Abundance vs. Scarcity

We Believe…

as stewards of the earth, we are called to care for not only the earth, but all the things of the earth as well (i.e. water, air, plants, animals). As caretakers of this piece of God’s Garden, our efforts should maintain and improve all forms of soil, air, water, and animal life that form the whole of what the earth is. We also believe in the redemptive capacity of the earth when properly cared for. As stewards of the earth, we are in the redemption business. That entails healing the land and the food directly, which heals the economy and the culture indirectly.

Abundance vs. Scarcity –
By Sam Fisher

Most of us think of abundance as a positive word, although plenteous amounts of some things can be negative. But that should perhaps be expressed as “over-abundance.” For example, when it comes to abundant food or abundant money, we think of abundance as a measure of security. Or for me as a grass-farmer to have abundant grass in the pastures, abundant earthworms (which indicate vibrant soil health), even abundant demand for our food, are things we consider to be blessings.

It has been said that our perception of abundance vs. scarcity is a mentality similar to glass-half-full vs. glass-half-empty. That may be partly true, at least in some situations, but in the context I’m about to delve into I would suggest that the one side actually promotes abundance whereas the other furthers a sort of pseudo-abundance that becomes scarcity over time.

One of the foremost conversations in conventional food and agriculture revolve around scarcity. Whether it’s disease, pestilence, or newscasters postulating about world populations surpassing agriculture’s food-producing ability, scarcity seems to be the overriding concern. However, the scarcity mentality prevails in more than just agricultural circles. We live in a time when many people are obsessed with scarcity. Half of environmental science class at any university is devoted to it. We’re running out of energy, money, minerals, food, water, species, air. In the 1970’s, radical environmentalists predicted that we’d be out of oil by the 1980’s. I don’t say that to disprove them, because the world could still be running out of oil, but I use it as an example of the prevalent scarcity mentality.

Scarcity in food production is not nature’s design—it’s man’s design. Early settlers to the America’s found vibrantly productive soils that yielded abundantly with little care. But they and the generations who followed them did not possess the knowledge of how to properly steward and maintain these pristine conditions. Like most technologies, mechanized farming via tractors, plows, and other high-output tillage equipment outran the knowledge of how to properly steward its use to the betterment of mankind. As the subsistence farming of early America turned into the lack of inhibition of row-cropping in the industrial era (because it was now possible via mechanization), Americans quickly burned through the pristine soils formed over many centuries—and sad to say, still do.

Although mankind has gained a vast amount of knowledge about how our universe works, industrial farming is depleting mineral, soil, water, and energy resources today (creating scarcity) at unprecedented rates. No longer is it simply a lack of knowledge because a host of information now exists both online and in books on the regenerative farming and food production front. The problem, the way I see it, is that the ag community has become drunk on chemicals, GMO’s, pharmaceuticals, and CAFO’s (confinement animal feeding operations). Basically, intoxicated on sheer dominion via a purely one-sided scientific approach, which is; How can we wring more from this [already] depleted acre via chemical or genetic manipulation? It’s land and food-quality rape based on a scarcity mentality, but interestingly, it also fosters scarcity because it further depletes soil and is dependent on a fragile food distribution network and dependence on increasingly precarious fossil fuels negotiations.

That’s the bad news, but let’s not lose the good news. Thoughtful, practiced ecological food production—which is stewardship with a conscience—is building reserves again on many a reaped and abused acre. While the regenerative farming is mostly happening on relatively small acreages, by necessity, perhaps, it’s gaining steam in volume via the numbers of people who are interested in both actual farming of these acres as well as the folks who want to support it by purchasing the food. New technologies and new methods of land care in the fringe movement of regenerative land care are creating abundance out of scarcity. From lightweight fencing for intricate animal grazing control to small-scale stainless-steel processing equipment, a rising tide of interest in the creation of sustainable local food production infrastructure outside of the corporate farming arena is up and coming. While new technologies have often been used badly in terms of earth stewardship, I believe, knowing what we now do, many of these regenerative tools can be quite positive when used correctly and responsibly.

The Weston A. Price Foundation has long had a tagline that is as profound as it is short; “Technology as Servant.” Herein, I believe, lies the rub. Too often throughout history new technologies have found their way into the hearts and minds of the people who created and used them, only to become their masters. When that happens, they quickly become ruthless masters that must be honored regardless of the consequences to society. That’s the story of pesticides, genetic modification, synthetic hormones, and many more technologies used in food production today. They become hamster wheels that keep the agricultural community on the track of addiction, destruction, and depletion.

I think it’s safe to say that the scarcity mentality is based on fear. Fear of discomfort, fear of disease or pathogens, fear of financial ruin, fear of the unknown. Because fear controls farmers (and people in general), scarcity is often used as an advertising scheme to con the listening or watching audience into buying and using. By the way, I don’t buy the world hunger line so often used to support modern agriculture, for the simple reason that far more food is being produced than the world can possibly consume—which proves that the deficit lies in fair distribution rather than production.

I oppose the scarcity mentality and promote a mindset of abundance. Most of the things we fear will never happen, and even if they did, they rarely come on the scale or to the degree we imagine them. We believe the natural world provides abundance when properly stewarded. The above “We Believe” statement is a conviction we have. Furthermore, we’re just unconventional enough to think that abundance comes to those who believe in it—and who proactively pursue it. We view good earth stewardship as a win-win situation where nature abundantly rewards according to the amount of good stewardship that’s taking place.

While our family may be the hands-on stewards of this particular piece of the earth, you are definitely co-stewards with us. With that, let’s focus on the positive expressions of abundance, redemption, and healing—and keep pursuing them for the betterment of our health and families. And that’s the View from the Country.