Who knows? I certainly have plenty of opportunities to write things. In fact I'm not writing enough. So is this blogging to do with arrogance, frustration with having to be overly polite on some issues, a desire to share some thoughts with others who might be interested. All of those things, plus.
Lurking in the depths of my consciousness but occasionally and briefly breaking the surface is a growing sense that the concepts, philosophy and practice of real - "whole" - organic agriculture is being lost or misunderstood and certainly misused.
By "agriculture" I mean farming and the food system in its widest sense; production of food and fibre, the relationship of the farmed environment to the wider environment and ecosystems, the processing and distribution of food and fibre, all of the social and cultural relationships that make this up. Some years ago I tried using the format of AgriCulture to encompass this. Others did too and I don't think it was satisfactory for anybody.
The word wholistic (or holistic) forces itself out at this point which generates some nervousness on my part. I own up to thinking that understanding and employing this philosophy or concept is critically important. My nervousness and I suppose embarrassment is due to all of the trash that it is often dressed up in, all of the sloppy thinking that accompanies it, all of the ridicule it generates; and a degree of guilt that people like me have not managed to make sense of it or to make it sensible to the wider world.
Having to write "philosophy or concept" is telling; as is the forced "AgriCulture" format; and writing organic sector/movement as I quite often do these days. It tells of how those of us who, back in the late 1960's and 70's, started working to make this approach the primary driver of our society got on a bus that seems to have ended in a cul de sac.
After spending all of my working life in this area I was beginning to wonder whether I had wasted my time because the concepts that were undeveloped 34 years ago remain undeveloped; the progress I was certain would be made, hasn't been made; the significant influence I thought our philosophy and practice would have on the world has not happened.
Yet, I still believe the potential exists and that it is vitally important to our planet and civilisation.
So, I suppose I thought that starting a blog would be a way of exploring some of these areas that haven't been developed or have become confused. It might also be a way of seeing how contemporary issues appear from the perspective of those undeveloped concepts and whether that exercise might aid their development.
