Hey I am Daniel Lawrence and I am a food fundamentalist. 

I am a restaurant chef and baker turned activist and I am all about promoting local food, fair trade, sustainable agriculture and I believe most importantly Organic methods of production. I say most importantly because I see a real strong surge in the local movement but a lack of conversation about how the local farmer is producing.  

The word sustainable is being used incorrectly in some circles in my opinion. Sustainable means that we can keep up a practice at current pace. Clearly fossil fuel consumption in shipping foods around the globe is unsustainable, but polluting local ground water supplies and our own bodies (not to mention the bodies of our children) with pesticide and herbicide run-off does not fit the definition of sustainable either.

I find myself here in connecticut in circles of wonderful people. Farmers and concerned consumers, people who are concious of the importance of returning our food production systems over to our local farmers, but I am a bit concerned that the conversation is not going far enough.  Hence my self-description as a food fundamentalist. 

At the farmer’s markets in my area i will only by produce from organic producers. I believe we should be asking our own local farmers the same tough questions we are asking of the huge agro-farms that we are up against. How was this grown?  Who do you buy your seeds from?  Do you spray your local strawberries?

To me, we must do all we can to preserve our current farmland, encourage new people to enter the farming profession and encourage current farmers through community supported agriculture programs to farm organically.