Food Systems Map

Audio Transcript Auto-generated

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  in class.

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  We walked along the dikes and the Harvest Moon Trail

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  to look for a different food.

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  Systems that will fool has, well, Phil.

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  Food systems are everywhere, so we wanted to see the

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  complex systems that we could find represented in our local

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  will feel area.

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  And that's kind of what you're looking at right now,

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  which is the food system that Helen, Sydney and trying

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  to have created.

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  But as we walked along the dikes we saw, there

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  were different crops and types of vegetation growing the crops

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  on one side of the dikes.

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  The crops were on one side of the dikes, and

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  on the other side was the Bay of Fundy.

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  The easily recognizable crops were cornfields and apple orchards, and

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  that's what's in the photos.

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  But on the other side of the dykes, there were

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  a lot of grass is crawling.

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  What's note worthy of these grasses actually is their ability

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  to grow in salt water.

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  So all the vegetation on the water side of the

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  dykes has adapted some way or another to be able

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  to withstand the full or partial submersion in salt water,

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  which is often what would kill any other plant, and

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  this is not an easy adaptation.

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  But the biodiversity, as a result, is incredible and again

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  to focus more in on these dykes.

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  Willful as we know it would not be here today

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  without our dyke lands.

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  The dikes are a manipulation of the land made by

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  the Acadian people in order to clear out the land

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  or actually wash out the land of all, the salted

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  had absorbed.

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  And without this separation of land, the water canals in

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  the one way flap to keep the water out when

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  the tide rises, we would not have the environment that

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  we see today, where you can see more common vegetation.

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  On one side, you can see overall larger vegetation on

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  that side as well, where you've got more trees and

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  larger organisms.

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  We didn't consider the manipulation of the land to be

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  unnecessarily invasive, but the Acadians used the systems already in

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  place. You know, the saltwater tides rise and fall twice

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  a day.

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  The natural fresh water that comes from the rain every

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  day or from the snow can be used, and that's

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  what they did.

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  They use their own systems already in place to create

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  a more nourishing landscape, and although we didn't think it

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  was necessarily invasive, we thought it was more incredible considering

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  how much or how little technology the Acadians had access

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  to. We thought it would be an interesting talking point

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  for the class, because what is sustainable, lastly, on another

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  little tangent is the idea of agriculture versus permaculture agriculture

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  On the left in this diagram is what we saw

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  on our walk, and we'll feel you have the rows

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  of the all one species of plant or crop.

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  Whatever you're growing there and on the right, you can

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  see there is a much more different route taken.

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  Permaculture in general has its main focus on closing the

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  nutrient and the water loops.

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  So you have this huge responsibility for your waist.

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  And there is this aim to eliminate the waste.

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  No excess nitrogen in the atmosphere, no excess water, etcetera.

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  And we do that by imitating nature.

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  So conserve your conserve your soil and water and conserve

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  your genetic capital, and then you're also using the space

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  intensively. As you can see in the photo, it really

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  does look like a forest.

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  Plants are allowed to set their own seeds and they're

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  planted strategically to avoid pests.

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  It is a much more different route to take next.

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  We have processing and maintenance.

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  So as thief food is growing midseason, you have machines

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  that are taking care of the crops.

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  You have people who take care of the machines.

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  You have people on those machines, actually on the land

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  and in the land.

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  You can see the variety of uses, so the clovers

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  in the left are helping to bring nitrogen back into

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  the soil for next year's crops.

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  This is called rotating the fields.

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  The rotation of the farmland happens so that the soil

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  is not over used to a point where there are

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  no nutrients in the next year's harvest.

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  And it's interesting to kind of compare and hypothesized what

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  ah large scale farm would look like if they were

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  to take on more permaculture route.

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  Because, in my opinion, this is pretty invasive to have

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  to go rotating the soil, whereas it's absolutely vital in

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  agriculture lifestyle.

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  To do this where totally unnecessary and permaculture, the field

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  that has the clovers this year will be turned on

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  the following year.

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  It'll be used for growing the crop.

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  If we want to keep using the farmland in this

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  manner. We have to let the soil have time to

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  replenish, rest and be properly turned.

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  This will allow for more harvest in the following years.

