Marco's talk

On Monday I hosted the best attended CFUW-Ottawa Environment Action meeting so far; 44 people turned up this time, signing in from their homes in Italy, Canada, England and Wales, the Welsh couple being our friends Andrew and Kay who tell me they have become members of wedonthavetime.org. The Canadians weren't just from Ottawa; people from a like-minded, sister group from CFUW-Oakville west of Toronto, and from a Nature Society at Vankleek Hill, ON, are also being invited to these meetings, now. Some of the Toronto delegation belong to a pressure group unrelated to the CFUW, called GASP (Grandmothers Act To Save the Planet).

Our speaker was Dr. Marco Bertaglia (@marco_bertaglia) from Italy, arguing for a transformation of conventional agriculture. It was due to a lucky chance that I managed to make contact with this agroecologist. He is a colleague and friend of my daughter. When Emma mentioned that I was looking for guest speakers for an environmental group in Ottawa, Marco generously volunteered.

His presentation was stimulating enough for many of my Environment Action friends to stay behind and carry on talking about the topic long after he had left. Marco has been working for the scientific arm of the EU Commission, doing scientific research and also working in the field. Literally: he tries to grow his own food and is very knowledgeable about the microbiology of soils. He’s currently on sabbatical leave, but has been taking part in webinars such as the international, "Ask a Scientist" panel discussion last May.

Marco says that everything is wrong with our conventional farming system and believes that, unless we change our agricultural policies, we are heading for extinction, but he also believes that there are viable solutions to feeding the world without destroying it. This was his motivation for joining the Extinction Rebellion movement. On his Twitter page Marco describes himself as a Rebel For Life (this is XR's signature slogan). He also spends a large proportion of his time on something else that’s important to him; he's a Quaker who offers training in non-violent communications. He mentioned Marshall Rosenberg in this connection.

So what solutions are there? The main thrusts from agroecologists are to stop using pesticides and artificial fertilisers altogether (crops don't need them; properly grown plants actually manage better without them) and to ban tillage. The only mulch that ought to be used on crops is hay. "Spontaneous vegetation" growing in the fields should be seen as useful and should not be called "weeds". Abandon monoculture; it doesn't work. If farmers respect the natural structure of soil, an equilibrium can be restored. The more complex the ecosystem, the more produce it will yield and the less CO₂ it will emit (only a sixth as much as conventional modern farms). So the positive consequences of farming in this less destructive way are to diminish the "intensity of climate disaster" and to halt biodiversity loss.

We need to learn to import and export fewer foodstuffs too. Marco "walks the walk" as one of my group members put it, refusing to drink tea, even, until it can be cultivated in Italy. (He knows of someone who's trying to do that.) We wouldn't starve. Properly managed, 1 hectare of land can provide enough food for 15 people. In urban environments we need to develop new farming methods: hydroponics, vertical growing systems, vegetable gardens on roofs, etc. He mentioned the potential for "food forests" in London and certain unused spaces in and around Milan that could be devoted to urban farming.

I and others asked how all this can apply to Canada where the winters are so long and his answer was to say that here, as everywhere, we need to choose crops that suit the place they're grown in. Choose the best possible seeds and the best possible positions for what's being grown. A cold harsh climate doesn't have to be a limitation. He mentioned the Rocky Mountain Institute that's helping cities, communities, states, and regions meet their energy and climate goals, and told us of their greenhouse in the Colorado mountains where bananas are being cultivated!

He mentioned an organic, "agroforestry" research centre in E. Anglia, England, known as Wakelyns. (Ottawa has its Experimental Farm as well, a national institution.)

The UN's Global Assessment of 2019 concluded that in order to effect transformative change, there has to be a momentous "shift in principles" so that transformation can happen. Once before in history, said Marco, there was such a shift — from small to large farms. Only now we want to do this the other way around, and become more self-sufficient. Scepticism about these ideas is still widespread, and some people are deliberately obstructive, of course, the big agri-businesses in particular. This is why the Extinction Rebellion movement (non-violent civil disobedience inspired by Gandhi's example) is obliged to cause a disturbance. It is acting in desperation.