Plate to Plate

Every week or so I receive an email newsletter from my CSA. I look forward to reading it; it’s always a well-written, thoughtful take on sustainable agriculture in action, and it helps me understand the reality of life on the farm when I know the farmer doing what it is that he does.

This week, Don reflected on his family’s recent trip to rural Chile to visit friends. All was not quite bucolic:

While in Chile, I was constantly struck by an uncomfortable present reality. Yeah, my Spanish wasn’t as great as in the past but it didn’t seem to matter that much. Of course, sleeping with our children in small twin beds for 2 months wasn’t ideal, but over time it just seemed normal. The problem was the sprayer. Almost every week, a tractor (correctly identified as a Massey Ferguson by our three year old son Micah) came down the dirt road and sprayed the peaches and apricots that were within 50 yards of the family’s house where we stayed. This was a boom sprayer and the smell would linger in the air for about 1 hour. Then, there were the mornings when the grapes in the valley were sprayed from the planes. During these days the smell was much worse as was my anxiety wondering how a person has the permission to spray over their vineyard yet fill the entire valley with a chemical fungicide.

In our life here in South Williamstown, I am not accustomed to the norms of conventional agriculture. You know, the methods that are used to produce the vast majority of the food that is available in our country. The majority of those sprayed peaches, apricots, and grapes aren’t going to be on the tables of Chileans, but rather are destined for supermarkets around the United States. According to the organic trade association, organic food now accounts for 2% of U.S. food sales. Two percent, that’s it! And, it’s not just the food that carries the repercussions of spraying. How about the workers, the neighbors, the water table, the land, and the natural environment? We are very fortunate. I’ve never experienced a plane dropping chemicals on our valley. We have returned from Chile with a renewed appreciation and understanding of the importance of sustainable agriculture. And, we are champing at the bit for the start of the season.

It is sometimes hard to remember, when your little canvas bag is stuffed with lush, organically grown goodies, pulled from the earth by someone you know by name, that you are a very small blip in a very large system.

Indeed, we are very fortunate.