I just watched this film last night and I wanted to share it with you. This is a very well done film outlining the idea that perhaps plants are using us to the same extent that we use them and that they have developed traits and capacities in order to ‘convince’ us to propogate their species. The idea itself is novel, to most, and presented stunningly well. I am very picky about movies and this one is worth some hot chocolate, dried mango and a warm friend to snuggle with on a winter night.
I had the pleasure of meeting David Baldwin who is heading up this farm project a few weeks ago. David brings to the local farm movement a professionalism that is refreshing and has a very inspired and organized approach to the ROCF. That being said, I am going to present an arguement here that the model for the ROCF is not beneficial for the community as it is.
Here is what I have understood about the ROCF (Royal Oak Community Farm).
1. It is on school property
2. Profit’s go mainly to the royal oak school system
3. Executive management fee’s are unknown, not in place, or simply not considered at this stage
4. Food will be sold locally in royal oak
5. So far 1 job has been created – which is 1 more than we had.
6. The long term vision is to use more school land(s) to propogate this model.
7. Fundraising activities are in place but currently no 501c3 is.
It is awesome to see more and more energy and attention being moved to producing food locally and I applaud David for his work here. That being said, I am personally concerned with the model he has in place given that an undisclosed, yet substantial amount of profits are going to public schools…which…already recieve state and federal money from YOU and I…and statistically, they waste it. There is something for me about this that feels like the bank bail outs. If this program was aimed to fund local schools so they could turn down federal dollars and thus directly control their education locally…I would be ALL for it. As it is, I personally rather see Mr. Baldwin profit from this endevour than a school. Let me explain…