Last year at the inaugural AgVention field day, I had the privilege of chairing a panel discussion on the topic ‘Farming with Integrity’. We discussed what it meant, what were the implications of a lack of integrity in farming systems and how that ultimately impacts consumers.
My guests were the exceptions rather than the rule
My guests for the panel discussion were biodynamic cattle producer Shane Joyce, Provinir mobile abbatoir founder Chris Balaiz and Chef and culinary tourism regional ambassador Matt Golinski. All these men represent different parts of the food value chain – the farmer, the processor and the retail experience provider. The reason they were part of the panel discussion is because in their own way they have all demonstrated high levels of integrity. Shane is driven by land regeneration and with his attitude of continual learning and respect he has taken a farming path very different from the ‘mainstream’. Shane challenged our ideas of what ‘success’ means in farming. This year’s gain is negated if it comes at the cost of long term viability. Shane doesn’t seem to care too much what other think of him which is lucky as he has been called a lunatic by traditional farmers.
Chris from Provenir is driven by his commitment to the whole of life picture. As a beef producer he could not reconcile himself to the notion that he could care for his livestock their entire lives until the point of theirs lives ending where he had to load them on a truck and relinquish control to the transporter and abbatoir. Provinir walks the line between complying with very stringent and very inflexible legal requirements to do with livestock slaughter (in Australia at time of writing it is a legal requirement that livestock are killed in licensed abbatoirs and animals killed on home properties cannot be transported off that property) and the handling of the death of meat producing animals without suffering. Chris has invested enormous time and money into getting Provenir off the ground and has had a huge fight along the way navigating red tape opposition from other industry members.
My third guest was Matt Golinksi who talked about the joy of using ingredients sourced directly from producers. How inspired he is by passionate primary producers who are proud of what they do and how that passion infuses the ingredients he gets to work with. He also talked about how much effort he has to go to, to link up with producers – most caterers and restaurants order from a food wholesaler and it turns up in a truck at the required time. Matt buys directly from individual farmers, sometimes he might only need a kilo or two of an ingredient but from 12 different farmers. The logistics he navigates are mindboggling and not for the faint hearted.
What is food with Integrity?
First of all what is food with integrity? There’s lots of elements to it but at its heart it means producing food with the end goal of it being food. Sounds a little silly but it’s actually normal for agricultural production to be discussed in terms of yield, shelf life and conformity rather than flavour, nutrition and honour. What do I mean by honour – seeing food as life that contributes to our lives rather than a commodity. Whether its meat, vegetables, nuts or fruits – everything we eat comes from something that lives. Surely it is our duty to honour that life.
So the topic farming with integrity tells only part of the story – what I learnt from the discussion is that unless integrity is present along the entire chain right through to your dinner plate then there can be no integrity in our food, and sadly that integrity is the exception rather than the norm. What happens on the farm is vitally important but it’s only one part of the picture. On the subject of livestock – how can we claim integrity if our systems are not designed so that animal end of life experience is considered hand in hand with food safety? Some animals travel 1000 plus km’s to get to an abbatoir, how can that be a good outcome for them. Or with fruits and vegetables – how can they claim integrity if they can’t be grown without poisoning other plants, insects, animals and microbes or draining water away from environmental flows? And if a chef (or retailer) doesn’t know or care where his/her ingredients are coming from and how they were produced, how can the end consumer be informed enough to care?
What I have also realised is that the further the product gets from its source, the more the integrity declines. At the supermarket, nothing seems to matter except price. If you, the consumer, cared enough to find out about the food you are eating, and made your buying decisions accordingly, then you could change the whole supply chain. For our food to have integrity consumers must take responsibility too.
Would that mean food would cost more? Probably.
Think about that the other way – if it costs more to produce food with integrity then by not paying the higher price you are communicating that you don’t care about animals experience, farming practices, use of chemical and how water is used. The only reason we think food should be cheaper is because we’ve been presented with food produced in industrial farming systems that takes shortcuts in order to reduce cost. We haven’t asked any questions and because price is the determining factor in buying decisions, we have communicated that food must be cheap at all costs.
It might be cheap but that doesn’t mean it is good value. Food with value has depth of flavour, food with value has usually been grown slower so has more density which means a little goes a long way, food with value is nutritious for you and your family and contributes to your long-term health. And, when you value your food, you are less likely to waste it. By choosing to buy food with intrinsic value or integrity you are not only contributing to the development of better food production systems you are also voting for food that will make your life better. Until you’ve eaten it and tasted and felt the difference it’s hard to get this message across. I think most of us have forgotten what good food, food with integrity, tastes like. And sadly I think there are some farmers who have forgotten what food with integrity tastes like and that it is actually their job to be producing it.
Humans are the only species whose days are not filled with foraging or hunting for food. Think of the lions, or sheep, or birds or fish – their lives revolve around finding enough to eat. Humans on the other hand, can generally take food entirely for granted. Aren’t we lucky? Someone else does all the hard work for us. We can forget about it till it turns up wrapped in plastic at the supermarket. Is that a good thing? Maybe a little effort would be good for you.
The crux of the issue
So how do you get your hands on real food – this is the crux of the issue and the answer is, for the moment at least, it’s hard. But if Matt Golinski thinks it’s worth the effort and he is top of the game in terms of good food then maybe he’s on to something. The place to start is a genuine farmers market where you buy directly off the producer of the food. You can look each other in the eye and develop a relationship that requires integrity on both sides to survive. I know this won’t work for everyone of course, maybe there is no farmers market in your area. Is there a retailer that buys direct from producers who can answer your questions about food integrity AND do you believe them? Can you buy direct online? Can you start your own buyers coop of ‘consumers with integrity’ that gets together to order direct from producers or producer owned supply coops?
There’s a whole lot riding on your food decisions – your health, your families health, the health of our agricultural landscapes, the health of our regional economies, the health of future generations. A little effort would be good for all of us.
By Amber Scott
