b'By this standard, a community that sources 95% or more of its food through distant supply chains, and whose citizens get almost all their food from superstores whose shelves empty if the trucks stop rolling for a few days, is impoverished. This describes, of course, all cities and the vast majority of towns in developed countries and is the direct result of the industrial food system, designed around lowest-cost production of commodities and ingredients, global supply chains, and a high degree of processing to facilitate shipping, storage and shelf life. In the short run, measured in a few generations, the cheapness of the food this system produces and the apparent ease with which it stocks supermarkets do seem to affirm the miracle of modern agriculture. But in the not-much-longer run, measured in a few more generations, the litany of negative impacts of the industrial food system on soil, water, climate, nutrition and community is so long that it would be a real AHA! killer. . .except it isnt. Because alongside and within that very same system, the seeds of a healthier, more balanced, more convivial future are sprouting.Seeds sprout. AHA!s sprout. Smiles dont quite sprout, but they do sneak up on you. Especially when youre making a 0% loan to a local farmer.This is the most fun Ive ever had while doing anything involving money, said farmer Jason Griffith, of Longmont, Colorado, to the room of 38 folks who had just voted unanimously to give him a $30,000, 0% interest loan. His lively serious smile wasnt alone. Everyone in the room was smiling. 22'