We are what we eat? And our food eats what...?

A new phrase for the vocabulary. CSA - community supported agriculture. Does anyone know of anyone doing this here? Here at The Trad Pad, we are familiar with Aussie Farmers Direct. And great as this is, it doesn't give a personal relationship with the person who produces the food. Do we think it matters if there is a personal relationship? But then if I don't know the farmer, how can I be sure of land practices, etc. And if land practices are an issue - and think salination of the soil in Australia, not to mention erosion and then the land 'development' where we place MacMansions and BogunVillas on prime agricultural land - and there is a personal relationship, a knowledgable and concerned consumer may be able to influence, may be able to exercise valuable decisionmaking at some point in the journey from land to plate. Land degradation can have a direct affect on food security - not only in this rich, developed country but in some of the poorest, underdeveloped nations on earth. Food security is an issue: a slow burn for us in Australia, a fast burn and possibly a big bang for those in poor countries. Figures just released by the FAO, show that there were 50 million more people hungry last year. Not 50 million - but 50 million more, in addition, plus what there was before. Australia, the driest inhabited continent on earth, has been facing - courtesy of the longest and most extreme drought in living memory - the water issue. The release of the Draft Report of the Garnaut Review on Climate Change now extends our focus to climate. Emissions trading is well and truly on the agenda - and one of the biggest questions is whether agriculture will be included. We have yet to consider how all this might affect our own food security and cause us to question whether we are self-sufficient and secure in our food production.