This week we are going to begin an examination of the food supply system from the beginning, the farm, where food is produced, through to the time it arrives on your table, ready to eat. Over the next several weeks we will look at the traditional food delivery systems, the changes that are taking place within that system and alternatives.
Now back to the farm where it all begins. Far too many people are unaware of where food actually comes from. They go to the supermarket, the baker, green grocer or butcher's and that is it. This is where they get food. In reality, the food only arrives in these various stores, after traveling through a lengthy process, that may include thousands of miles and months or years of labour to produce the pork chops or squash that appear on your plate.
Modern agriculture began about 10,000 years ago. It remained relatively unchanged for thousands of years until very recently with the invention of the plow and then the mechanizaed means to pull the plow. Today we are faced with changes that threatened the family farm that once dotted the rural landscape and provided the local community with all its food needs.
The factory farm is a mega-industrial operation that conumes hundreds if not thousnds of acres and mass produces the basics of the food system, chickens, pigs, cows, grain etc. There is a movement on to restore the family farm and to support a return to
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