Not Voting with My Fork

The sustainable agriculture catch phrase "vote with your fork" has always plagued me. I understand its sentiment. The idea that we, as consumers, have the right to choose the type of business practices that we want to support with the 'vote' of our dollar is powerful. Originally it made me feel elated, like I had a voice in a decision and therefore could create a shift in the market towards what I value. I liked the idea that there was an alternative to what at the time seemed like an ineffectual process of voting in US elections, (which has continually landed us with appointed representatives who favor and fund the support of large scale industrial agriculture- save Kathleen Merrigan.) Voting with my fork (or dollar) seemed like a clear and easy way to encourage people to participate in choosing the type of agriculture they would like to support.

However, recently, the idea of 'voting' with my fork has rubbed me wrong. You see, we in the sustainable agriculture movement are conflating basic democratic principles, such as the concept of voting, with the tenets of free market capitalism, like the market will determine which enterprises succeed and which fail. And by encouraging people to 'vote with their fork' we will squander the limited attention of our audience on a method of 'voting' that at the end of the day will mean nothing in the face of the hundreds of billions of dollars in government subsidies, corporate write offs and contracts, and favorable legislation toward large agribusiness.

Instead of encouraging people to be better consumers, we should be encouraging them to be better citizens. We should instead be encouraging people to become increasingly active in civil society, to change the laws that make it rare for a small scale farmer, a beginning farmer, a sustainable farmer to be viable in todays economy. Yes we need to continue to support those enterprises economically, but until we change the political climate in which they operate, we'll all have to increase our appetites exponentially to change our food system.