-application methods for preventing non-infectious diseases, said a case in point was fluoridation of water supplies to reduce tooth decay.
Nearly 800 cities throughout the country have adopted the technique during the past 10 years, he said. Such a community-wide attack on "far more serious diseases than dental decay" probably will be forthcoming after laboratory tests have paved the way, he predicted." (Paterson Evening News, 11/6/53)
Today some of the richest Americans such as Bill Gates[6] are actively participating in mass genocide[7]. They want to bring the one-child policy from China to America and they don't mind spending millions to get it done. The important question is what happens when the rat poison in our water supply, forced sterilizations and other methods to mass murder the populace isn't decreasing the population as fast as they had hoped? That is the question that keeps me up at night but I think I know the answer.
Over the past six months I have seen a most disturbing trend. The American economy is on its last leg as the dollar slides towards oblivion and the prices of food[8] have started to rise sharply. Farmers have been worried about Monsanto[9] and DuPont, as they are trying to corner the seed market. Both companies are producing ‘genetically modified crops' and you will be eating the Frankenfoods[10] regardless of what food you buy unless you buy your own seeds now and produce your own vegetables.
Food banks which supplies foods to our nations poor have recently been reporting critical shortages and some even closing down. Many of these food banks also provide food during national emergencies. Now Americans may face stagflation, a situation where prices rise but growth slows. Recently the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research(CGIAR)[11] released a report about the world's food situation while at the same time working in tandem with Bill Gates and the Rockefeller Foundation, Monsanto and DuPont to create a ‘doomsday'[12] seed vault in Norway. This seed vault will contain, "It will contain up to three million different varieties of seeds from the entire world, ‘so that crop diversity can be conserved for the future,' according to the Norwegian government."
We can only speculate as to the reasoning for this seed vault but their agricultural Noah's ark will not be for public consumption. Also these GMO frankenfoods may have catastrophic effects on our bodies and the environment. Warn your friend and families about GMO products and let's live off our own land like our forefathers.
Michael Vail
"We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis...."
--David Rockefeller speaking at the UN, Sept. 14, 1994
1. This is money. World economy heading for 'perfect storm'. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=426994&in_page_id=2&ito=1565.
2. NY Times. Landfill Has 9/11 Remains, Medical Examiner Wrote. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/24/nyregion/24remains.html.
3. New Statesman. The poisonous legacy of 9/11. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.newstatesman.com/200706040025.
4. Economist. Like herrings in a barrel. 1999 cited; Available from: http://www.economist.com/diversions/millennium/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=346605.
5. Life Issues. License for Parenting? 2001 cited; Available from: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/hab/hab_04parenting.html.
6. Insight Magazine. Population Control. 1999 cited; Available from: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_23_15/ai_81139234/print.
7. John Lofton. Bill Gates Funding Of Abortion Reveals Him To Be Liar When He Says "All Lives" Have "Equal Value". 2006 cited; Available from: http://www.theamericanview.com/index.php?id=648.
8. Mclatchy Newspaper. Egg, Beans, Chicken, Milk: Prices for Key Foods Rising Sharply. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.mindfully.org/Food/2007/Price-Foods-Rising14aug07.htm.
9. ZNET. Challenging Monsanto's Monopoly. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=12703.
10. Karen Barlow. Researchers create cholera rice vaccine. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2007/s1948658.htm.
11. Earth Times. World's poor threatened by rising food prices - report. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/152672.html.
12. Global Research. "Doomsday Seed Vault" in the Arctic. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7529.
America In the Balances
"AMERICA IN THE BALANCES"
-by Andrew Strom.
Complacency. Apathy. -These are the greatest downfalls of the 'lukewarm' church. "We are increased with goods, and have need of nothing," as the Scripture so rightly says.
So what does God do with a country like America today? -A country that has historically been a "Land of Revivals" but is now addicted to "consumerism" en masse. A country that for the first time since the Great Depression now has a NEGATIVE savings rate - because its people are so enamoured with owning "things" - even if they can't afford them. A country whose people are indebted to their eyeballs and beyond - so they can keep up the lifestyle of ease to which they have grown accustomed.
What does God do with an America that has grown too fat to pray?
Is anybody "desperate" any more? Where are those who cry to God from their gut - from the bottom of their heart? Where are the agonies and tears? Has America forgotten what kind of prayer it takes to obtain an Awakening? If we can't pray like that any more, then surely all is lost?
But just how 'desperate' are things really, you ask? Things aren't so terrible, surely?
Well, the fact is that this nation's sin right now is utterly unmatched in her entire history. Has there ever been a generation of Americans that has killed 40 million babies in just 30 years? No, such a thing is UNPRECEDENTED. And has there ever been an American generation that has not only CELEBRATED homosexuality - but actually helped broadcast and spread it around the earth? No, such a thing has never been seen before. Forty years ago it would have been undreamt-of.
