Yubakami and partners aren’t the only ones to promote “local”, “organic”, “regenerative”, and “climate-smart”. The global food system recognizes the power of these words, even as it denies their true implementation.
We work hard to find real farmers, and to support their efforts to maintain – and deepen – their craft. Global marketers work hard to appropriate the true story and to guide federal policy to meet their aims.

What these terms mean in the global context:

Local: The California Department of Food and Agriculture defines “local” as anywhere in California. Seriously. So a farmer in Crescent City is “local” to a school district in San Diego. There are incentives for schools to buy “local”, but that is of scant value to neighborhood farms. Big trucks roar past great small farms throughout the year, carrying large shipments of produce from industrial farms in the Central Valley.

Organic: Regulations have softened since the feds took over in 1990. You no longer have to take care of soil health or biodiversity; you no longer have to concern yourself with effluent; you can now keep animals in confined spaces and feed them ingredients that they are not evolved to consume; you have no responsibility to your workers’ health, housing, or income. Organic certification is good in that it reduces the amount of toxins on the produce, but it is in no way a descriptor of quality or protector of the environment.

Regenerative: In biology, regeneration is the capacity of an organism to restore lostor damaged tissue. It is a profoundly beautiful thing and shows how resilient nature is. Regeneratively-minded farmers see it as their work to restore land damaged by destructive farming/logging/development practices, and once they have begun, to partner with their land to make it ever-more vibrant. The USDA has denied continual pleas to state a formal definition of this term, meaning marketing guys can call any practice “regenerative” without challenge.

Climate-smart: The most utilized claim of “regenerative” by the global system is the practice of “no-till”. Minimally tilling land is a good thing, in that it avoids unnecessary disruption of the soil ecosystem. But what do you replace tilling with? True regenerative farmers are attentive and creative. Industrial farmers simply spray their fields with pesticides. Because all green matter is killed by these pesticides, there is no need to till. That the pesticides also kill themicrobes in the soil is of little matter. The USDA gives industrial farmers incentives to practice no-till by using pesticides. So for them, it is a win-win-win: less cost, cash incentives, and the ability to call themselves regenerative and climate-smart.

Seasonal: The one thing that the global food system doesn’t emphasize is seasonality. The enjoyment of foods in season is the basis of all food culture. The delight of the first fava beans in Spring, and the crunch of apples in Fall; tomatoes throughout the summer, replaced by other salad ingredients – fennel, citrus, beans – in falland winter. But the American consumer has become addicted to year-round peaches, benefiting the global system, which can deliver peaches all year round, and at a cost less than from the orchard half a mile from the grocery store (workers in Chile are paid much less than those in California).