Last Exploration

One of the biggest themes that occurred in both Fresh and The Idea of a Local Economy is the delegation of resources. Berry uses a model towards the end that talks about the Ogowe region of Africa. in Africa, when timber production is up, this region diverts all of their resources to timber. When then happens, they then become dependent on imports. "Instead they produced timber for export to the world economy, which made them dependent upon imported goods that they bought with money earned from their exports" (Berry 32). This technique of production makes you a slave to the economy because you have nothing to live on. You have to take any price that the imported goods are at because you have zero bargaining chips.

This type of economic system is seen in Fresh as well. Farmers are now moving towards abandoning agriculture and taking up mass livestock. this is equivalent to what is happening in that African region. Joel Salatin says that, "building million-dollar facilities is what is being done because it gets paid of by the 1000 one." He sees this as a stupid investment because by diversifying your productions, (in his case chickens, healthy cattle, and substance farming), it allows him to get maximum efficiency out of his land. the other farmers that grow all livestock are at the mercy of conglomerates such as Tyson, that drown them with binding financial contracts and expenses like feed and antibiotics.