(-God reserves for these particular types of sin the term, "Abominations" - and historically any nation practicing them has been utterly destroyed).
Has there ever been an American generation that has addicted the whole earth to soft porn and violence the way that Hollywood has done in the last 40 years? No, again this is UNPRECEDENTED in history. (The center of the worldwide pornography industry is located just outside Los Angeles).
Has there ever been an American generation whose preachers go on satellite television and teach other leaders in 'Revival' countries how to "milk" the sheep for money, and grow rich at the expense of the poor? No, I tell you, America has NEVER done this before. Our TV preachers are now actually being used by the devil to corrupt true moves of God all over the globe. (Go to Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil and see what I mean. American "Prosperity" is everywhere - and still spreading).
At this very moment America is hanging in the balances. God is making up His mind what to do with her. And yet still complacency rules. -Still no "desperate" prayer. Apathy covers us like a blanket. Will you sleepwalk your way to destruction, America?
Years ago a famous preacher commented that if God did not judge America, then He would have to apologise to Sodom and Gomorrah. I am not sure that it was true then, but I certainly believe it is true now. We are at the crisis point.
In the last 40 years, in every way we have become the most sick, selfish, greedy, corrupt, sin-addicted generation that America has ever produced. And now judgment hangs over the land like a sword.
Where are those who "sigh and cry" at the abominations in the land? Where are those like righteous Lot whose soul was "tortured" day after day by all that he saw and heard? Are there none who will cry to God with strong weeping and tears?
Let me make some predictions at this point, so I can be clear about what this country is facing:
(1) Firstly, I believe it is IMPOSSIBLE to avoid Judgment. This nation may have Revival in the midst of judgments - but this is now the best it can hope for. In fact, without judgments it is doubtful that Revival is even possible. -People are simply too complacent. They need a SHOCK even to begin to pray.
(2) Expect a great economic crash - and expect it SOON. Without this, how will this nation get its eyes off its great god, Money?
(3) Expect further CALAMITY. This nation is "running red lights" one after the other. -That is what 9-11 and Katrina were. Things are going to get much much worse before this is over. Expect something to hit the West Coast - and expect it to be BAD.
It is dificult for me to put into words the crisis we are in at this moment, and the judgments that await this nation if there is no repentance. God is looking for sackcloth and ashes. He is looking for those who "sigh and cry". Will you be one of these, my friend?
The hour is late. The need is urgent. Who will respond?
If you want to be someone who prays like this, there are some things that we have recently put in place to help you enter in to this kind of praying. Please go to our website - Revivalschool.com - and download the "Agonizing Prayer" audio clips on the right-hand side. Or join us on the Friday night Phone-Hookup prayer meetings - where we cry out to God together for mercy and outpouring.
The time has come to PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, my friends. The need is desperate - will you respond?
-by Andrew Strom.
Complacency. Apathy. -These are the greatest downfalls of the 'lukewarm' church. "We are increased with goods, and have need of nothing," as the Scripture so rightly says.
So what does God do with a country like America today? -A country that has historically been a "Land of Revivals" but is now addicted to "consumerism" en masse. A country that for the first time since the Great Depression now has a NEGATIVE savings rate - because its people are so enamoured with owning "things" - even if they can't afford them. A country whose people are indebted to their eyeballs and beyond - so they can keep up the lifestyle of ease to which they have grown accustomed.
What does God do with an America that has grown too fat to pray?
Is anybody "desperate" any more? Where are those who cry to God from their gut - from the bottom of their heart? Where are the agonies and tears? Has America forgotten what kind of prayer it takes to obtain an Awakening? If we can't pray like that any more, then surely all is lost?
But just how 'desperate' are things really, you ask? Things aren't so terrible, surely?
Well, the fact is that this nation's sin right now is utterly unmatched in her entire history. Has there ever been a generation of Americans that has killed 40 million babies in just 30 years? No, such a thing is UNPRECEDENTED. And has there ever been an American generation that has not only CELEBRATED homosexuality - but actually helped broadcast and spread it around the earth? No, such a thing has never been seen before. Forty years ago it would have been undreamt-of.
(-God reserves for these particular types of sin the term, "Abominations" - and historically any nation practicing them has been utterly destroyed).
Has there ever been an American generation that has addicted the whole earth to soft porn and violence the way that Hollywood has done in the last 40 years? No, again this is UNPRECEDENTED in history. (The center of the worldwide pornography industry is located just outside Los Angeles).
Has there ever been an American generation whose preachers go on satellite television and teach other leaders in 'Revival' countries how to "milk" the sheep for money, and grow rich at the expense of the poor? No, I tell you, America has NEVER done this before. Our TV preachers are now actually being used by the devil to corrupt true moves of God all over the globe. (Go to Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil and see what I mean. American "Prosperity" is everywhere - and still spreading).
