Do You Grow Your Own Food?

The Dilemma Continues Over Fresh Foods

So many people have now become aware of the big corporations who are growing our food and there are way too many mixed results to ignore the problems anymore. There are all kinds of protests, demands for better labeling with consumers walking away from the big supermarket chains. This is definitely making big corporations pay more attention to what people want to see more of in the way of fresh foods.

Americans have always been backyard and community growers and were huge advocates for Victory Gardens from WW1 up until the mid 1960's. SO What happened to us at that point in time?

Big corporations took over the mom and pops farms that had been owned for generations, they introduced their own version of growing and promised to eradicate hunger and starvation within our world. Some forty plus years later we are still waiting for the starvation promise to be gone because if anything, it looks worse than ever before. 

What we now see in supermarkets are cans, packets, plastic containers and jugs all filled with foods that have questionable ingredients in them and consumers are now voting with their feet. 60% of Americans are now eating food that is not fresh but is actually placed in containers for supermarkets. 

Our water is contaminated, our soil is quickly becoming depleted of minerals, our oceans are being fished out and our food is questionable with things like GMO and additives. People are fed up. 

The Tide Is Changing

The big trends that seem to be making a comeback are Farmers Markets where the consumer can ask questions to the grower about sprays, pesticides and other things on the fruit and vegetables. People want to connect to local growers and farmers and support their efforts. 

Growing locally just makes perfect sense to most people. The food isn't trucked in 1500 miles away and tastes a lot fresher. Who wants to eat apples that taste like cardboard anyway? 

Co-Operatives are becoming huge because they promote local growers, farmers and proudly advertise natural organic foods. They encourage the people who are part of the Co-Op to keep on supporting local. 

Consumers are turning their backs on companies who will not take certain ingredients out of food like High Fructose Corn Syrup (Mercury Derivative) or Azodicarbonamide (found in bread and other products). People are quickly losing faith in big corporations and we are now taking the process of growing food more seriously. 

Forbes Magazine says this from a recent article they wrote "Consumers’ health is front and center for those who churn out the food products that will line supermarket shelves in the next year."

*The above article is referring to big companies like Campbells who have promised to remove some very questionable ingredients from their food and deliver a healthier product.

Another Trend On The Increase 

We are finding more consumers who want to try and grow their own food instead of having to rely on big agriculture and food corporations who tell us "It's all good, there is nothing in our food to worry about." People are finding that statement very hard to believe. Actually big profit losses with corporations like McDonalds proves consumers are paying attention. Seriously who wants to eat Chicken Nuggets with plasticized fillers in the food?

You can check out McDonalds website for more food ingredients.  Are your ingredients 100% pure? "Pure" is a word that means different things to different people. This is a direct quote from their site.

What the ASC Magazine is trying to do is ask colleges, teachers and people who are growing food to participate in our magazine. Share your stories, experiments and even your personal victories with growing food. We want to help you publish your experiments and home grown experiences. 

We don't care if you are doing this through aquaponics or permaculture because either way you are helping to educate other people who are desperately searching out more information. 

This is the link to sign up and receive your FREE Copy of the ASC Magazine. 

http://aquaponics-how-to-guide.info/professional-membership/

If you would like to share a website or blog, let us know. We can share your information and Vice Versa. We would be happy to help out small businesses and professionals. Our magazine feels this is the best way to bring more people together by supporting other Professionals and Growers in the industry. 

Here is the link to writing an article for the ASC Magazine. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Happy Growing Everyone

Victoria Kelley

ASC Magazine Editor