The Future of Food

By Jerry Forney

Micco, Fl (FFB) -- I have always been interested in the future, starting with a healthy dose of Space Comics and Science Fiction when I was growing up. I was a big fan of Tom Swift Jr. those remarkable juvenile books written by Victor Appleton II. Those books inspired me. I was convinced that future I might see someday held incredible technological possibilities. After forty years I haven't been disappointed. We accept Space Shuttles, Space Stations, personal computers, the Internet and Mars Rovers as an everyday fact of life here in the future but we often forget it wasn't always this way.

Technological change can happen overnight as it often does. People's acceptance of it moves at a slower pace. Visionaries and futurists excitedly anticipate the technologies that are coming our way. Ordinary citizens, however, are amused and entertained at best or are blissfully unaware at worst. Either way the attitude seems to be “I'll wait until it gets here before I invest any time, energy or attention in that direction…”

We are so busy and distracted it is hard to expect anything else. Most of us delegate the future to those intrepid explorers like Syd Mead, a famous Visual Futurist
(http://www.sydmead.com/) whose remarkable career has illustrated the technological future in truly believable images. We owe a debt of thanks to designers like Jacque Fresco, the genius behind the Venus Project (http://www.thevenusproject.com) for proposing a new world, a technological landscape that is sustainable and utilizes the resources of the Earth in an ecologically friendly way.

I will be the first to admit that artists and designers can make the future look exotic yet uncompromisingly believable at the same time. Projects like the Venus Project have their critics and many authors challenge unending technological “progress”. They assert that an unchecked global technocracy has brought our planet to the brink of ecological and social collapse. The impact of the Internet, for better or worse, is commented on by authors such as Lee Siegel in his book “Against the Machine, Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob” (http://www.amazon.com/Against-Machine-Being-Human-Electronic/dp/0385522657).

What has become of the Future?
I can't answer that question. I can only hope for the best. Like everyone else I still dream dreams and entertain fanciful thoughts of a future filled with unimagined wonders. Yet, the realities of climate change and a faltering global economy arouse a conservative survivalist instinct in me. I see sustainable technologies as meaning local and small scale.
I imagine a realistic future where people must band together in communities where relationships are more important than technologies. I read “Yes” magazine (http://www.yesmagazine.org/) that is filled with positive messages about community, sustainability and local transformation. There is Solartopia (http://www.solartopia.org/) supported by visionaries across the country. It also addresses many of the important issues of the sustainability movement.

Recently I was attending the Brevard County Farmers Market at Wickham Park, Main Pavilion next to the BCC Melbourne campus (http://brevardcountyfarmersmarket.com). I met a remarkable local farmer named Chuck Gomez. He owns and operates a Farm of the Future called Pure Produce (http://www.pureproduce.com/) located in Micco, Florida between Melbourne and Vero Beach off U.S.1 a short distance from the Indian River and Sebastian Inlet. Chuck told me that he had often dreamed of working for NASA in the biological sciences developing hydroponics for future space travel and off world colonies. The same futurist bug had also bitten Chuck! I identified with this, having designed an artists concept of a Mars deployable hydroponics module for a NASA scientist at KSC where I work. (Images of this concept can be found in my Gallery at http://www.storytreeonline.com/).

Chuck decided to try his hand at hydroponics here on Earth first fortunately for us! He developed much of his own technology, both structurally and biologically. Chuck told Robert Wicker and I that his was the only Hydroponics Food Farm in production on the East Coast of Florida. He invited Robert and I for a tour of his 2.5-acre farm. We were delighted.

Robert and I found our way to Pure Produce in Micco where Chuck and his son were repairing and containing the damage of the recent cold temperatures and high winds. Good solid design and over 30 years of experience prepared Chuck and his team for the chilly weather. The damage was minor and most of his crop had survived requiring some much needed trimming and tender loving care. The vegetables, like Chuck's beef stake tomatoes, jumbo cherry tomatoes, mini cucumbers, hydro bibb and red leaf lettuce looked fantastic! The only plants that looked in need of serious work were the bell peppers. The stalks were well populated with lovely red, yellow and green peppers but the leaves were brown and where they had fallen off, new sprouts were beginning to emerge. Even this serves as testimony to the hardiness of Chuck's plants! 

I was impressed by the entire operation from the proprietary organic broth that Chuck perfected to the incredible closed greenhouse system covered in special translucent plastic that effectively nurtured the plants with just the right moisture and sunlight. Too much moisture will rot the roots that are planted in long PVC tubes, or dry them out with too little moisture. Sunlight and humidity have to be optimized for the needs of the plants in each growing season. It is a delicate balance requiring constant monitoring and continual regulation. This is high tech applied to growing our organic food without chemicals. Chuck uses ladybugs to control aphids and fans and heaters to control the temperature. This is much like the hydroponics module I designed for Mars, only larger and it exists right now here on Earth!

Robert took some beautiful pictures while we were there and he has created a clickable gallery for your viewing pleasure. CLICK HERE

Chuck Gomez is a personable and knowledgeable farmer of the future. He has spent thirty years demonstrating to the rest of us that the future of food is right in front of our eyes if we will only grasp it! Chuck also told us, sadly, that he has plans to retire and would like to sell his farm. He wants to sell it to growers who will keep his dream alive, maybe even enlarge on it. People who will appreciate what Chuck has single-handed done here locally on Earth. A feat NASA, with all of its brilliant scientists and resources, has only done twice with Biosphere One and Two: create a self-contained hydroponics food farm of the future. So far, although Chuck has had serious interest, no one has put their money where their mouth is.

Another thing Chuck told us is that the small farmer here in Brevard County is becoming rare. Many are quitting and selling their farms. This tough winter has all but devastated some local organic farms. How many will survive is anyone's guess.

It isn't just the weather that is threatening our locally grown produce; it is the unbelievable lack of community participation and support. There is a lot of lip service paid to locally grown organic produce. Folks certainly buy organic at the local supermarkets. Sadly, little is produced locally. Most is brought in from elsewhere. You have to visit our local Farmer's Markets (http://www.brevardfarmersmarkets.com/) to get locally produced vegetables and fruit.

The Future of Food for residents of Brevard County is in jeopardy. Unless more people become informed and put their money where their mouth is, the movement to build and maintain a community of sustainable local farmers and farmer's markets might fail. That kind of failure is not acceptable.

I implore all residents of Brevard County Florida to visit your Farmers Markets and get to know your local farmers. Our community needs you. Our farmers need you!