At this very moment America is hanging in the balances. God is making up His mind what to do with her. And yet still complacency rules. -Still no "desperate" prayer. Apathy covers us like a blanket. Will you sleepwalk your way to destruction, America?
Years ago a famous preacher commented that if God did not judge America, then He would have to apologise to Sodom and Gomorrah. I am not sure that it was true then, but I certainly believe it is true now. We are at the crisis point.
In the last 40 years, in every way we have become the most sick, selfish, greedy, corrupt, sin-addicted generation that America has ever produced. And now judgment hangs over the land like a sword.
Where are those who "sigh and cry" at the abominations in the land? Where are those like righteous Lot whose soul was "tortured" day after day by all that he saw and heard? Are there none who will cry to God with strong weeping and tears?
Let me make some predictions at this point, so I can be clear about what this country is facing:
(1) Firstly, I believe it is IMPOSSIBLE to avoid Judgment. This nation may have Revival in the midst of judgments - but this is now the best it can hope for. In fact, without judgments it is doubtful that Revival is even possible. -People are simply too complacent. They need a SHOCK even to begin to pray.
(2) Expect a great economic crash - and expect it SOON. Without this, how will this nation get its eyes off its great god, Money?
(3) Expect further CALAMITY. This nation is "running red lights" one after the other. -That is what 9-11 and Katrina were. Things are going to get much much worse before this is over. Expect something to hit the West Coast - and expect it to be BAD.
It is dificult for me to put into words the crisis we are in at this moment, and the judgments that await this nation if there is no repentance. God is looking for sackcloth and ashes. He is looking for those who "sigh and cry". Will you be one of these, my friend?
The hour is late. The need is urgent. Who will respond?
If you want to be someone who prays like this, there are some things that we have recently put in place to help you enter in to this kind of praying. Please go to our website - Revivalschool.com - and download the "Agonizing Prayer" audio clips on the right-hand side. Or join us on the Friday night Phone-Hookup prayer meetings - where we cry out to God together for mercy and outpouring.
The time has come to PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, my friends. The need is desperate - will you respond?
Thursday, November 29, 2007
How to use nutrition to elliminate IBS and treat asthma and allergies
NewsTarget.com printable article
Originally published September 25 2007
How to Use Nutrition to Eliminate IBS and Treat Asthma, Allergies
by Marty Karpinski
(NewsTarget) Dr. David Dahlman, D.C., medical director of the Hyde Park Holistic Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, has developed a comprehensive program to eliminate or greatly reduce Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). In a lengthy report available as a free download on his website, www.drdahlman.com, he expands on the negative role that drugs and diet play in gastrointestinal health, how and why IBS develops, how it is at least partially to blame for a host of other symptoms including asthma and food allergies, and what can be done about it all.
After addressing the shortcomings of the allopathic treatment model, Dahlman declares, "IBS is simply a fundamental, functional deficit in 2 areas, bacteria and chemistry, and if not addressed, any other approach is doomed to failure." Each human being has many billions of friendly flora, beneficial bacteria in our gastrointestinal tract that, when kept in proper proportions, allow for a well-functioning digestive system. If the bacterial balance is in any way altered, typically through drugs or poor diet, the chemistry of the GI tract is altered and symptoms develop. These symptoms include pain and discomfort, bloating and abdominal distension, alternating diarrhea and constipation, abnormal bowel frequency or urgency, indigestion, GERD, and gas.
IBS is primarily caused by past or present antibiotic use. Antibiotics are used to kill microorganisms and can be useful for treating acute infections, but due to their nondiscriminatory nature, antibiotics kill all bacteria, including gastrointestinal flora. Dahlman quickly points out that "it doesn’t matter whether you’ve taken 2 or 200 courses in your lifetime. It also doesn’t matter if you took them all before you were 10-years old or throughout your life time. Each time you took them you destroyed a portion of the bacterial population and even though they are living, reproducing organisms, they don’t always reproduce back to proper proportions and in fact, they may reproduce to abnormal levels."
Other reasons why IBS develops in some individuals include NSAID use, complications of which have been linked to ulcers, bleeding and gastric damage, which are themselves a result of a change in GI chemistry. Poor dietary choices, specifically too much daily, fast food, processed food, and alcohol use are to blame for much the same reason. A lack of digestive enzymes ensures that the body is ill-equipped to break down food, resulting in malabsorption. Abnormal bacteria, parasites or yeast can also be factors. Stress, according to Dahlman, does not cause IBS, but can exacerbate symptoms.
