Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

returning to our 'roots' to live comfortably has become the province of the rich. similar to this new push for 'local food'. all well and good if you can afford it, but no path from Gap to Core...

As I plan my retirement and gentrification of a few dozen ariable acers of land on my mountain top retreat in WVa. that overlooks the Potomac, I will be sharing the use of my land with several organizations for the elderly and families with children to have good summer time vegetables and a canning/freezing shed to "put some vittles away for the winter." Food is the new muscle in the world, and God wants his bounty shared.

We have been sponsoring a family farm in Kenya for a few years now and their lives have changed dramatically after a group of my friends got together and purchased a small farm and three cows ($5,000U.S. for all).Their vow was to have all of their 4 children complete high school which they have all accomplished. Two are now working for the Kenyan government and 1 stayed on the farm to help. The other is attending the University of Iowa in their AG program.

Reaching out where government where can't get out of their own way is the best way to help. I took a year to buy the farm but it is worth it. Planning a visit there when U.S. citizens are not targeted.

I agree, skip the biofuels and grow food. The technology is there to provide alternatives to E85.

As the Chinese move from the farms for the higher wage jobs in the cities, who is going to produce their food? Isn't that how farm susidies got started in the U.S.

Down here in the Northern Neck of Virginia, the old culture now gone consisted of fish trapping, oystering, crabbing, hunting and local agriculture. Everyone was self-supporting and bartering was widespread. As a result, money (i.e., cash) was not the indispensable form of exchange that it was elsewhere. Life was good.

However, the sources of the culture--fish, crabs, oysters--have disappeared due in part to pollution of the Potomac, Rappahannock and the Bay. The local men have exchanged their centuries-old life on the water for hourly work in construction or what have you, or they have left. The women have taken office jobs in government, schools, real estate, medical facilities, etc., serving the influx of retirees such as my wife and myself. We (retirees) are providing an economic stimulus for the region at a time when it is badly needed.

In a way it's gentrification, in another it is the inexorable march of "wage slavery," a phrase that was bandied about in the U.S. 150 years ago. As the phrase suggests, the local men now are less free than they were when they boarded their boats and headed out each morning, but they have regular incomes now that they did not have before. Unfortunately, the locals never had a chance to participate in a plebiscite on this dramatic economic/cultural change in their lives.

John: no criticism implied on my part. just a call for a clear-eyed look at the economics and that people not get lost in some romantic notion of ruralism. sounds like you're not, and play a valuable role in your community.

Getting to Tom's point (If I understood it) regarding this being driven by a networked world: I'm not rich by any means, but my wife and I are planning to move out into the "country" in a few years to have access to some land. I never would have considered it years ago, but that has changed. One big factor? With internet access and UPS, Amazon.com will take the place of the convenient shopping we'll have to give up. Toss in decent distance to freeways and satellite TV and we'll basically be as connected as we currently are in the heart of the suburbs. Heck, with Vonage, I'll get to keep my phone number too!

A lot of it boils down to location. A farmer (professional or retired yuppie) near a city has an easier time taking advantage of the local foods craze than one in the boondocks. If his land is in a relatively dry area, he may not be able to become a food producer unless he has the land and skills to become a rancher. If his land is in the mountains, fughetaboutit! A fishing town is going to have more demand for its land- and more need of new jobs, given the fall of fishing stocks- than a farming or ranching town.