A lever for food system transformation

James Samuel
2 min readApr 14, 2024

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Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world. ~ Archimedes

So what’s the lever and where’s the fulcrum, for transformation in the food system? That reconnects us with the life we are a part of? I’ve sat with this question for years, and I don’t have an answer, I just keep looking.

Meanwhile, I feel joy for having put a stake in the ground for Syntropic Agroforestry in Golden Bay two weeks ago, and I know want to see more of this.

At the Growing Radicles 3-day event

I want to support more humans to discover their place in nature, as nature, in the context of a diversity of Syntropic Agroforestry systems.

What next?

I feel an impulse to reduce the number of IT clients I provide services to. The attention I give expands significantly beyond just the time involved, and this detracts from being attentive to the signs for ‘what next’. I feel fear about letting them go, as I need income to support my 17 year old daughter, and to pay for dental work and general living costs. The voices in my head tell me to keep the IT clients, and my intuition whispers in my ear to let them go and make space for the new.

We were recently told that the rental home where I’ve lived for almost five years is soon to be demolished and replaced with something new. So the immediate next step is to reduce possessions and be ready to move. My bright principle of simplicity is calling me.

After the Growing Radicles event, I began reading Sand talk — Tyson Yunkaporta. There must be some magic in this book, because the conversations I’ve been having are frequently clarified by what I subsequently read in the next paragraph or chapter. If I was to distill it down to one thing, I would say that it is opening doors to a more deeply connected state of being, in relationship with all life (humans, animals, plants, birds, bugs and microbes). Oh yes, and The simple life.

I sit in the stillness of the unknown, feeling my fear, while culling possessions and holding the vision of an abundance of Syntropic Agroforestry systems, sprouting up all around the country.

Moonrise from Tuao Wharepapa

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James Samuel
James Samuel

Written by James Samuel

I am a food systems alchemist, connecting ideas and people to build replicable projects which nurture people and soil.

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