In maybe one of the best examples of the holism of the human body, Dahlman explains how diet and drugs can act as a catalyst to a number of other diseases. Diet and drug use alter the level of bacteria in the GI tract, which affect the chemistry and lay the groundwork for IBS symptoms. Often, the intestines become unhealthy and inflamed, which causes them to expand and form microscopic "holes," through which microscopic, undigested matter enters the bloodstream, a phenomenon which is allopathically referred to as "Leaky Gut Syndrome." Once in the bloodstream, these undigested molecules are attacked by an ill-equipped immune system, which creates an antibody to the molecule and generates the production of histamine. Histamine, in turn, causes anything from headaches, pain, and skin rashes, to serious problems like asthma and anaphylactic shock. The reason that anti-histamines offer only short-term relief is that the body continues to produce histamine in response to the food that it can't break down and is therefore allergic to. Due to the body's inability to break down its protein, milk is the most common type of molecule to pass undigested into the bloodstream and provoke an antibody/histamine reaction. This can not only explain how a milk allergy is created, but also milk's role in the onset of allergies and asthma.
To address these issues, Dahlman offers a comprehensive solution that speaks to all of the causes of IBS as well as temporary dietary restrictions to allow the gastrointestinal system to utilize this treatment protocol. Persons looking to eliminate IBS should follow all suggestions, as each has an important role in healing. Two things must be done simultaneously, and both are temporary, with a typical treatment protocol lasting about 90 days.
Dietary restrictions need to be put into place which involve the complete avoidance of all dairy products (eggs and butter are fine, however). No milk, cheese, ice cream, sour cream, creamy salad dressings, yogurt, as well as any ingredients containing the following words in any context: milk (milk solids, milk by-products for example), cheese (cheese flavoring), lactose, whey and casein. These foods need to be avoided because they cause irritation of the gastrointestinal lining, and healing cannot begin until such irritation is stopped. Asthma, allergies to milk and skin problems will also improve once dairy is removed from the diet. And according to Dahlman, the avoidance of all dairy is a "100% rule." He is adamant that anyone attempting to eliminate their IBS symptoms completely eliminate dairy for the duration of treatment. "If you only eliminate dairy by about 85%, you might see no benefit at all." Most legumes (beans) need to be eliminated from the diet as well, the simple reason is that they cause gas, which needs to be minimized during treatment. Depending on the type of legume, they can also be difficult to digest. "Safe" legumes include green beans, peas and lima beans. All other beans, including black, red, refried, navy, kidney and garbanzo are out, as well as Mexican food and certain Indian and Middle eastern dishes and most soy products must also be eliminated.
In addition to restricting the diet, nutritional supplementation is a must when attempting to conquer IBS, and supplements fall into four distinct categories. Probiotics must be taken to restore the bacterial balance in the GI tract. Since the lack of proper numbers of intestinal flora is the root cause of IBS, probiotics are paramount. Next, Dahlman recommends a liquid multivitamin and multimineral drink to heal the GI tract and to help with restoring chemistry. Thirdly, digestive enzymes are needed to help with proper digestion of foods. Lastly Dahlman suggests "a combination of peppermint, lavender and chamomile oils as it is anti-inflammatory, anti-gas and anti-spasmodic."
Dahlman states that a typical treatment protocol for Crohn's Disease or Colitis would be similar in nature to this IBS treatment. He even suggests that Crohn's and Colitis may simply be an advanced form of IBS.
Note: Anyone seeking more information should visit www.drdahlman.com or view the treatment plan directly at http://www.drdahlman.com/pdf/DrDahlmansTreatmentProgram.pdf. Neither the author nor Newstarget are affiliated in any way with Dr. Dahlman or his practice.
Originally published September 25 2007
How to Use Nutrition to Eliminate IBS and Treat Asthma, Allergies
by Marty Karpinski
(NewsTarget) Dr. David Dahlman, D.C., medical director of the Hyde Park Holistic Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, has developed a comprehensive program to eliminate or greatly reduce Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). In a lengthy report available as a free download on his website, www.drdahlman.com, he expands on the negative role that drugs and diet play in gastrointestinal health, how and why IBS develops, how it is at least partially to blame for a host of other symptoms including asthma and food allergies, and what can be done about it all.
After addressing the shortcomings of the allopathic treatment model, Dahlman declares, "IBS is simply a fundamental, functional deficit in 2 areas, bacteria and chemistry, and if not addressed, any other approach is doomed to failure." Each human being has many billions of friendly flora, beneficial bacteria in our gastrointestinal tract that, when kept in proper proportions, allow for a well-functioning digestive system. If the bacterial balance is in any way altered, typically through drugs or poor diet, the chemistry of the GI tract is altered and symptoms develop. These symptoms include pain and discomfort, bloating and abdominal distension, alternating diarrhea and constipation, abnormal bowel frequency or urgency, indigestion, GERD, and gas.
IBS is primarily caused by past or present antibiotic use. Antibiotics are used to kill microorganisms and can be useful for treating acute infections, but due to their nondiscriminatory nature, antibiotics kill all bacteria, including gastrointestinal flora. Dahlman quickly points out that "it doesn’t matter whether you’ve taken 2 or 200 courses in your lifetime. It also doesn’t matter if you took them all before you were 10-years old or throughout your life time. Each time you took them you destroyed a portion of the bacterial population and even though they are living, reproducing organisms, they don’t always reproduce back to proper proportions and in fact, they may reproduce to abnormal levels."
