Why US$80 Billion Organic Farming Industry needs focus on Agricultural Towers, Robotics and School Farms

“So the United States has a bigger demand than they can actually produce, and where are we when we can relate to the US? They (are) bringing stuff all the way from Europe and we are right next door. We need to recognise that if we can actually create a true organic market in Jamaica, it can be very profitable”

                  

Kimone Gooden of the Diaspora Task Force spreading the gospel of Organic Farming at 64th staging of the Denbigh Agricultural show in Clarendon

The 64^th staging of the Denbigh Agricultural show in Clarendon has ended, where patrons attended to see the same displays they’d seen the year before. The conversation on Agriculture hasn't changed much either, as it still focused on making money rather than sustainable agriculture beyond 2020.

The latest thing now seems to be organic farming as reported in the article “Government Pursuing Organic Agriculture”, published August 1, 2016, By Chad Bryan, The Jamaica Information Service.

The three-day Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show, which ran from July 30 to August 2^nd 2016 under the theme ‘Grow What We Eat...Eat What We Grow through Climate Smart Agriculture’ saw some 100,000 people in attendance as noted in the article “100,000 Patrons Expected for Three-day Denbigh Show”, published July 8, 2016 by Judith A. Hunter, The Jamaica Information Service.

According to Kimone Gooden of the Diaspora Task Force, the Organic Farming market is booming:

1.      US$80 billion industry globally

2.      90% of the organic market is in the USA

This isn’t surprising, as American are becoming more conscious of what they eat, especially the presence of artificial flavorings and sugars as argued in my MICO Wars Blog article entitled “How to Spot Hidden Sugar and How to Avoid Eating Too Much”.

In fact, local companies that export products deemed natural by having less artificial flavorings and sugars such as Aloe Vera Juices and Tropical Rhythms sold by GraceKennedy are gaining a foothold in the American market as noted in my MICO Wars Blog article entitled “How Gracekennedy Aloe Vera Sinkle Bibles American Health Drinks in 2016”. 

So how does the Ministry of Agriculture plan to tap the Organic Farming market in the USA?

Kimone Gooden of the Diaspora Task Force - How to become an Organic Farmer in Jamaica

The Agricultural Task Force was formed in 2015 after the Diaspora Conference held in June 2016.

It was created for members and organizations within the diaspora who are passionate about agriculture such as FUJL (Farm Up Jamaica Limited) a Diaspora group trying to get Jamaicans militant about agriculture as noted in the article “Soldiers for Food Security”, published Friday, August 05, 2016, The Jamaica Observer.

Along with Kimone Gooden of the Diaspora Task Force, they're trying to educate Jamaican farmers through professional development and education programs to foster local and export­ market readiness, thereby making Organic Farming viable in Jamaica. Kimone Gooden and these interested parties claim that prices for organic produce in the USA are 2 to 3 times higher when compare to low-cost mass produced farming products that have been grow with the use of fertilizers and pesticides.

Americans have also taken an interest in Organic farming to the point of teaming up with FUJL to come to Jamaica to grow Ginger. This is in the form of Americans who are a part of doTERRA have been collaborating with FUJL to grow ginger in Jamaica for American consumption as noted in my blog article entitled “doTERRA, FarmupJamaica and Red Stripe Project Grow tackle Jamaican Ginger shortfall with Wine and Beer”.

To get into the market, Farms must do the following:

1.      Sign up with the Diaspora Task Force

2.      Express their interest in organic farming

3.      Go through the training with Source Farm Eco Village, located in Johns Town, St Thomas

4.      Implement the practices to see if they qualify to be organic

Once they can prove that their farm is organic, they can be so certified as pointed out by Kimone Gooden of the Diaspora Task Force, quote: “the Jamaica Organic Agricultural Movement will do the certification as a US certifying body and we will sponsor all of it”.

Already there are (5) certified organic farmers in Jamaica. More would be good to take advantage of this opportunity.

But how long will it last?

Organic Farming is a Trend - Agricultural towers, organic Fertilizer, Robotics and School Gardens Needed

Remember, the desire for Organic Grown food is really a trend, not a permanent market. Realistically, most Jamaican farms cannot grow crops without fertilizers and pesticides, as too many pests exist that can destroys plants and fertilizer is needed to make land grow.

This is despite the words of US agricultural attache to the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica, Morgan Perkins, who also claims that we are not tapping into the organic Market in the US of A as noted in my blog article entitled “How US$24 million in Jamaican Agricultural Exports Lost and Why Agricultural Towers are Necessary”.

What will really drive food prices up will be increased demand for food due to global warming and population rise as argued in my blog article entitled “United Nations Population Division says 11.2 billion people by 2100 - Why Africa and India Population exploding as Insect Meat is coming”.

Food prices, be it organically grown or on a large scale farm, will rise as demand for meat, protein and other basic foods increase. The is need to find more efficient ways to use landspace to grow food such as agricultural towers as argued in my blog article entitled “How IGES Canada Ltd Vertical Hydroponic Aquaponic Towers make low cost Organic foods”.

Agricultural towers would make it possible to have hundreds of acres growing produce but stacked vertically instead of spreading outward, wasting land space already being wasted on burying Jamaicans as noted in my blog article entitled  “Jamaica running out of Burial Space - How to recycle the Dead as land for Agriculture and Housing”.

 

There is also a need to develop plants that require less water or even seawater such as CARDI's Salt water loving Dasheen as explained in my blog article entitled “How CARDI's Salt Water loving Dasheen and Agricultural Towers can help Pacific islands and Jamaica during Drought”.

Fertilizers need to be organic as well, made from organic waste processed from humans waste as well as our organic waste thrown away in our garbage as noted in my blog article entitled “Why Knockalva Enterprises Limited can solve Jamaica's Organic Waste, Bio-Fuel and Water Problem”.

Robotics in farming as the Australians already do will also be a feature of agriculture in Jamaica as noted in my blog article entitled “How Australia's University of Sydney Livestock Farmbot heralds Efficient Agricultural Towers”, as this would make agriculture more automated and efficient.

One such move is the use of drones to be used for spraying as well as crop inspection. This was also introduced at Denbigh as is currently being experimented with through a partnership between Agrocaelum and Hi-Pro as reported in my blog article entitled “Why Agrocaelum and Hi-Pro Herald for JCAA allowing Drone Racing in Jamaica”.

Finally, we need to start teaching children Coding, Robotics as well as Agriculture at the Primary and High School all across Jamaica. This can be done by have all Primary and High School set up School Gardens where this technology is demonstrated as pointed out in my blog article entitled “How Fersan's School Gardens prepares Jamaican Children for Modern Agricultural Towers and Robots”.

This is very important; a younger generation has to be taught to take an interest in modern agricultural, where food is grown in controlled environment instead of in open land. Combined, all these initiatives make Jamaican agriculture efficient enough to produce the quality and quantity for the entire island and for export.

Otherwise by 2020, we may be swamped with expensive food imports thanks to Global Warming and population rise.