Diploma Project | Story of the Urban Food Chain
(2) Farmer’s plight Why doesn’t the consumer pay attention, towards food? • Time • Trust • Aspiration • Cultural Disconnect • Taste
Another main view point is that of the farmer. Farmer’s plights fall on deaf ears as hunger and suicide still surface. In the land of consumerist & obese, the farmers are forced to give in to industrial farming and monoculture. Every day, resources are mobilised to cope with demand. As these resources are not fully exploited or consumed, much is wasted at a cost to all of us. For example if we threw away less rice, the demand for rice would drop, along with prices. Farmers would be encouraged to grow something else. Bank loans could be diverted to something in higher demand. So, the farmers are just producers who are influenced by different players in the food chain.
• Money (Affordability) • Availability (No other option) • No brainer
(3) Emotional connection to food Reviving emotional connect towards food is also a standpoint. People are already connected to food emotionally with nostalgia and memory as main influencers. These can be used to communicate the prominent causes. For instance the food system needs resources
and exploitation to sustain itself. These vulnerabilities of the current food culture lie close to our surface of daily lives. They can be exposed with a gentle jolt to the system revealing their effects on nature and ecology. All this can inspire people to think critically about food security and culture.
(4) Community & ecology driven food culture There is a need to build a community, ecology driven food culture where people come together to solve the current situation. The wounds of the current food order can be fought back through shared and public deliberation. It means coming together locally, regionally and internationally, to better understand the choices we make and the food we eat in the places we make them. It is time to organize, educate, savour, reclaim and build the new, to point the way to a better shaped future. For example it can be appreciated in the spirit of Glocal and traditions of sharing food as a community.
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