Other reasons why IBS develops in some individuals include NSAID use, complications of which have been linked to ulcers, bleeding and gastric damage, which are themselves a result of a change in GI chemistry. Poor dietary choices, specifically too much daily, fast food, processed food, and alcohol use are to blame for much the same reason. A lack of digestive enzymes ensures that the body is ill-equipped to break down food, resulting in malabsorption. Abnormal bacteria, parasites or yeast can also be factors. Stress, according to Dahlman, does not cause IBS, but can exacerbate symptoms.
In maybe one of the best examples of the holism of the human body, Dahlman explains how diet and drugs can act as a catalyst to a number of other diseases. Diet and drug use alter the level of bacteria in the GI tract, which affect the chemistry and lay the groundwork for IBS symptoms. Often, the intestines become unhealthy and inflamed, which causes them to expand and form microscopic "holes," through which microscopic, undigested matter enters the bloodstream, a phenomenon which is allopathically referred to as "Leaky Gut Syndrome." Once in the bloodstream, these undigested molecules are attacked by an ill-equipped immune system, which creates an antibody to the molecule and generates the production of histamine. Histamine, in turn, causes anything from headaches, pain, and skin rashes, to serious problems like asthma and anaphylactic shock. The reason that anti-histamines offer only short-term relief is that the body continues to produce histamine in response to the food that it can't break down and is therefore allergic to. Due to the body's inability to break down its protein, milk is the most common type of molecule to pass undigested into the bloodstream and provoke an antibody/histamine reaction. This can not only explain how a milk allergy is created, but also milk's role in the onset of allergies and asthma.
To address these issues, Dahlman offers a comprehensive solution that speaks to all of the causes of IBS as well as temporary dietary restrictions to allow the gastrointestinal system to utilize this treatment protocol. Persons looking to eliminate IBS should follow all suggestions, as each has an important role in healing. Two things must be done simultaneously, and both are temporary, with a typical treatment protocol lasting about 90 days.
Dietary restrictions need to be put into place which involve the complete avoidance of all dairy products (eggs and butter are fine, however). No milk, cheese, ice cream, sour cream, creamy salad dressings, yogurt, as well as any ingredients containing the following words in any context: milk (milk solids, milk by-products for example), cheese (cheese flavoring), lactose, whey and casein. These foods need to be avoided because they cause irritation of the gastrointestinal lining, and healing cannot begin until such irritation is stopped. Asthma, allergies to milk and skin problems will also improve once dairy is removed from the diet. And according to Dahlman, the avoidance of all dairy is a "100% rule." He is adamant that anyone attempting to eliminate their IBS symptoms completely eliminate dairy for the duration of treatment. "If you only eliminate dairy by about 85%, you might see no benefit at all." Most legumes (beans) need to be eliminated from the diet as well, the simple reason is that they cause gas, which needs to be minimized during treatment. Depending on the type of legume, they can also be difficult to digest. "Safe" legumes include green beans, peas and lima beans. All other beans, including black, red, refried, navy, kidney and garbanzo are out, as well as Mexican food and certain Indian and Middle eastern dishes and most soy products must also be eliminated.
In addition to restricting the diet, nutritional supplementation is a must when attempting to conquer IBS, and supplements fall into four distinct categories. Probiotics must be taken to restore the bacterial balance in the GI tract. Since the lack of proper numbers of intestinal flora is the root cause of IBS, probiotics are paramount. Next, Dahlman recommends a liquid multivitamin and multimineral drink to heal the GI tract and to help with restoring chemistry. Thirdly, digestive enzymes are needed to help with proper digestion of foods. Lastly Dahlman suggests "a combination of peppermint, lavender and chamomile oils as it is anti-inflammatory, anti-gas and anti-spasmodic."
Dahlman states that a typical treatment protocol for Crohn's Disease or Colitis would be similar in nature to this IBS treatment. He even suggests that Crohn's and Colitis may simply be an advanced form of IBS.
Note: Anyone seeking more information should visit www.drdahlman.com or view the treatment plan directly at http://www.drdahlman.com/pdf/DrDahlmansTreatmentProgram.pdf. Neither the author nor Newstarget are affiliated in any way with Dr. Dahlman or his practice.
How young people are being driven off the farm
How young people are being driven off the farm TheStar.com - News - How young people are being driven off the farm
TANNIS TOOHEY / TORONTO STAR
When the older folks retire, will there be anyone left to till the soil and grow our crops?
September 23, 2007
Catherine Porter
Environment Reporter
When Kurtis Andrews walks into his family's barn, he can't just ask one of the employees where his dad is. He has to ask for "Mr. Andrews." That's because few of the market staff know Kurtis anymore. They think he's another customer.
