Globalize the Struggle! Globalize Hope! Course Held
A reflection on participation in the U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance first national Political Education Course By Megan Browning In a recent teach-in hosted by The Rising Majority on Movement Building in the Time of the Coronavirus, Canadian activist and author Naomi Klein was asked, “What is required of us in this moment?” “Our job,” she […]
How to Win Land Justice in a Decade
By Neil Thapar, Food and Farm Director, Sustainable Economies Law Center Originally posted on the Sustainable Economies Law Center blog This is part two of #DemocratizeDecolonizeDecarbonize, a three-part essay series exploring the Law Center’s work on housing, land, and energy. ICYMI, click here to read the first essay, “Social housing is the only way forward.” This is the […]
A Landscape in Transition
Frost and early snow over the last month and the last of the brown and yellow leaves are subtly transforming the scene in these Northern Vermont hills. This time of year finds my hands in cover crop seed, filling buckets and casting out the diverse blends like rains over prepared land. This is the first year […]
The 100 Year History of the San Pedro Commons
2018 marked the hundred-year anniversary of the privatization of the San Pedro Land grant, the place where I was born and still call home. It is an arid piece of high desert, covered in piñon and juniper, located in the eastern and northern foothills of the Sandia Mountains in central New Mexico. It was an anniversary no one marked publicly, not even the heirs to the land still living in San Antonito, the village just down the road. It is part of a story lost, for the most part, to so-called progress.
Nos Robaron La Tierra / They Stole the Land From Us
by Vanessa García Polanco What do you want the future of your land to be? “Nos robaron la tierra,” they stole the land from us, exclaimed my great aunt Tia Amantina with sadness. She was the first of my great aunts and uncles to be forcefully evicted and to migrate to the United States. In […]
Going Beyond Diversity and Inclusion in Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources
by Vanessa García Polanco In many of my roles as a food, agriculture, and natural resources practitioner, student, and researcher, I have noticed my uniqueness in the spaces to which I was aiming to belong: nonprofits, higher education research offices, federal offices, agricultural advocacy groups, food policy councils, and others. I was often the only woman […]
Elders are the Trees in the Garden
Some of the influential elders who shaped sustainable agriculture before modern times have left their mark on this world and still offer much inspiration to newer generations of land stewards across the globe today. Editor’s Note: This article is the third in a new series from Agrarian Trust and our contributors exploring the human side of […]
This Land Is Your Land
June 16th-23rd is #RefugeeWeek and June is Immigrant Heritage Month #CelebrateImmigrants by Vanessa García Polanco Imagine arriving in a new country as a refugee after spending years in a refugee camp in another country as an asylum seeker and then being given three months to achieve “self-sufficiency” in your new host country. Your hands and […]
Opportunities for the Next Generation of Farmers on the Land
Editor’s Note: This article is the second in a new series from Agrarian Trust and our contributors exploring the human side of land transition. Stay tuned for monthly posts from diverse voices, including farmers of all ages and backgrounds. by Darby Weaver Starting Seeds Starting seeds in early Spring has become a rhythm for me. Just […]
Los Herederos de la Tierra, The Heirs of The Land
By Vanessa García Polanco “The land should always be there, you should always own some. Money goes away and you can spend it really fast. I don’t like to sell or give away things I inherited.” – Alicia Alba, my grandmother As I set foot in the lands that belong to my grandmother that she […]