1942, the world is plunging into darkness. Turmoil is felt throughout the world, as nations are facing off in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. Cities that once stood firm are being leveled in a matter of days, and the meaning of total war is being truly understood. Forested hills and tropical Islands are being reduced to smoldering wastelands. War is ravaging the home front as much as it is ravaging the battle field. In Australia the fields are being left fallowed, as young men leave their farm for war. German U-boats sever Great Britain’s supply lines causing food rations to run low. In the United Stares, the gears of war have begun churning. Men are enlisting, factories are producing machines of war in place of their normal products, and the whole nation has put its weight behind the war effort. This shift in focus sends ripples through the fabric of society. With supplies going to the army, American households are beginning to feel the costs of war. Food rations are becoming tighter, and food insecurity is being felt throughout the world.
In the wake of this instability, the civilian population is given an opportunity to strengthen the home front, as well as bring some security into their life. The Victory Garden movement sweeps the nation. Implemented by the Department of Agriculture, the movement aimed at easing the strain on the national food system, by having everyone in the nation grow as much food for themselves as they could. There was nationwide support for this movement. Lawns were ripped up to grow crops, vacant lots were turned into community gardens, comics, and cartoons showed support for the movement, even the White House dug for victory with Eleanor Roosevelt building a Victory Garden. Victory Gardens swept the nation turning urban citizens back into farmers. The USDA originally did not want to create this movement for fear that it would topple the industrial food system. A fear that was well placed. At the height of this movement, home gardeners were able to produce 40% of all produce grown in the United States, a yield that is estimated to be between 9 million and 10 million pounds of produce a year.
2020, paranoia pulls at the stitches of our nation. An unseen enemy lies in waiting. Spreading throughout the world, The COVID-19 pandemic is shaking the foundations of the global age. International travel wains, businesses begin to close their doors, and our understanding of what is essential is reshaped. As the virus begins to outpace us, conversations shift from containment to flattening the curve. This requires a halt on normal life. Stay at home orders were placed, and people began to stock up. Super market shelves were empty, and for the first time in many American’s lives, they were unable to get the food that they were looking for.
One of the biggest fallouts of the COVID-19 pandemic is the faults that it brought to our international food system. People in this country are going hungry while farmers are turning thousands of pounds of food back into their fields, unable to sell what they grow. Our industrial food system is faltering on both ends, and tensions are rising within this country as uncertainty sets in. But this has happened before, and we know how to overcome this. We have already done it.
The solutions are in our own backyards, down the street from us, in our history. The Victory Garden movements of WWI and WWII needs to be revived. A movement to increase food security, community strength, and increase people sense of agency is desperately needed in the world right now. In the face of paranoia, we band together. In the face of insecurity we give to our neighbors. In the face of hunger we plant our own food. In the face of a pandemic, we persist.