Teen Acres

This story does not touch much on the details but it echoes my contention that young people including those who are prepubescent want the opportunity to contribute to general production and to get paid a fair reward for doing so.  The historic problem was that farm labor in particular was never properly monetized and usually left the bad taste of exploitation.

We have reached the point with computer support that it is completely possible to operate an internal closed economy using internal fiat currency around a farm based production unit in which it becomes plausible for both youth and the less active adults to contribute in many ways and earn financial benefits.

For that reason I proposed the deliberate linking on the condo tower living complex with its minute footprint to a working farm.  The natural synergy could be captured through its internal economy to the benefit of both.

The farm labor problem has bedeviled agriculture from the beginning.   There are times that the farm needs all hands on deck to get the crop in or to properly process a product.  Front ending the cost with cash has always been an issue easily overcome with an internal fiat economy that resolves naturally these issues.  Importantly, teens are an important part of that part of the farm economy.

As I have posted in the past, working out the details will be a challenge, but it will also assist in sorting out a large number of obvious societal inefficiencies while it is been done.  The modern age of the internet is allowing a new way of living to emerge and this item does throw down the one issue that has to be addressed first.  It is the importance of  the young to a lot of farming  that can be monetized but is presently opposed by flawed thinking from the past.

I suspect we will see more such stories emenrge.

Teen acres

BY DANIEL KLEIN

26 AUG 2011 8:00 AM

http://www.grist.org/locavore/2011-08-26-teen-acres-video

This week's installment finds us in Portland, Ore., where I really wanted to make a Portlandia-inspired episode. It didn't quite happen, but there were plenty of moments that reminded us of the show -- like getting free valet parking because we were driving a hybrid. We also decided to visit an ultra-practical and amazing farm project called Janus Food Works, where we found young people from Portland getting paid to farm (it's about time) and selling the produce they'd grown. After filming with the kids, we created a meal with their crop for the Plate and Pitchfork farm dinner series. We felt it only fair to invite the kids to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Check out the video to see these young farmers in action:

The Perennial Plate Episode 67: Kids at a Farm from Daniel Klein on Vimeo.