Principal Three: Community Growth (People)
Eating is an agricultural act – Wendell Berry: farmer, poet, author and activist Figure 32: The Pleasures of Eating (Berry, 1990, p.1)
The above statement is from Wendell Berry (Figure 32). It is a statement of individual empowerment because it seems to suggest that every time people make choices about what we eat and from whom we purchase products, we are voting on the direction in which we want our food system to move (Fassler, 2013). I expect to establish a DSFH culture motivated to evolve the food system narrative in this manner. This evolution will start by listening to a diverse profile of people, understanding their mindset about the food system, and making our DSFH community values clear to them. To make this evolution a reality it is crucial that the entire community, whether an individual, start-up, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), large multinational, nongovernmental organisation (NGO), university or government, take a fresh look at questions around our values. To take a fresh look at how to organise all stakeholders in an interconnected and diverse world, which includes sharing clean data to further build food system relationships. It is the mindset for levelling the playing field by distributing equity to a diverse range of profiles dissecting food system problems (Ohsin, 2017). This is significant for solving problems because finding solutions start with identifying assumptions we want to overcome. Thus, diversity in those assumptions and the process of thinking about how to overcome the assumption might lead to new value propositions and solutions previously not considered. It would be diverse perspectives towards the basic elements that define the need or want of a customer, which are based on unique experiences. And then testing what-if solution scenarios for numerous new ideas with as much symmetric data as we can organise. It is a mindset to level the playing field so more people, asking additional questions, testing further solutions, with comprehensive data, for more diverse new solutions, and while compensating real people for creating data, all in efforts to create better products and services. Twenty-thousand years ago, a change in conditions from reliance on hunting and gathering of food to relying on domesticated agricultural practices brought about more stable socioeconomic relations. At that time, the trust developed from the nutritional utility of the food system led to food products becoming a currency. This eventually led to products at bulk
DatasmartFarmhand.com
51
