Farming, health and cooking your way.

Do you ever wonder what all of this sustainable farming fuss is about? Should you actually be concerned about what you eat and where has it come from? At the end of August a group of inspiring teens presented their ideas for the future at the inaugural TEDx Next Generation event.

One of the guest speakers was Birke Beahr an 11-year-old home schooled boy who began studying organic and sustainable farming at the age of 9. In his talk at the TEDx Next Generation event, Beahr describes the detriments of our current industrialised food supply system and even unearths the tricky nature of marketing to children his age.

"A while back I wanted to be an NFL football player," Baehr noted. "I decided that I'd rather be an organic farmer instead. That way, I can have a greater impact on the world."

For me it’s really exciting that the sustainability of our food system is causing interest in people his age. Our desire for convenience has forced farmers into tragic and extremely unhealthy practices when it comes to our food supply.

Paul Roberts, Author of 'The End of Food', suggests in his book that the world faces a serious food crisis that could topple our food chain and cause a disaster much worse than the threat of any terrorist attack.

Roberts implies that the current food supply system is failing us, its own success of supplying food so economically will ultimately be why it could fail. Farmers and food producers continually cut their prices to remain competitive, but what is the ultimate price in quality and to the health of the eaters.

“We’ve had to reengineer our crops and livestock to make them amenable to mechanical harvest, then ‘amend’ the finished product by adding colors, flavorings and other chemicals to repair the damage incurred by the manufacturing process,” he said.
All this threatens the safety of the food supply, he concludes.

So if you are outsourcing your food preparation to restaurants or even factories to put that convenient lasagna in a frozen packet, maybe it is time to start considering what is actually in the food and how much of the contents is not just made of love, but actually made of food.

To make any positive change to our food supply industry and to bring the shift towards a healthy and sustainable system, it’s the power of the consumers which will eventually facilitate the move.

So start cooking for yourself and try to use fresh produce from your local growers, share your success and failures on CookMyWay with us.