Andrews spent 20 years working on the farm. When he was seven, he bought a bicycle with the money he'd saved weeding the fields by hand for $1 an hour.
He's climbed the trees, built a swimming raft for the irrigation pond, and rumbled across the fields on a tractor.
But now, he's a stranger here.
"It feels odd," says Andrews, 34, examining a 20-year-old family portrait that hangs in the barn. In it, he, his two sisters and their folks pose in a raspberry field, each of them dressed in red-and-white checkered shirts and holding a basket of berries. It's full of joy and optimism – hardly the picture of farming today.
"I do feel nostalgia about the farm," he says.
Andrews is no longer a country boy. He lives six hours away, in Ottawa, where he's in his second year of law school. And he has no plans to return to the fields.
Neither do most of his peers. The statistics are distressingly clear – young people are leaving farming in droves. In Ontario, the number of farm operators aged 35 and under plunged by 35 per cent between 1996 and 2001. Since then, it's dropped another 21 per cent. Only 8.6 per cent of farmers are in that age group today.
Enrolment in agricultural colleges is plummeting. And the average age of the Ontario farmer keeps creeping up. Around Toronto, it's now 53.
Which raises the question: when they retire, will there be anyone left tilling the land?
It's what Wally Seccombe calls a "generation impasse." He is the founder and chair of Everdale, an organic farm near Orangeville that trains young farmers.
"If we want to be farming in Ontario in 20 years," he says, "we have to find a new generation who are not the sons and daughters of farmers and get them recruited on the land and farming in a very different way than we have before."
You don't have to dig deep to get to the roots of the problem. At its base are simple economics: for the most part, farming isn't a lucrative business anymore.
Around Toronto, most farms make less than a junior child-care worker – under $25,000 a year.
To survive, almost half of Ontario farmers work second jobs. With increased competition from places such as China and South Africa, it's harder to make a living wage.
"There's no money now," says Greg Downey, a 33-year-old who started working full-time on the family farm near Brampton 13 years ago, when the business was "more profitable." It's a decision he still questions, watching his bricklaying and banking brothers padding their bank accounts.
"If I was going back to college now, I wouldn't be coming home," he says. "I'd get into a trade."
The lifestyle doesn't help either. There are few days off and fewer vacations, due to monetary reasons and sheer logistics. Dairy cattle have to be milked twice a day, regardless of your baseball tickets or dinner date.
When Cecelia McMorrow was a child, members of her family used to take turns racing back to the farm every day while on vacation at a nearby cottage. "Every day of my life, every social function, I had to leave at 4 p.m.," says McMorrow, 26, who, despite being president of the Junior Farmers Association of Ontario, has no intentions of farming herself. "That's not a commitment I want to make."
She works for the Lindsay Agricultural Society but dreams of working in international development. Her parents, like many in the industry, encouraged her to go to university and study something other than agriculture. Farmers, like factory workers and taxi drivers, have bigger dreams for their children.
"The idea of farming as an exciting, viable, respectable profession doesn't exist now," says Christie Young, director of FarmStart, a Guelph non-profit organization bent on reversing the trend.
Even the few who do go into agriculture studies at university rarely return to the land. The majority land more secure agribusiness jobs, like working as a lab technician for a pesticide company or selling tractors for John Deere.
"The education system is not pushing people into farming," says Dave Lewington, 30, past youth president of the National Farmers Union. "It's grooming young people for jobs in agribusiness."
In high school, his guidance counsellor dismissed his plans to farm as "a waste of good marks," he says. He did it anyway, buying a spread near Sudbury, where land is still affordable, in 2004.
Which brings us to the overwhelming roadblock for the aspiring farmers who don't inherit an operation: land prices. Buying a farm around Toronto is like to buying a mansion in Forest Hill. Around the Andrews' farm near Milton, farmland is being scooped up by developers at $50,000 an acre. A 100-acre farm will sell for $5 million – and that's not including the tractors (a new one can cost as much as $250,000), irrigation pipes, seed and other necessities.
Few people under 35 have saved up $125,000 for a down payment, especially if they've been working, and getting experience, on a farm.
"Really, you'd have to win the lottery to get into farming (near Toronto)," says McMorrow. "For most people, that's not how they want to spend their winnings."
Renting land from a developer can be cheap. But it's risky. Andrews was growing winter wheat and corn on a nearby field and was kicked off without notice so the developer could build a driving range.
Without any security, it's hard to build up a business. Plus, it's not easy to find farmland to rent that comes with a barn and a house.
"There needs to be some perks to farming," says one young farmer. "You should at least have the joy of waking up on the farm."
