A good reason to become resilient — beyond creating a better and more prosperous life for you, your family, and your community — is to limit the impact of global disruptions.
One type of disruption we’re going to see more of is one caused by a technological “innovation” that runs amok.
We saw that in the financial markets a couple of years ago. In that case, a pile of “financial innovation” built to rig global markets blew up, and we almost saw a system wide reboot.
There are more innovations out there that threaten the same. One is GMO foods. Foods made with genetically modified organisms.
In this case,”innovative” genetically modified foods have become nearly ubiquitous in the United States.
The flaw in this is that GMOs pose a potential health threat (we are currently experimenting with GMOs in a population wide “live” trial, the biggest health experiment in history).
Until we know more, smart people around the world are looking ways to minimize the number of GMOs in their diet. One of the first steps to doing that is to get labels on all food that contains GMOs in it.
That’s happening, despite the tens of millions big food is spending to defeat initiatives to force labeling. Outside the US, the number of countries mandating that GMO labels is increasing. Inside the US, there are lots of groups gearing up to force it to occur in their states (see the chart below from just label it) and stores like Whole Foods is in the process of mandating it.
Unfortunately, this is likely to turn out badly, particularly for US agriculture.
On the one side, you have a growing global market that demands better, higher quality local foods free of GMOs. On the other, you have an industry that won’t let go of the monopoly profits its patents on genetically modified foods provides.
This is a battle the industry won’t win. The market for US agricultural products will continue to shrink as customers vote with their pocket books. Labeling will happen, slower in the US than other places, but it will happen.
At some point, and this is almost inevitable given the complexities/greed/incompetence involved, there will be a GMO related health problem that will cause a panic. At that point, US agricultural products will become toxic. Nobody with any concern for their health will want to eat them.
As a result, the prices for GMO free alternatives will soar. Of course, if you aren’t already growing your own food locally (either in a home/community garden or as part of a CSA farm), you will be out of luck.
My advice?
Get started early with local food. Take control of your future. Don’t become a casualty of a broken system.
Resiliently Yours,
JOHN ROBB
