jedd wrote:
When I talk about food production systems, I'm being somewhat more holistic than just focussing on the few minutes at the end of the process that concerns itself with distribution. Obviously the goal is to reduce that component to as close to zero as possible.
It's interesting to note that Australia doesn't have a big tradition of the "veggie garden". That is, it's far more common for the gardens in the front and backyards to have flowers and "shrubbery" (ni!), than say herbs, potatoes, tomatoes and fruit trees. That's not to say that the home veggie garden is particularly uncommon, just that it's usually a tiny little patch of neglect, rather than a glorious deployment through the front and back yard.
It makes me think that there's a business opportunity there. If one were to go and speak with a company like Jim's Mowing, and put to them the idea of turning the family garden into the family veggie garden (which could still be 'artistically' kept), then a whole little industry might spring up about the idea.
One of the problems in Australia is the lack of water. So, one of the first items of sale would be installation of rain water tanks, and grey water recycling facilities. Families that forked out for this infrastructure (receiving government subsidies, no doubt) at the same time as 'redecorating' with a full blown veggie garden, rather than a rose garden, would have what they need for their Environmentally Friendly Status Symbol.
A lot of families fork out for someone to come and mow their lawn and look after their garden, and there are companies with the relationships to make the sales, and the workforce and mechanism to deploy the skills and labour.
If someone wanted to put something like that together, I imagine all they'd need to do is go and find a plumbing company, and a big franchised mowing/gardening company, and get them to collaborate to deliver a new type of service... someone who helps to design the home veggie garden and install the irrigation systems, then someone who comes around once a week to keep an eye on it, as well as to share advice about growing food at home, and probably mowing the lawn while they were there...
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