Actress Nathalie Kelley hosts sustainability forum in Ibiza
An exclusive Ibiza interview with the Netflix star and environmental activist about regenerative agriculture and the future of food
Nathalie Kelley was born in Peru and raised in Australia. The actress is best known for her roles in the hit Netflix shows Dynasty and The Baker and the Beauty. She is also a passionate environmental advocate and is here in Ibiza to chair an industry-wide talk on the sustainable future of food.
In an exclusive interview, L’OFFICIEL IBIZA caught up with Nathalie to learn how her future-forward activism is rooted in her sacred ancestral history.
Can you tell us a little bit about your indigenous background and how it informs your work?
I was born in Peru and my mother is a Quechua indigenous woman. My grandmother still speaks Quechua, the language of the Inca. We are their descendants. My Inca ancestors are my biggest inspiration. They were some of the world's most prolific regenerative agriculturalists. Really prolific farmers. They were able to feed 10 million people at the height of the Inca empire, without one drop of glyphosate or pesticides. Without any GMO corn or seed. So, for anybody who says regenerative agriculture cannot be scaled, that is my rebuttal.
How were they able to do that?
They understood that food is not a commodity. And that is crucial to understand. Food is a sacred gift from the earth, it is part of a sacred relationship with the earth. It is embedded in that relationship. The Inca understood that there needs to be reciprocity. They actually had a word for that reciprocity, they called it ayni. The translation of that word is ‘for you today, tomorrow for me’. That implies that giving comes before receiving. And the Inca applied the concept of ayni to all their relationships. Everything they did was in service to the community. That's how they built things like Machu Picchu. How they built more roads than the Romans. How they created all their amazing public works without using any currency. They built it with ayni. It was system of offerings. Because the people who built it knew that the day would come when they would also be taken care of. With food, with clothing, with shelter. So, in terms of the relationship with the land and the soil, they understood that you cannot take more from the earth, from the soil than what she gives you.
And what are the major differences in term of the way we farm today?
The Inca used sophisticated methods of farming that actually replenished soil health, instead of depleting it. Depletion is what our current modern agricultural system is based on. It's a system of take, take, take. Deplete, deplete, deplete. Extract, exploit. And we're now facing a future where - in the United States at least – there are less than 60 years of fertile topsoil left before we completely run out. What the Inca empire already had 500 years ago was a functioning primary model of regenerative agriculture. Because food was not bought and sold as a commodity. That is when everything changes.
Can you explain what you mean by ‘food as a commodity’?
When food becomes a commodity, then it then sits in silos, rotting until the market price is right. Until the highest profit can be made. Today we do not have a problem of scarcity, but a problem of fairness and distribution. We are actually producing enough food to feed the world. It’s just not being distributed fairly. The incredible hunger that we are facing in parts of the world is the result of greed. The result of war and politics and the so-called ‘free market’. It’s not free and it’s certainly not fair.
How can we begin to remedy this situation?
We need to see a radical shift in our relationship to food. I don't think we're going to get there overnight, but I think it is inspiring to look at how some of these ancient civilizations did it. The Inca civilization and the civilizations that exist in the Amazon are perhaps the only two example of ancient civilisations that did not collapse due to resource depletion. The same cannot be said for the Romans, the Egyptians, the Mesopotamians. The Inca empire was abundant because agriculture was managed holistically. TEK is the answer. Traditional ecological knowledge. It's the same technology that my ancestors have been using for thousands of years. Why do we need to wait for some future technology when the technology already exists? It involves a humble reckoning, a humble acknowledgement of our insight or lack of it.
How is Ibiza contributing to this conversation?
I love Ibiza and I’ve been so impressed with the amount of interest about regenerative agriculture and regenerative living on the island. In the week that I've been here I have attended or heard of at least four events where this is the main topic. That is wonderful. However, in reality, Ibiza is still an island that imports 96 per cent of its food. And produces more waste per person than any other place in Europe. Ibiza has a long way to go before achieving full food sovereignty and circularity, but the fact that these conversations are happening are very exciting. The purpose of my event was specifically to connect people in the hospitality industry to the source of their food. People like my good friends Christian and Alan Anadon, of Grupo Mambo. Like Gabrielle Gambina of Ibiza Produce. To open a direct conversation between hoteliers and restaurateurs and the farmers themselves. To cut out the middleman.
Surely the tourism industry needs to change too.
It does! We know that the island is reliant on tourism. Of course. So how do we shift tourism to be regenerative? Because it's not even anywhere near sustainable at the moment.
I would be curious to talk to people in the hospitality industry who have ideas on how to expand agrotourism to being the main source of income for Ibiza. Like why are we opening up our doors to these people who come on cruise ships for example? And all they do is drink bottled water and throw out plastic bottles and, and take, take, take, take, take, and then get back on the boat and leave. But eco-tourism needs to be egalitarian. It can't just be something for the elite to come and learn about for a weekend. I think there needs to be offerings of all prices to be able to reach everybody. But I don't think this current model of very extractive and degenerative forms of tourism is serving the island in any way.
What can people do on a grassroots level to help ensure Ibiza’s future?
Composting! Compost is literally golden treasure for the earth, and anyone can do it. I brought my friend Josh Whiton from makesoil.org to Ibiza. While we're here, we're going to try to activate five community composting sites on the island. The goal is to imagine an island where everybody is putting their organic waste in specific bin. And that bin was being composted, if not on site at a nearby facility, but using commercial citizen-led composters. This is an island that has the capacity to do that. Imagine the organic matter we could be turning into nutrient dense, rich soil. We’re going to make a film about it to carry the message forward. Because it’s something we can all contribute to. I just love the idea that everybody who lives here has a stake in this island’s future.
