As I am an advocate of local and organic farming, the meanings of food security, food sustainability and food sovereignty often come up in discussions about the future of agriculture. The perfect storm of the collective issues of our industrial food systems, corporate control, genetic manipulation, peak oil, global warming and economic imbalance all have a connection to the emergence and use of these terms.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations defines the concept of food security as: “… when all people at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. The vast majority of the western population cannot or choose not to look very far beyond their own personal situation. It is easy to think that food security is only referring to the one billion people on the planet that are undernourished - many in third world countries. However, there is also a growing number at home that live in food insecure households and communities. Food insecurity for some includes safety issues, chemical residues, genetic manipulation, and loss of nutrients in processing. Link this with the growing awareness of the relationship between peak oil, global warming and the number of miles food travels before it reaches our table and you cannot help but begin to connect the dots.

There is much talk about localizing our food systems and moving toward a more sustainable model that takes into account the multiple issues that arise in all agricultural systems. In a nutshell sustainability is about meeting the needs of the present without compromising the environmental, economic and social needs of the future generations. In agriculture the ideal is to produce food indefinitely without causing irreversible damage to the ecosystem. We are recognizing that uninformed eating choices do measurably affect our own health and quality of life and by extension the social landscape and environment. Sustainable farming practices are only possible with the collaboration of the communities they serve, benefiting all of the players in the system.

“Food Sovereignty” is a term coined by La Via Campesina, an organization representing more than 100 million peasants, farmers, and farm labourers around the planet. The heart of this movement is to reclaim the ability of the people to make decisions about their food systems, to begin the removal of the control from the corporate food cartels. The vision is to rebuild the web of relationships of our food systems from the field to table and to move beyond rhetoric to action. Food sovereignty means doing the things that allow our communities to become more food secure and resilient. Some of these actions are as simple as saving seeds and understanding that we are all part of the continuum—In Wendell Barry’s words, “We all eat for a living”.

Living on an Island where 95 per cent of our food comes over on the ferries it is enlightened self-interest that we support our local farmers and growers and do everything we can to encourage closer to home food production. The tried and true adage of “voting with your dollars” is more important than ever in the efforts to localize our food sources. It is estimated that every time we choose local food over distant food the carbon footprint is 20 to 70 times less. Local food is fresher and nutritionally superior and each dollar spent re-circulates in the community six to 15 times. This is the sort of stuff that truly builds community.

The “soaked in oil agricultural” model we currently have is out of necessity being re-imagined by multitudes of people around the world. Governments, NGO’s, and civic organizations are responding and addressing food and agricultural issues as a critical part of their planning process. Change is inevitable and the more we participate the more influence we have on the choices of the future.

“We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it.” ~ Wendell Berry