One topic I will discuss often on this blog is our relationship with fossil fuels and how we can strive to live our lives in such a way that minimizes our reliance on them.

Fossil fuels are the backbone of US agriculture - they create fertilizers, pesticides, power farm equipment, and transport the average produce item on your plate 1,500 miles from where it was grown. Believe it or not, Avocados from Chile are only made possible by relatively cheap fossil fuel enabled supply chains. Given massively increasing demand for fossil fuels worldwide and the fact global oil production is about to start decreasing, oil prices are going to increase A LOT in coming years. And with increased oil prices, the systems that depend on cheap oil most, like transporting agricultural goods long distances, are going to change out of simple necessity and economic pressure.

Ten years from now when faced with the purchasing decision of choosing a $1 locally grown pound of apples or a $30 Avocado from Chile, I think most of us will choose the apples no matter how bad we crave the Avocado. Locally grown food is simply going to make far more economic sense when shipping costs have doubled, tripled, or more. Also, for all of you environmentalists out there with what I call “global warming tunnel-vision,” local agriculture is incredibly less carbon intensive!

Another positive element of urban and local agriculture is that it builds real community! Suburban America is about as un-community based as you can get and I think the massive proliferation of online social networking tools like myspace and facebook ardently demonstrate this fact. People simply feel disconnected, and are trying to find community anywhere they can. I love peace and solitude but I’ll admit I am guilty too as I have spent countless hours on facebook trying to feel “connections” when I could have simply gone to a park and talked to real flesh and blood people! Local and urban agriculture build the basis of real community: interdependent groups of people who have a vested interest in their future.

I often worry what will happen when necessity and economics force us to quickly adapt to local and urban agriculture, but videos like this give me real hope:

(Video found on a French eco-blog)