I often discuss the politics of food production in this blog forum, and the same issues that I first covered back when I started three years ago are, if anything, even more trenchant and high-profile today.

Which brings me to the day after tomorrow.  On Thursday, Sept. 22, a variety of organizations and associations representing the full spectrum of American farming and ranching (calling itself the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance) will organize and conduct what is being called the Food Dialogues.  This is a unique opportunity to have an extended national dialogue about the whole range of issues involved in food production.

We know that consumers want to have this kind of exchange because of the concerns they have about where food comes from.  We also know that those in agriculture want to have the same conversation.  So Thursday, at a series of four regional forums, as well as online, that conversation, in a high-profile setting, will take place.

So, first let me urge anyone interested in these issues to participate.  You can go to the Food Dialogues website to stream the event, and/or access it through a special Facebook page if you have a presence there.

You can view the list of everyone participating in the process at this page, and I think it’s worthwhile pointing out that we have a variety of perspectives, from those involved in actual farming, to those who regulate the industry, to those who cook up and sell food, and even to those who are critical of various aspects of food production. 

Now, some people will dismiss this effort even before it begins (witness these comments from Marion Nestle, who even as she criticizes the process, admits she was invited to participate in the NY session).  Like any conversation, the exchange of information is going to be two-way; this isn’t about just telling people what we feel they should know, but a process of give and take.

But only by having this type of dialogue can we honestly and effectively dig into the issues sprouting up from the current cultural landscape.  Much of the promotional material for this event asks the question “when did agriculture become a dirty word?”  Regardless of the reasons behind why some ask it….regardless of whether it has a basis in fact….regardless of to whom that question really should be directed…despite all these caveats, the question is on the table.  Farmers and ranchers need to be at the same table to help answer it.

It’s been a busy summer, so I gave this blog a well-deserved rest…but now that it’s September, and Labor Day approaches and schools are in and hurricanes are flying…it’s time to pick up the pace (and the page) once again.

And there’s no more apt way to begin than with the debut of this new music video collaboration between Chipotle Restaurants, Willie Nelson and Coldplay.  Actually, it’s a Nelson cover of a Coldplay song, “The Scientist,” that Chipotle is sponsoring to visualize what’s wrong with contemporary agriculture, and why the foods served by Chipotle are not just better tasting, but morally better.

The video repeats the frequent theme we hear and see today in the food business, which is that farms have gotten too big, have lost their sense of what’s right and wrong, and we’d all be better if we did away with “industrial” agriculture.  I’ve devoted plenty of keystrokes in commenting on these ideas during the past three years, and have to say there’s nothing really new that Chipotle brings to the party (other than some salsa, and an interesting cover that tries to make Willie Nelson relevant once again.  Also that semi-trucks and highways seem to be really bad as well).

Instead, I would rather raise a few rhetorical questions about the ideas featured in this collaborative effort in the marketing of Chipotle’s products, such as:

·         Does the appearance of the “Old McDonald” type of farm this video presents as the ideal really translate into a farm that is sustainable AT EVERY LEVEL, i.e. environmentally, food safety, animal welfare, and most of all, economically? 

·         If the alt-food trends of slow, local, community supported, etc., mean that half the households in America making $50k or less can’t afford them, is that sustainable from an ethical standpoint?

·         Many U.S. dairy farms are actually quite similar to the rudimentary cartoon version presented in the video.  Some are not, and are in fact larger.  All are owned by families, who have weighed options and made decisions about the best business model for themselves.  What’s inherently wrong with a system that allows independent food producers such choices?

I actually think the lyrics later in the original Coldplay song, though not sung in this Nelson cover, capture the reality whenever we are presented with one company’s or brand’s or NGO’s idealized version of how to feed the world:

Tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
I want to rush to the start
Running in circles
Chasing tails
Coming back as we are

We all want to feel loved, or at least appreciated, for what we do and the choices we make, personally and professionally.  Yet so much of this debate about food production amounts to running in circles and chasing our tails, coming back to the same point where the argument began.