Reviving folk agriculture in the modern food economy

I love this idea. The more it expands and become successful, the more I think we'll see an overall improvement in the health of people throughout Appalachia.

Mountain XPress
Asheville, North Carolina
Reviving folk agriculture in the modern food economy
July 23, 2014
by Aiyanna Sezak-Blatt

Historically, food systems in the Appalachian Mountains relied on tight-knit communities working together to create food security on a local level. These traditional agricultural systems made food and food production an intimate and inextricable part of daily life. But today those everyday interactions — with the plants, animals and the practice of raising them — are becoming less and less common.

In 1790, 90 percent of Americans were farmers. Today that figure is less than 1 percent. The change is particularly noticeable in the South, which up until the 1950s, was a largely agrarian society. Now, some are calling for a rebuilding and supporting of a locally focused food system, which used to be prevalent in Appalachia.

“Traditional agriculture in Appalachia was highly local,” says James Veteto, executive director of the Appalachian Institute for Mountain Studies in Celo, who teaches at Western Carolina University. “It was supplemented by hunting, fishing and wildcrafting of a wide variety of locally available, seasonal wild foods and medicines … and there was a fair amount of trade.”

Veteto and others at AIMS are working to foster food systems that blend Appalachian environmental knowledge with modern technology. They hold classes on traditional agriculture, permaculture, wild food and medicinal herbs, supporting a resurgence of the principles of older “folk systems” into a modern economy....

MORE at http://mountainx.com/living/farm-garden/reliving-history-bringing-folk-agriculture-back-to-the-modern-food-economy/