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  Harvesting is tthe e last major step in production before

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  distribution. It takes a village for any large scale farms

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  of harvest and process their produce.

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  The you pick that we have in our photo is

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  kind of a little maneuver.

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  They've developed to have community engagement and have someone to

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  pick the crops.

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  Another method is the use of migrant workers, which has

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  become a foundational part of the moving system.

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  Now, at least here in the Valley are agricultural hub.

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  Seasonal workers are brought for the harvesting season, and they

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  pay Canadian taxes for the work completed here.

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  Normalization of migrant workers in the last 50 years has

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  formed a new international economic channels into the increasingly complex

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  food map we are explaining today.

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  Lastly, we wanted to mention that because of where we

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  live in the climate here, the majority of the year

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  is not growing season, so we not only need a

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  location but a means of storage for all the produce

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  well, we have to eat for the rest of the

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  year. Distribution of food consists of the transport that the

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  good has to go through in order to get to

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  the consumer.

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  The movement from one point of another, the movement from

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  one point to another, makes the food system map much

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  bigger than what we think.

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  The distance food can travel now with the technology we

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  have makes our food system complex.

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  Because of all these different moving parts, the car fumes

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  the roads built.

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  The human contact with the environment also relates to the

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  food product to the waste products in our food system.

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  Retail is also a big part of our food system

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  because the consumer at this point gets to choose what

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  they would like to eat, what they wanted toe look

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  like and where they would like the source of their

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  food to come from.

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  The consumer can choose local, like the farmer's market in

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  our photo, or they could go international by choosing a

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  supermarket. You can order food online nowadays to mark the

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  money that a consumer spends shows that there is a

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  demand for a way that a certain food is produced

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  and handled up until the moment of purchasing the consumer

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  puts their money where their mouth is.

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  And I think it's been pretty clearly established by now

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  that generally a consumer is willing to pay more for

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  a good that was ethically and sustainably handled rather than,

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  ah, large scale manufacture.

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  I also wanted to include this diagram because I think

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  it shows really well how the farmers market is more

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  of ah example of the second distribution method.

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  It's so important to recognize that at every single one

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  of thes steps there is garbage or waste that is

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  produced in some form.

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  There is also the chance of you know something to

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  go wrong.

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  The more moving parts need more chances for mistakes toe

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  happen, and naturally, as a result, with a smaller distribution

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  model also comes more flexibility.

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  So when things get messy or difficult, the pandemic is

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  a great explanation.

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  Is the flexibility of a farmer's market to, you know,

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  deliver food and be able to take that produce off

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  the farmer's hands and into the consumer's hands?

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  And of course, with this modern farming distribution model, that

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  is increasingly difficult Now.

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  We are at the end of the cycle or the

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  start. Honestly, it's neither.

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  It's a circle.

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  That's the point we're trying to drive home here.

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  It feels wrong to have this slide at the end

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  because, as we've mentioned throughout this presentation, every step, there

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  is another arrow that is pointing towards the waste or

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  the composting side of the system.

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  Because, you know, we have greenhouse gasses.

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  You have air pollution.

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  During transportation, you have the storage of food.

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  You have machinery needed during the growing the fruit products

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  themselves. You know you have red meat that produces a

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  lot of methane as well a species.

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  But you know, feces turns into manure and fertilizer, and

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  then you have just the start of a new system.

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  So toe look more closely into composting is first of

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  all to recognize that composting happens with or without humans.

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  We just managed to streamline it so that you know,

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  your food waste is picked up by someone who collects

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  from the community and brings all of the community waste

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  to a facility.

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  And we have a disconnect between people in this connection

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  with nature, and because of that disconnect, you have a

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  lot of people who also don't know how to compost

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  and will really disrupt the system.

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  And I know when I was living in Hamilton, Ontario,

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  actually, there was such a big disconnect.

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  There was a really, uh, poor job on the community's

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  part towards what does and doesn't go into the compost.

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  And it resulted in massive smell around just under 200,000

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  people. I think, um, it's so important to put people

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  back into these systems that they are impacted by It's

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  so, so, so important to make connections with nature, to

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  learn how to compost, to forage nearby, to learn the

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  names of the local species, those all established connections with

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  the earth.

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  And those all make a really big difference in how

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  we see this very circular complex system.

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  Thank you.