The Town-Country Single Economy
Traditionally, a 10,000 population market town in the Old World was surrounded by farms growing the food that fed the region. There was great variety in foods region-by-region, which is what we now celebrate as French, Italian, Chinese, Lebanese, Thai, Greek, Mexican and so many more special national or regional foods... except that the original sources of those foods are literally dying off. Soon we may only have such foods served in chain restaurants and in the big cities completely disconnected from their regional roots.
Once a week in that old economy, the farmers would come to town, sell their goods and buy supplies. The region was also dotted with smaller villages that typically had a general store, a church and two pubs. The market town and the villages formed the single town-country economy with the surrounding farms.
The New World invented a new dual economy, in which farms shifted to monoculture, growing food that would be shipped to collection centers and then distributed nation-wide or even world-wide. This new system is entirely dependent on cheap oil and dosing fields with toxic chemicals to work. It also resulted in foods grown not for their flavor or health-giving qualities, but durability. Gradually, the middleman in this new industry became wealthy, and farmers became price takers, not price setters.
Europeans think they still live with the traditional single economy. However, increasingly they are witnessing the split so familiar in the New World. If the people in a community shop at a chain supermarket, the odds are that most of their food comes from somewhere else and they no longer have a single town-country economy. After the split occurs, pressure is brought to bear on the local government to permit rezoning the farms for suburban sprawl housing, strip malls and office parks. Food can come from "somewhere else", although eventually we may find too much good land was paved over.
This creates vulnerability as the middleman and speculators control the price of food. Farmers and consumers become price takers. It's not that the cost of growing food is increasing, it's the bidding for it in a global market that drives the price up... food shortages as a way for speculators to make quick profits. When one restores the single town-country economy, that economy steps out of the global casino economy, and steps back into a sensible one where fair prices are negotiated between grower and consumer, with fixed price contracts. This gives both the farmer and the consumer economic stability, and by cutting out the middleman and dependency on cheap oil, it assures long-term affordable, high quality food.
Not all farmers will choose to participate; some will continue with mono-crops. Others however, will appreciate the choice that is introduced in their region. They no longer are forced to be price-takers. Further, the VillageTown market promises to offer stability. As long as 10,000 people need to eat three meals a day, the market remains. From the VillageTown perspective, this also buys a form of long-term insurance. We read that food will increasingly become a commodity that is priced not on what it costs to grow, but on market demand, where the retain cost will be driven by speculation on demand. For the VillageTown to protect its commonwealth, it is prudent that it step out of this global market and get back to basics. The cost of food should be the cost of growing it, affected by rain, sun, wind and storm, not the speculators of Wall Street. In some cases, the VillageTown legacy fund may deem it prudent to actually purchase nearby farms so that food sources are permanently secured.
All of this is based on leveling the playing field in the market economy to benefit the people and communities of the VillageTown and the surrounding region. Wouldn't you love to be able to walk to a multitude of cafe's with different ethnic foods that come from local growers? Just part of why a Village Town in Eastern Missouri is a good idea. Let me know if you agree.
This is right on.
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