There is a minority of young farmers swimming against the current. Many of those who don't inherit the business are drawn to farming for environmental reasons. They're what Seccombe dubs the "modern-day back-to-the-landers." Most are working on small-scale operations, growing organic food directly for specific customers. They're part of a new type of farming, called "relationship-farming," that's at the heart of the local food movement.
A just-released survey of alumni of a local organic farming program called Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT) revealed that most were young females who grew up in the city. They're people like Tarrah Young, who sees farming as environmental activism. She just bought 50 acres near Ayton, an hour northwest of Guelph, where she plans to raise organic pigs and turkeys.
"I feel I can make a change, even if it's only on 50 acres," says Young, 30. "I'm helping create a better model for food production and help people create better health."
She could only afford the farm with help from her parents. And, she expects to depend on her partner's earnings as a graphic designer to pay the mortgage. She reckons that in due time, she will be able to pay herself around $25,000 a year.
That makes her the exception. In the CRAFT survey of intern alumni, only 36 per cent were still farming – most tilling small plots (five acres and less) and not making a living off it. It raises the question: as a society, are we going to rely on idealism to feed us, along with the sacrifices of a few Thoreau-types willing to live on peanuts? It seems hardly a model food policy.
The Russian sunflowers tower over Kurtis Andrews' head as he walks around his father Bert's farm. Despite having left seven years ago, he's still a farmer at heart. You can take the man off the land, but you can't take the land out of the man ... Sunflowers, he explains, are planted in rows over weeks, to extend their season.
He bends down to examine a vine with orange flowers that, in a short time, will transform into pumpkins. And he points out the tracks made by raccoons that have devastated his father's corn crop.
Throughout the hour-long walk, his father keeps appearing on an ATV bearing pamphlets on berry growing or a handful of raspberries.
"Is my dad coming again?" Andrews exclaims. "I'm having flashbacks from when I was a kid."
He always planned to take over the family farm. After his family bought the land in 1980, he worked here every summer through school and university.
In 1998, he moved back full-time to start working with his father. But he found it difficult taking orders. And his father found it hard, after so long, to share control, he says.
It's typical not only of farming but of any family enterprise.
Father and son hired a consultant, who told Kurtis it would be best for him to leave. It was the most heart-wrenching decision of his life.
"The thing that's different about farming than a lot of other professions," he says, "is that it's your home, it's your job, it's your community and your social circle. It's everything in your life. To leave all that, it's really difficult."
TANNIS TOOHEY / TORONTO STAR
When the older folks retire, will there be anyone left to till the soil and grow our crops?
September 23, 2007
Catherine Porter
Environment Reporter
When Kurtis Andrews walks into his family's barn, he can't just ask one of the employees where his dad is. He has to ask for "Mr. Andrews." That's because few of the market staff know Kurtis anymore. They think he's another customer.
Andrews spent 20 years working on the farm. When he was seven, he bought a bicycle with the money he'd saved weeding the fields by hand for $1 an hour.
He's climbed the trees, built a swimming raft for the irrigation pond, and rumbled across the fields on a tractor.
But now, he's a stranger here.
"It feels odd," says Andrews, 34, examining a 20-year-old family portrait that hangs in the barn. In it, he, his two sisters and their folks pose in a raspberry field, each of them dressed in red-and-white checkered shirts and holding a basket of berries. It's full of joy and optimism – hardly the picture of farming today.
"I do feel nostalgia about the farm," he says.
Andrews is no longer a country boy. He lives six hours away, in Ottawa, where he's in his second year of law school. And he has no plans to return to the fields.
Neither do most of his peers. The statistics are distressingly clear – young people are leaving farming in droves. In Ontario, the number of farm operators aged 35 and under plunged by 35 per cent between 1996 and 2001. Since then, it's dropped another 21 per cent. Only 8.6 per cent of farmers are in that age group today.
Enrolment in agricultural colleges is plummeting. And the average age of the Ontario farmer keeps creeping up. Around Toronto, it's now 53.
Which raises the question: when they retire, will there be anyone left tilling the land?
It's what Wally Seccombe calls a "generation impasse." He is the founder and chair of Everdale, an organic farm near Orangeville that trains young farmers.
"If we want to be farming in Ontario in 20 years," he says, "we have to find a new generation who are not the sons and daughters of farmers and get them recruited on the land and farming in a very different way than we have before."
You don't have to dig deep to get to the roots of the problem. At its base are simple economics: for the most part, farming isn't a lucrative business anymore.
Around Toronto, most farms make less than a junior child-care worker – under $25,000 a year.
To survive, almost half of Ontario farmers work second jobs. With increased competition from places such as China and South Africa, it's harder to make a living wage.
"There's no money now," says Greg Downey, a 33-year-old who started working full-time on the family farm near Brampton 13 years ago, when the business was "more profitable." It's a decision he still questions, watching his bricklaying and banking brothers padding their bank accounts.
"If I was going back to college now, I wouldn't be coming home," he says. "I'd get into a trade."
