Health is the “True North” for Marksbury Farm Market. The health of the people who produce AND who consume our products, the health of the animals that provide them, and the health of the land that comprises our farms is what drives us.
In today’s world, we do not give enough consideration to the fact that the health of people, animals, and land are inextricably linked to one another. Mismanaged, unhealthy land and water resources produce food that produces poor health. We see it every day in the industrial food system and the relatively poor health of many who base their diets on it.
It’s important to keep in mind that the current dominant model of intensive farming practices on an industrial scale of production that treats land and water as commodities to be used, abused, and discarded, has only been around since the mid 1940s. It’s easy to think that the industrial food model has always been with us, but it just isn’t so. Industrial food is a relatively recent and quite radical change to how humans have fed ourselves throughout our entire history.
Other more sustainable systems that used appropriate scales of production have thousands of years of history supporting them. Prior to the introduction of industrial food and farming, humans recognized that the best way to produce food was in cooperation with natural systems. The industrial food model is based on the inherently false premise that humans can conquer nature through technology, an idea that is proving its own shortcomings daily throughout the world.
At Marksbury, we believe the time has come to fully acknowledge the failures and countless problematic issues produced by the very recent and radical change to a highly intensive, industrial food production model, including the failing health of people, land, and animals. Well-managed, healthy land and water resources produce animals that yield food that supports the health and wellbeing of humans.