Is our food supply sustainable? Is the fashion by which we secure our food moral? Is it healthy?
Last night I was extremely privileged to listen to a story that many don’t know because the story is either forgotten, or is simply not known in today’s age.
If you grew up as I did living in an unassuming household, then you would believe as I had that nothing was amiss with our food supply. It was normal to see commercials for large chain restaurants on television, and nobody ever even thought about scrutinizing what we considered healthy food such as vegetables and whole meats.
Without easy to access information from the internet, you’d have to be an investigative sleuth to even start to verify any questions you would have regarding our food supply. Even if you had the inclination to begin an investigative inquiry like that in my time of childhood (early 80’s), I would wager that you would likely have a difficult challenge to filter out the research papers that were genuinely performed with an objective perspective and the papers that were written while in the grip of regulatory capture – in other words, papers that were written by people who took creative liberties when interpreting the data in order to reveal an outcome that would be favorable to their benefactor who paid for the research, To be honest, I don’t feel that the challenges of overcoming that hurdle are any different now than it would be in the 80’s, as information is easily accessed as a function of the internet, but due to distortion as a result of turning the discussion into political debates, and there being fervent activists on both sides of the discussion it is still tremendously difficult to come to any clear insight on the topic of whether our modernized food supply is sustainable, moral, or healthy.
I will relay the story that I was told last night, a story which provided me some much needed insight and knowledge about a topic I knew admittedly little about.
Previous to half a century ago, there were vast varieties of plants and animals to eat. Estimates place the number of varieties of food found in Thailand in the area of 20000 edible plants, and approx. 2000 species of edible animals. Today that number has reduced to less than 1000 edible plants and animals combined. Not only have the varieties been reduced, but the root source of their genetics are radically different as compared with just a half century ago.
Approximately thirty to forty years ago there were traditionally two types of watermelon that grew locally in Thailand. One was a small round type, and another being a longer oblong type. When the rice was planted and grew taller, later on in the growing season watermelon seeds would be planted on a ridge or hill nearby the rice patties, and would grow hidden in the grasses. At the end of the season, the grasses would be parted to reveal the fully grown watermelons beneath. This was the way it was always done.
One year a company (unknown and not recollected) sent it’s representatives to visit the various small villages scattered outside of Bangkok. These representatives seemingly brought with them generous gifts: watermelon seeds. These seeds were distributed to the villages for free along with information about them, about how to care for them, and some special liquid to assist in their care which was fertilizer. These seeds were explained to be “hybrid seeds” and it was explained to the villagers that they would grow better watermelons if they planted these instead of traditional watermelon seeds, and to use the fertilizers provided. And so they did.
That year there was success with these new seeds. It was observed that these new seeds grew watermelons that were larger and aesthetically had a more symmetrical shape and they had a more pleasant appearance than that of a local watermelon. Achieving larger yields caused the farmers to approve of these new seeds with admiration. It was a good year for profits for farmers that year.
Next year, things changed when the representatives came to the villages. The seeds now came with a cost of 25 baht per kilogram. This may not sound like much money at all, but in those days considering many small villages didn’t use money often, it was common for entire families to have a total of 20 baht for the whole household. The farmers were still impressed with last year’s crop, and considering that they didn’t need to spend money often, were willing to pay the asking price. The hybrid seeds again performed as last year. providing larger yields as compared to their local counterparts.
It was however noted that these new watermelons required more work to grow. These new watermelons as a result of size required larger quantities of water, and they didn’t grow well at all without using the fertilizers that went along with the sale of the seeds, so it was found that more effort and labor was required to grow these new watermelons. In contrast, the local watermelons were capable of being planted and left until it was time to harvest, they were capable of growing with comparably less attention and labor.
Those who purchased the new watermelons noticed that the new hybrid watermelons were not as flavorful as compared to the locally grown watermelons, however, they were getting more quantity for their purchase, and also the watermelons looked nicer compared to their local counterparts, and had a much nicer looking red fruit on the inside – it was pleasing to the eyes.
The third year came after introducing these seeds. A repeat of year two occurred. The price of the seeds had been increased, and yet the farmers still purchased them, as there was now demand for them. The extra effort required to grow them was put in. The customers purchased these new exciting products. A shift had occurred though; the seeds for the locally grown watermelons were now relatively rare. Considering that seeds are generally capable of being saved over a year in good conditions, there weren’t many seeds left. No one really seemed to notice this though, as everyone was occupied with the new situation that had developed over the past three years, farmers and customers alike.
This will conclude my first part of this history of Thailand. Stay tuned for part 2 where I will write about the changes that occurred somewhere between the fourth and the seventh year.
The Triple H Initiative 