This weekend (Fed 22 -23) I attended the 15th annual conference of Georgia Organics (“GO”), which emphasized the importance of nutrition. This was my 8th conference and each time I wonder if I will learn anything new and the result is always a resounding “yes”. The organization has grown robustly. Lots of young food activists. I asked one last evening at the concluding Farmers Feast dinner why Atlanta has such a strong movement and he said “leadership”. Atlanta has growing ethnic populations such as its Korean community but they are not active in GO. Atlanta is relatively liberal, the rest of Georgia less so, but the support for GO is not confined to Atlanta. Maybe it is economics and the growing realization that small farmers can only compete against the distant large scale farms with local niche products and that the label “organic” makes a very big difference. And, of course, there is growing awareness of importance of good food and nutrition. But give big credit to the leadership. Certainly it was poor leadership in several large (supposedly top) companies I invested in which resulted in their disastrous outcomes so it is only fair to credit the leaders when the results are great.
The title of this year’s GO was “Farm Rx” with “Rx” being the abbreviation for a medical prescription and this represented a pivot (an increasingly overused term following our President’s pivot to the East) to the medical community. Makes a lot of sense – if the influential medical community recognizes the importance of good food and nutrition to good health outcomes, what a big step this will be. A key sponsor was Kaiser Permanente, a mainly west coast organization, and this will hopefully galvanize interest from the large local hospital groups (Emory, Wellstar and Piedmont).
The keynote speakers were very good especially Robyn O’ Brien who linked the food we eat to allergies and many of the serious illnesses we suffer, and gave her presentation a patriotic bent by asserting that bad food weakens our standing as a nation. It is all about good nutrition. I do not blame the food companies because I believe a company’s first duty is to its shareholder owners, which it fulfills by effectively and legally promoting and selling its products, thereby increasing its profits and their return. Loyalty to employees and the community are, at best, secondary. It is the government and the regulators and the practitioners and the consuming public who bear the responsibility for avoiding bad outcomes.
Another keynote speaker was Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN who interspersed his talk with a physical demonstration of the recommended and actual amounts of sugar we consume daily – mind boggling. He included extracts from his one hour documentary “The Last Heart Attack” (easily googled). Well presented with interviews with President Clinton and the outspoken Dr Ellestyn and his vegan diet. I am focusing more now on the quality of my nutrition – I eat a lot of nuts and cheese and, following the documentary, I am resolved to cut back on, but not eliminate, oils (nuts) and anything which has a mother (meat, fish, chicken) and dairy. My daily home machined cappucino treat will now use soy milk.
In my next post I include some insights from the workshops and lectures I attended.
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Tadpole update – the tadpole bubble in the pond in the woods now only contains a few tadpoles. Where are the others – eaten or surviving? And then I noticed in the far corner, which catches the afternoon sun, several motionless below the water and only bestirring themselves when I got too close.
Chicken update – the hens returned to egg laying duties a couple of weeks ago, except for the Ameraucana. I assumed she might be too old. And then this week – 3 dark green eggs!