We enjoyed great Californian hospitality and saw some amazing farm systems. No doubt interest is skewed to organic systems. Water and government regulations were the main topics of discussion. It is going to be a challenging place to produce food in the future as urban demands on natural resources compete with farming interests. Water, land, synthetic input use, expectations from food consumers influenced by poor understanding of farm and food systems. More stringent and demanding regulations Sound farmiliar??
We were hosted by some wonderful people who are trying to make a go of farming in an increasingly tougher business environment. It intrigues me that farm people mostly want to grow food, look after their stock and land well, and keep to themselves. This is becoming harder to do and I heard and saw this clearly in California.
I have laboured the 'contradictions' we have seen in China and the US. And again more contradictions. Developed countries can look at less intense food systems such as organic farming and push back on GMO, but we will still need to feed 9 Billion people in 2050 on less land with less water. I don't think we have the luxury to keep this line on a global scale.
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