Sabine Bonnot, a farmer of organic cereal for bread-making and fruit, lays out the arguments for growing and consuming food more sustainably, an approach that is key for the future health of rural areas and those who inhabit them. A former agri-chemist with experience of working in Japan, the United States and several European countries, Sabine contrasts the effects of conventional, chemical farming with those of the alternatives. She highlights the hidden energy embedded in conventionally grown food, not least the several litres of oil used to grow, process and transport the food each person in Western economies ingests daily.
More alarming still, according to Sabine, are the effects of unsustainable food consumption on public health, where the problems include declining fertility rates and increasing obesity, food allergies and cancer. On the latter, the number of people suffering cancers has jumped 250% in the last 30 years in Western societies, making it the number one killer in those countries. As far as France is concerned, 1,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed each day, with 450 of those affected dying within five years. A third of the deaths are caused by cancers related to the digestive system, a statistic that gets little airplay in the media or in public debate.
Her suggested solution presents a menu of responses. They include encouraging people to eat more organic produce, to reduce their meat consumption so as to curb the wasteful production processes associated with stock farming, to favour locally produced food over alternatives from further away and to cook at home with unprocessed ingredients rather than buying ready-made meals. In the process, they will help rural small-holders such as Sabine to survive and thrive.

(Interviewee: Sabine Bonnot, Interviewer: Patrick Chalmers, Camera operator: Natacha Yellachich)