Issue #18: FARMLAND
Dear NCV friends,
We would like to welcome you back to another installment of nocommercialvalue.org. This week, we recruited some friends to helps us continue the discussion generated by the last week’s show, “Who’s hungry?.” So, we continue by going to the farm.
Decades of industrialization, massive migrations, and rapid technological developments have altered the way we produce and consume food, often putting farming and agriculture in the center of heated political debates. As we enter the so-callled “green” age, spotlights turn to farming once again. This week’s show will look at farmlands, and we will explore narratives about various relationships to this type of land: from ownership to loss, from expansion to reinvention, from past to present to future. Here is what we have for you:
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|CONTENT|
❶ THE HUTTERITES
by Colin Low
1964, 27m5s
via NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA
The followers of religious leader Jacob Hutter live in farm communities, devoutly holding to the rules their founder laid down four centuries ago. Through the kindness of a Hutterite colony in Alberta, this film, in black and white, was made inside the community and shows all aspects of the Hutterites’ daily life.
➋ FARM FRENZY 3
by ALAWAR
GAME
EXCERPT: GAME REVIEW By JohnB
“The basic premise remains the same, though, which is good news for everyone. You begin with a small patch of dirt and a few egg-laying birds. Click the ground to plant grass, wait for the birds to eat, then gather the eggs and store them in your warehouse. When the warehouse gets full, click on your truck to load it up and send it to town, selling your goods for cash!
After a few levels, Farm Frenzy 3 introduces what it’s most famous for: refinement buildings. Why sell an egg when you can turn it into egg powder and sell it for a higher profit? Why sell egg powder when you can turn it into cookies which go for even more? Refinement buildings are where the fun is at, and using them efficiently is the key to mastering any Farm Frenzy game.”
➌ VALLEY OF TEARS
by HART PERRY
2003
VIA SNAGFLIMS
Hart Perry (Director of Photography – HARLAN COUNTY USA), has documented the lives of Mexican-American migrant farm workers in Raymondville, TX since 1979 when the onion workers’ strike broke out. What followed was a fight not only for higher pay but also for equal rights and representation. For 24 years, the county’s Mexican-American residents were determined to fight for what is right. VALLEY OF TEARS is a complex story of the long journey of individuals who endure hardship in order to make a better future for their families. (description by snagfilms)
➍ COMMON GROUND
motionphoto essay by SCOTT STRAZZANTE
VIA MEDIASTORM
On July 2, 2002, Jean and Harlow Cagwin watched as their home — the last remnant of their 118-acre cattle farm in Lockport, Illinois — was torn down clearing the way for a new housing development. Several years later, Ed and Amanda Grabenhofer and their four children moved into the new Willow Walk subdivision, their house just yards from where the Cagwin’s home once stood.
Common Ground introduces us to the lives touched by this land, as photographer Scott Strazzante takes us on a visual journey exploring the differences and similarities of these two families while simultaneously asking us to look at what is common among us all.
❺ Small Is Bountiful
by Peter Rosset
The Ecologist, v.29, i.8, De99
Dr. Peter Rosset is based in Oaxaca, Mexico, where he is a researcher at the Centro de Estudios para el Cambio en el Campo Mexicano (Center of Studies for Rural Change in Mexico), and co-coordinator of the Land Research Action Network.
An article advocating farming on small scale.
❻ VERTICAL FARMING?
THE IDEA
Vertical Farming concept by Dickson Despommier
The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes, a wide variety of herbs, and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another 3 billion people. An entirely new approach to indoor farming must be invented, employing cutting edge technologies. The Vertical Farm must be efficient (cheap to construct and safe to operate). Vertical farms, many stories high, will be situated in the heart of the world’s urban centers. If successfully implemented, they offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (year-round crop production), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming.
CONCERNS
“The third green revolution?” by Jim Thomas
an article addressing various concerns about vertical farming
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We hope you will enjoy the show.
As always, we would love to hear any ideas you would like to see explored here.
Peace,
Amir Husak
Prem Sooriyakumar
www.nocommercialvalue.org
