Thanksgiving Thoughts on Agriculture and the Knowledge Era

Thanksgiving celebrates a story that unites Americans around the idea of sharing (and being thankful) for the food and many blessings we enjoy. It harkens to an agricultural era that pre-dated the industrial era that marked much of our country’s history. So I thought this would be a good week to share a few thoughts on how agriculture has changed over the years—and how it will undergo many more changes as we shift to the knowledge era.

The systemization of agriculture made the industrial age possible, freeing workers from subsistence to production of goods.

And then the industrial age brought increased automation and “industrialization” to the sector. Today, agriculture is a perfect reflection of the design constraints and practices of the industrial era including large scale production and distribution as well as heavy use of machinery and chemicals. The underlying assumption was/is that mechanization should be used to replace human labor. In the industrial era, fuel consumption, greenhouse gases and other forms of pollution were not as important as they are becoming today.

Every day I read about exciting new developments in agriculture that reflect the new design constraints of our times and the new possibilities of the knowledge era. Here are a couple. Read more

Is Sysco an Example for Sustainability?

One of my favorite magazines for recreational reading is Saveur. It is a food magazine that features everyday food around the world. It’s like being invited into a private home on a trip around the world. No pretension, just real people and real food. And there is an incredible variety of real people around the world so it gets pretty interesting.

But I don’t read it for business information. So I was surprised to see a recent column (although I probably shouldn’t have been) on Sysco entitled Greener Giant. It asked the question, “Can an emblem of industrialized food also stand for sustainability?

Most of us think of Sysco as the giant distribution company that delivers mass quantities of food to institutional kitchens. And that’s what they do. But it was very interesting to see how they see sustainability relating to their business. Read more