For hundreds of years, the people of Mals have cherished their traditional foodways. Yet the town is located high up in the Alps, and pesticide-dependent conventional apple producers were steadily overtaking the valley below. Aided by climate change, Big Apple crept further up the region’s increasingly warmer mountainsides, its toxic sprays drifting with the valley’s ever-present winds and falling on the farms, fields, and people of Mals. The advancing threats motivated a diverse cast of characters to take action in a display of direct democracy that has inspired a movement now coursing its way through Europe, Asia, the United States, and beyond.

The post A Precautionary Tale: How One Small Town Banned Pesticides, Preserved Its Food Heritage, and Inspired a Movement appeared first on Real Food Media.