Those of us who support local farming in general and the work of the North Amherst Community Farm non-profit specifically are concerned about the long term impact of industrial farming. This story from England suggests that “As long as society sees farming only as a business and food as just a commodity, we’re all headed for ruin.” We agree….. do you? Please share your thoughts in the comments box below!
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MATTERDALE, England — I am a traditional small farmer in the North of England. I farm sheep in a mountainous landscape, the Lake District fells. It is a farming system that dates back as many as 4,500 years. A remarkable survival. My flock grazes a mountain alongside 10 other flocks, through an ancient communal grazing system that has somehow survived the last two centuries of change. Wordsworth called it a “perfect republic of shepherds.”
It’s not your efficient modern agribusiness. My farm struggles to make enough money for my family to live on, even with 900 sheep. The price of my lambs is governed by the supply of imported lamb from the other side of the world. So I have one foot in something ancient and the other foot in the 21st-century global economy.
northamherstcommunityfarm.com 