Lacto-Vegetarian Community Supported Agriculture (LVCSA)

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

 

It was good of Pancaratna Prabhu to give us a website

address on CSA. It was quite some time ago I

researched this for my universtiy discertation on Land

Use Practices for a 10% UK Vegetarian Population. It

was on the back of said research that I took to

designing a Vegetarian Farming System, now named

Protection Farms.

 

Whilst much of the writing below is somewhat of a

reiteration of old themes it does have an added bite

that may be of interest to us all. And also whilst we

are debating the defining points to the project we are

seeking to develop, let us not keep our eyes of the

goal, or a representation of the goal, that CSA

reflects upon our work.

 

It can be noted from CSA websites that whilst there is

a great deal of writing on organic food, local food

partnerships, sustainablility, etc., there is also an

underlying empathy with vegetarianism. One must be

careful here, as my latest Vegetarain Magazine article

states, to addressing what type of vegetarianism -

vegan, or (ovo)lacto-vegetarianism (obviously as

devotees the eggs (ovo) part is not desired, but as it

is possible to take eggs without killing the hens then

it would fit into the Protection Farms model I have

envisaged, it is just that I, or most of us here,

would not do it). So CSA is proved to feed only the

vegetable matter part in a very desirable way for all

types of vegetarianism. But it uses tractors not draft

power and in general it slaughters its farm animals,

though I am sure there are the fortunate few

exceptional animals that escape this fate.

 

As ISKCON, what can we do with this?

If utility is the principle and purity the force, how

can we utilise and exploit the 'karmi CSA' to bring

into play the force of the purity behind a

non-slaughter CSA farming system?

 

This is where, to relate to my last email, an

exclusive ISKCON model that borrows heavily from

'karmi CSA' practices can by inclusion then in retrun

bring forth in the CSA model a Lacto-Vegetarian

Community Supported Agriculture (LVCSA) system. This

is a great opportunity.

 

What are the defining features to distinguish CSA from

LVCSA? Well this is the work that we are undertaking.

 

Apart from non-slaughter, hand milking, draft-powered

cultivation and on-farm transport there is another

difference that we have looked at somewhat that will

no doubt take up much of our discussions again down

the line. This is in the land trust and farm animal

lifetime security and health insurance. Most CSA farms

run on a year to year affair in terms of the cropping

share, with some long-term investment to secure land

and other essential assets. At the end of the day said

farms could just fold. LVCSA farms couls also fold,

but here the interest of the farm animals must be

built into the system. So the share planning of a

typical CSA must be expanded to incorporate this in

some way. With flexibility in mind, there could be a

short-term share in yearly crops and a long-term share

in the whole system, with the latter dictating the

amount of farm animals that have been secured into the

LVCSA.

 

The LVCSA could then prove to be the perfect way for

ox-powered cultivation to stand on its own and dictate

the amount of oxen needed. The stand-alone dairy model

itself could fit into an LVCSA, as mentioned but

discarded by ISCKONers here, and be enhanced as an

ox-powered cropping LVCSA takes off the non-productive

oxen thus reducing the dairy system costs whilst

proving use to the cultivation model. Or there could

be a combination of ways to do this.

 

Whilst the above is somewhat of a reiteration of old

themes there is an addition that we could or should

exploit. CSA is now an agricultural science with

various studies and research projects throughout the

world. If an LVCSA, a Protection Farms, Cow

Protection, or whatever, were presented to such

researchers, students and practitioners then we would

be doing eveybody a favour - a win win situation. They

could aid us in the ensuing debate on its mechanisms,

providing valued expertise and networks. And we in

turn would help them - the people, the land and the

cows (farm animals) by getting out into the mainstream

the jewel of an idea of cow protection - in a truly

21st century professional way.

 

This has been my dream and practical work for a very

long time now. This is why I ask that if on this

conference we do make an exclusive ISKCON model that

it be entirely replicable so that those who will may

secularise it into the incusive realm.

 

Also from said website:

 

Internet discussion group on all aspects of CSA for

members and farmers. For free subscription, send

e-mail message to listproc (AT) prairienet (DOT) org stating

" csa-L (your e-mail address)." Do not use

the quotes or parentheses. Once a r, to send

a message to the entire list, address it to:

csa-L (AT) prairienet (DOT) org.

 

 

Your servant,

 

Mark

 

 

 

Listen to your Mail messages from any phone.

http://phone.

[Guest guest]

Although too busy to get involved with the discussion right now, it seems

that on more than one occasion I am seeing letters quoted that I have no

recollection of having recieved. Whilst I certainly am very open to the

suggestion that perhaps my minimal attention is the cause of that lack, is

it also possible that their are a couple of different conferences that

sometimes only one or the other is sent to, or maybe only sent to a

specific address and not the conference?

 

Could we be sure we are all sending things to the same place, please, or

excuse me if it is just my imperfection intruding.