Disaster, why you need capacity for risk,

Sharing risk and potatoes in a bad harvest,

Dear Courageous,

This week, is about a local disaster , that got me thinking about dealing with risks, shortages and the importance of building trust in community.

The Disaster

The potato harvest is in, six weeks late and a catastrophic failure .

Potatoes are usually an easy win , but this years crop is a disaster. All the hard work involved, the cost and potential loss of members is devastating for our local CSA, (Community Supported Agriculture ) .

The persistent rain, pervasive cold and low light levels have hit the crop hard.

This bad news is from the weekly Field Notes included in my CSA vegetable box. Typically our CSA are able to supply over 100 families with potatoes from June to February. This harvest we got our only share of potatoes this week.

Sharing The Risk and The Bounty

Last year it was a drought that decimated the onions and the growers shouldered the loss. This year they cannot afford to do that. Ed, the chief grower reminds us of the main principle of the CSA, is sharing the risk and the bounty.

Last year Ed and family went on a CSA road trip of the US. He writes one of his enduring memories is the pride and integrity of those CSA’s willing to test the principle of ‘sharing the risk’.

So with ‘colossal trepidation ‘ Ed asks that we buy in our own potatoes if we can in the spirit of sharing the risk . Saying If you genuinely can’t afford to do that there will be a sack of bought in potatoes at each pick up point.

It’s going to be really interesting to see how members self select, to take those potatoes or not each week. Will we see integrity , honesty and generosity or will it be self interest ?

Summer of 24 Harvest

Ours is a culture of looking after number one, ‘every man for himself" is the conditioning . Individualism predominates in a society that is unaware of the consequences and the risks.

Yet we are all sharing the risk of the harvest in the summer of 2024.

In the UK , Starmer’s government is already bringing in more authoritarian rules. Methods to limit our freedom of speech and ways of gathering to question or protest.

The WHO has declared Mpox ( or as some call it moneypox), a public health emergency. Then we have the election lead up in the US and who knows how that will result.

If you are paying attention to the world you know the risks are increasing. Yet what's our capacity for risk individually and collectively ?

How do you even share risk collectively ?

A google search only generates advice on sharing the risk in companies, taking out insurance and finding strategic partners . There is nothing about how we share the risk as communities, yet we are going to have to.

This potato shortage will be a dress rehearsal for what may come. When we are not able to buy potatoes elsewhere, but have to share what we have got.

We need practices in place to be able to explore risk, create strategies, guidelines and rules . Exploring risk takes trust, safe environments and accountability.

Having personal and community Risk practices will increase our capacity for risk and our trust in each other. We will be stronger and more confident in the uncertainties and threats. We will be clearer on our own values and boundaries. Most importantly, we will know who to trust and be able to form our alliances with them for the tough times ahead.

Shortages are predictable as our food systems are being degraded and destroyed.

"Fiat Food", by Matthew Lysiak , is an excellent, accessible book. In which Matthew gives the details and evidence of 50 years of corruption and policies in the US. I will be doing a book review soon to share the major insights I have gained.

Using food and starvation as weapons is ancient and happening now in Gaza. I am now learning about health deterioration and death caused by US and UK food polices and corporates. How its linked to Globalism, religious groups and the rise of processed vegan food.

Was Geo engineering in our skies , responsible for the low light levels that decimated the potato crop ?

I have seen an increase in the chem trails this summer and we have had many days of gloomy, cloudy weather. Is this all part of a “globalist plot to destroy healthy food and get us eating highly processed, profitable unhealthy food ?

Matthew Lysiak would argue that policy is well underway, resulting in millions being sick and dying early.

The First Question in Collapse

How to respond to food shortages, is the primary question in a collapsing society and one we all need to prepare for. Being prepared to share in the risk of the harvest in tough times will show how much integrity and generosity we each have.

I will be watching the one potato sack delivered each week with interest…. I don’t eat potato’s so this is an easy one for me but not for those for whom its a staple.

In a previous newsletter Ed wrote

"Community supported agriculture is never going to answer all the big questions, but little by little each of you is making the world a little better than it was yesterday" .

Let’s see if we can keep doing that in the times of challenge and shortages.I wish you well with your exercises in risk and building trust and will let you know how the potato sharing goes.