PROPOSAL: Regenerative Agriculture
APPROVAL PROCESS & DATE: GPVA vote taken Sep 24-26, 2019
AUTHOR: Green Party of Virginia, cochairs Tina Rockett, roktt@icloud.com, and Bryce Davis, bad1128@gmail.com.
CONTACT: Tina Rockett, roktt@icloud.com
III. Ecological Sustainability, A. Climate Change, 6. Regenerative Agriculture
BACKGROUND
The present language on Regenerative Agriculture in the Climate Change section of our platform can be strengthened by noting that individuals can effect important change through divesting from and boycotting industrially raised animal and plant foods. This brief insertion meets this purpose.
PROPOSAL: Addition of Subparagraph d. to III.A.6 (Climate Change)
CURRENT:
6. Regenerative Agriculture
a. End industrialized agriculture methods, including monocropping, reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and the use of confined animal operations, all of which are high-order contributors to atmospheric greenhouse gases.
b. Convert our food producing systems to small-scale Regenerative Agriculture (agroecology) systems to restore soil health, sequester carbon, foster biodiversity, and secure robust ecosystem services for a sustainable future.
c. Replace subsidation of industrially produced agricultural products with support for small producers employing regenerative agricultural methods. Localize food distribution systems to minimize waste, build rural communities, and eliminate reliance on fossil fuels.
PROPOSED:
6. Regenerative Agriculture
a. End industrialized agriculture methods, including monocropping, reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and the use of confined animal operations, all of which are high-order contributors to atmospheric greenhouse gases.
b. Convert our food producing systems to small-scale Regenerative Agriculture (agroecology) systems to restore soil health, sequester carbon, foster biodiversity, and secure robust ecosystem services for a sustainable future.
c. Replace subsidation of industrially produced agricultural products with support for small producers employing regenerative agricultural methods. Localize food distribution systems to minimize waste, build rural communities, and eliminate reliance on fossil fuels.
d. Boycott and divest from the cruelty, health threats and political influence of Big Ag. Up to 99% of plant and animal food products are Factory Farm produced, but individuals have the power to affect this statistic. Without changing a single law, every meal that does not include industrially farmed meat, dairy, eggs, corn (including corn-derived fructose such as is used in soft drinks), soy, and other monocropped annuals is an immediate climate action.”
Not sure this is the place for this wording. Our platform can say that Greens support a boycott and divestment movement, but the platform is not the place to launch or introduce this idea. We can’t mandate that all Greens participate by placing this in our platform. Most of this statement is background rather than policy. I would like to see this as a separate proposal from EcoAction along with some supporting educational and outreach material and let the NC vote on it as a GP initiative. Once we have a movement started, then we can make support of this movement part of our platform.
I agree with Jan here, including possible next steps. The addition of d doesn’t account for the realities of those who live in food deserts in urban areas. I suggest leaving off d and modifying c
build urban and rural communities around local food production.
I am in favor of local, small, probably family run farms. I believe that a Universal Basic Income for employees and the farmers be established. I believe that every proposal should take into consideration the effect on the ability of the Green Party to acquire state power. Cheap food has been a policy of this empire for a long time. Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz, back in the 1960s, told farmers to “Get Big or Get Out!” We should explain why this was a wrong headed policy. We could say, ‘Be sustainable and healthy or Be Gone!’ Few things are going to happen overnight until there is no alternative in the eyes of the majority of people. In that spirit, what does the transition period look like? Yes, let’s prohibit CAFOs and industrial agriculture, but imagine if there is a measurable adverse impact on consumers ability to buy ‘food’. CAFOs are presently subsidized by government, possibly directly, which should stop over a period of say 2 years. Lax environmental regulations, as applies to sewage holding ponds, is another form of subsidy that has been tolerated. Appropriate sewerage treatment plants at CAFOs would be prohibitively expensive, but we Greens should insist they be built over a short time period without subsidy. That would force the owner to phase out the operation or invest heavily and thereby raise the price of his products thereby improving the competitiveness of small, local, regenerative, sustainable farms.
If we’re going to bother revising this plank, we certainly should replace the word “subsidation”!
Change: “c. Replace subsidation of industrially ”
TO: “Replace subsidizing industrial produced agricultural products….”