Page 83 - Spring2010

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

In a November 1994 interview on the General Agreement on Trade and Tariff (GATT), which created the World Trade
Organization, Sir James Goldsmith made the following comments:
The idea is to create what is known today as efficient agriculture and to impose it worldwide. Let me just give you
one [impact] of GATT on the Third World. The idea of GATT is that the efficiency of agriculture throughout the world
should produce the most amount of food for the least cost. But what does that really mean? What is cost?
When you produce the intensified agriculture and you reduce the number of people on the land, what happens to
those people? They are chased into the towns. They lose their jobs on the land. If they go into the towns, there are no
jobs, there is no infrastructure. The social costs of those people, the financial costs of the infrastructure has to be added
to the cost of producing food.
On top of that, you are breaking families, you are uprooting them, you are throwing them into the slums. Do you
realize that in Brazil, the favelas (slums) did not exist before the Green Revolution of intensifying agriculture?
In the world today there are 3.1 billion people still living in rural communities. If GATT succeeds and we are able
to impose modern methods of agriculture worldwide, so as to bring them to the level of Canada or Australia, what will
happen? 2.1 billion people will be uprooted from the land and chased into the towns throughout the world. It is the
single greatest disaster [in our history], greater than any war.
We have to change priorities. Let’s take agriculture. Instead of just trying to produce the maximum amount for the
cheapest direct costs, let us try to take into account the other costs. Our purpose should not be just the one dimensional
cost of food. We want the right amount of food, for the right quality for health and the right quality for the environment
and employing enough people so as to maintain social stability in the rural areas.
If not, and we chase 2.1 billion people into the slums of the towns, we will create on a scale unheard of mass migra-
tion—what we saw in Rwanda with 2 million people will be nothing—so as to satisfy an economic doctrine. We would
be creating 2 billion refuges. We would be creating mass waves of migration which none of us could control. We would
be destroying the towns which are already largely destroyed. Look at Mexico, Rio, look at our own towns.
And we are doing this for economic dogma? What is this nonsense? Everything is based in our modern society on
improving an economic index. The result is that we are destroying the stability of our societies, because we are worship-
ping the wrong god—the economic index.
The economy, like everything else, is a tool which should be submitted to, should be subject to, the true and fun-
damental requirements of society.
This is the establishment against the rest of society. I am for business, so long as it does not devour society. [But] we
have a conflict of interest. Big business loves having access to an unlimited supply of give away labor.
You cannot enrich a country by destroying the health of its population. The health of a society cannot be measured
by corporate profitability.
We have allowed the instruments that are supposed to serve us to become our masters.

RAW MILK RESOURCES FROM THE FARM-TO-CONSUMER LEGAL DEFENSE FUND

SAFE HANDLING - CONSUMERS’ GUIDE: Preserving the Quality of Fresh, Unprocessed Whole Milk by Peggy
Beals, RN: An invaluable guide for consumers, this booklet provides helpful advice on what to look for at the farm, how
to prevent contamination of milk and how to preserve fresh unprocessed milk’s wonderful taste and superb nutrition. $5
each.
RAW MILK PRODUCTION HANDBOOK by Tim Wightman: This handbook will soon be a classic among raw milk
farmers and their consumers. An easy, informative and interesting read, it covers the wide range of essentials to safe raw
milk production. Tim Wightman is a farmer, consultant and one of the first cow-share operators in the USA. $6 each.
DVD - FROM GRASS TO THE GLASS SERIES Chore Time by Tim Wightman: Invaluable information for new (and
experienced) dairy farmers on milk house design, the milk parlor, milking, heifer training, processing milk, making cream
and clean up. $35 each.
DVD - MICHAEL SCHMIDT: ORGANIC HERO OR BIOTERRORIST: The Story of Raw Organic Milk in Canada and
the Consumer’s Right to Choose: On November 2006, twenty-five armed officers staged a raid at Michael Schmidt’s farm.
This film follows an activist farmer as he struggles to continue providing his “farm fresh milk” while battling authorities,
preparing for his trial, and attempting to find a political solution to legally provide raw milk in Canada. $25 each.
Prices do not include shipping and handling.
To order, visit https://www.farmtoconsumer.net/EducationalItems.asp or call (703) 208-FARM (3276).

SPRING 2010 Wise Traditions 83