Small Farm Future News Today

A small farm future out of practical necessity, then, but also one evincing positive cultural possibilities. But practical necessity is the critical driver.

With more farmers today than at almost any point in history, humanity’s future will likely be agrarian. We must imagine that world into being.

With more farmers today than at almost any point in history, humanity’s future will likely be agrarian. We must imagine that world into being.

Still, the wider issues concerning food, land and labour are important, and in view of the present historical moment on our farm and in the world it seems opportune to discuss them.

Here’s how I’d parse it: being a settler is going to be an increasingly common human experience in the future. Lasch teaches us useful things about the politics of settler livelihood-making, while Ghosh teaches us useful things about how settlers must avoid becoming settler-colonists.

We need constructive debates about food and farming so that we can find the best ideas for addressing the desperate business at hand: figuring out how to live healthily on a healthy planet.

The tenants at Pentwyn, on land bought by Radnorshire Wildlife Trust, plan to produce plenty of food for local people

Myths speak through individual authors and are given definition by them, but they’re painted on a bigger canvas than any one person.

But if abundant low-carbon energy doesn’t immediately materialise, or if it’s used to grow the human economy and its footprint, then Monbiot’s farmfree solutionism offers no solutions to real present predicaments.

Energy and materials flows must (a normative and ethical claim) shrink to avert worst case scenarios of anthropogenic climate disruption. And they will shrink in this time frame due to increasing resource scarcity.