The lifestyle doesn't help either. There are few days off and fewer vacations, due to monetary reasons and sheer logistics. Dairy cattle have to be milked twice a day, regardless of your baseball tickets or dinner date.
When Cecelia McMorrow was a child, members of her family used to take turns racing back to the farm every day while on vacation at a nearby cottage. "Every day of my life, every social function, I had to leave at 4 p.m.," says McMorrow, 26, who, despite being president of the Junior Farmers Association of Ontario, has no intentions of farming herself. "That's not a commitment I want to make."
She works for the Lindsay Agricultural Society but dreams of working in international development. Her parents, like many in the industry, encouraged her to go to university and study something other than agriculture. Farmers, like factory workers and taxi drivers, have bigger dreams for their children.
"The idea of farming as an exciting, viable, respectable profession doesn't exist now," says Christie Young, director of FarmStart, a Guelph non-profit organization bent on reversing the trend.
Even the few who do go into agriculture studies at university rarely return to the land. The majority land more secure agribusiness jobs, like working as a lab technician for a pesticide company or selling tractors for John Deere.
"The education system is not pushing people into farming," says Dave Lewington, 30, past youth president of the National Farmers Union. "It's grooming young people for jobs in agribusiness."
In high school, his guidance counsellor dismissed his plans to farm as "a waste of good marks," he says. He did it anyway, buying a spread near Sudbury, where land is still affordable, in 2004.
Which brings us to the overwhelming roadblock for the aspiring farmers who don't inherit an operation: land prices. Buying a farm around Toronto is like to buying a mansion in Forest Hill. Around the Andrews' farm near Milton, farmland is being scooped up by developers at $50,000 an acre. A 100-acre farm will sell for $5 million – and that's not including the tractors (a new one can cost as much as $250,000), irrigation pipes, seed and other necessities.
Few people under 35 have saved up $125,000 for a down payment, especially if they've been working, and getting experience, on a farm.
"Really, you'd have to win the lottery to get into farming (near Toronto)," says McMorrow. "For most people, that's not how they want to spend their winnings."
Renting land from a developer can be cheap. But it's risky. Andrews was growing winter wheat and corn on a nearby field and was kicked off without notice so the developer could build a driving range.
Without any security, it's hard to build up a business. Plus, it's not easy to find farmland to rent that comes with a barn and a house.
"There needs to be some perks to farming," says one young farmer. "You should at least have the joy of waking up on the farm."
There is a minority of young farmers swimming against the current. Many of those who don't inherit the business are drawn to farming for environmental reasons. They're what Seccombe dubs the "modern-day back-to-the-landers." Most are working on small-scale operations, growing organic food directly for specific customers. They're part of a new type of farming, called "relationship-farming," that's at the heart of the local food movement.
A just-released survey of alumni of a local organic farming program called Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT) revealed that most were young females who grew up in the city. They're people like Tarrah Young, who sees farming as environmental activism. She just bought 50 acres near Ayton, an hour northwest of Guelph, where she plans to raise organic pigs and turkeys.
"I feel I can make a change, even if it's only on 50 acres," says Young, 30. "I'm helping create a better model for food production and help people create better health."
She could only afford the farm with help from her parents. And, she expects to depend on her partner's earnings as a graphic designer to pay the mortgage. She reckons that in due time, she will be able to pay herself around $25,000 a year.
That makes her the exception. In the CRAFT survey of intern alumni, only 36 per cent were still farming – most tilling small plots (five acres and less) and not making a living off it. It raises the question: as a society, are we going to rely on idealism to feed us, along with the sacrifices of a few Thoreau-types willing to live on peanuts? It seems hardly a model food policy.
The Russian sunflowers tower over Kurtis Andrews' head as he walks around his father Bert's farm. Despite having left seven years ago, he's still a farmer at heart. You can take the man off the land, but you can't take the land out of the man ... Sunflowers, he explains, are planted in rows over weeks, to extend their season.
He bends down to examine a vine with orange flowers that, in a short time, will transform into pumpkins. And he points out the tracks made by raccoons that have devastated his father's corn crop.
Throughout the hour-long walk, his father keeps appearing on an ATV bearing pamphlets on berry growing or a handful of raspberries.
"Is my dad coming again?" Andrews exclaims. "I'm having flashbacks from when I was a kid."
He always planned to take over the family farm. After his family bought the land in 1980, he worked here every summer through school and university.
In 1998, he moved back full-time to start working with his father. But he found it difficult taking orders. And his father found it hard, after so long, to share control, he says.
It's typical not only of farming but of any family enterprise.
Father and son hired a consultant, who told Kurtis it would be best for him to leave. It was the most heart-wrenching decision of his life.
"The thing that's different about farming than a lot of other professions," he says, "is that it's your home, it's your job, it's your community and your social circle. It's everything in your life. To leave all that, it's really difficult."
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