Views from the commute

Scenes like this are pretty common in Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri, on whose highways and bi-ways I have been traversing for the past two weeks, but for a boy from the city it seems like a different world. I have driven through dozens of towns and communities just like this one and I have to admit that I feel pretty removed from the means of our food production. I know that getting a cob of Nebraska corn in Vancouver is about as likely as finding a BC wine in Omaha, but I think you can see my point. Where ever our produce comes from, it has to travel both a literal and figurative distance to land in our fruit and veg markets on Cambie, Gravnille or West 4th. I have spent a lot of time thinking about the GMO/Organic debate over the past week and I cannot help but wonder if there is a much broader argument to be made for both sides. In this argument I am having trouble taking a side and will remain grateful that my decisions are made at the grocers and don't have to be made in the field.