Raj Patel Quotes

Why should conservationists have a positive interest in... farming? There are lots of reasons, but the plainest is: Conservationists eat.

If we don't get sustainability right in agriculture first, it won't happen anywhere.

Bring diversity back to agriculture. That's what made it work in the first place.

I have a long attention span, and I am also a good scientist, and there are a lot of problems that remain in the organic agricultural movement that the government does not invest in solving.

We must continue as in millennia past, nourishing the future as we feed ourselves and, each year, plant only the very best of what we have collectively engineered.

I see many youngsters giving up their IT jobs and going to farming or taking up organic farming so that kids in future will stay a bit more healthier. That's one cause I really want to take up.

Organic is loaded with a sense of rightness, with a set of rules. I would much rather someone bought food that was local and sustainable but not organic than bought organic food that had to be shipped across the world.

I think that if people would be willing to grow some of their own food or eat locally grown organic foods on a regular basis we could significantly decrease the amount of harmful chemicals we pump into our soil every day.

Look at our farmers' markets today, bursting with heritage breeds and heirloom varieties, foods that were once abundant when we were an agricultural nation, but that we have lost touch with. Bringing all these back helps us connect to our roots, our communities and helps us feed America the proper way.

There is a growing market today for local, organic foods produced by small farmers. And farmers' markets have played a large role in making that happen.

We've gotten so far away from our food source. It's been hijacked from us. But if you get soil, plant something in it and water it, you can feed yourself. It's that simple.

People in Slow Food understand that food is an environmental issue.

If we went back to the basics of vegetables, legumes, grains - the things closer to the Earth - it's a lot better for the Earth and for other people. We can feed more people, we can feed the starving people.

Conventional agriculture has never succeeded in feeding the world, and it's never produced anything good to eat. For the future, we need to look toward alternatives.

Instead of buying into the global agenda, which is using food as just industrial stuff, we would say we view food as biological, a living thing, that belongs in smaller communities.

I have a generally optimistic temperament and am thrilled by what I see as a rapidly growing food movement, especially among young people who care about how food is produced and what it does to their health and the environment.

We can choose food that doesn't lead to illnesses like diabetes and cancer. We can choose food that doesn't contribute to water pollution and climate change. And we can choose food that keeps local economies vibrant and farmers on their land.

Maybe we need to re-engage our smart, energetic youth around the world to be farmers and find fresh, green technologies that will feed the world more fresh greens.

To me, the most critical thing in agriculture is investing in the peasant agriculture, transforming peasant agriculture.

I came to all the realizations about sustainability and biodiversity because I fell in love with the way food tastes. That was it. And because I was looking for that taste I feel at the doorsteps of the organic, local, sustainable farmers, dairy people and fisherman.

These and other developments in the field of agriculture contain the makings of a new revolution. It is not a violent Red Revolution like that of the Soviets, nor is it a White Revolution like that of the Shah of Iran. I call it the Green Revolution

It's a free society. But don't tell the world that we can feed the present population without chemical fertilizer. That's when this misinformation becomes destructive.

We need to ban all air-freighted food. Carrots from Holland. Potatoes from Egypt. It's got to stop.

So, I went to McGill University in Montreal to study soil chemistry and microbiology, which I did complete, but realized early that little of this could be applied in our country, because we were learning of a Green Revolution that would suit a farmer who had 3,500 acres and not our poor farmer.

I have a tremendous platform and responsibility to talk to people about these issues about sustainability and about health and wellness when it comes to food.