Dismantling Racism in the Food System: Food First’s series to address colonization of our food
We should consider how our food, the way its produced, where it’s produced, and who we buy it from contributes to the historical barriers set up in this country. We should always be thinking on these questions, but especially today, Martin Luther King Day. While the problems of the food system and the disenfranchisement of […]
Natural Resources Conservation Service Accepting Applications for Conservation Easements
NRCS is now accepting applications for conservation easements for agricultural and wildlife lands through its Agricultural Conservation Easement Program. The focus of the program is to preserve critical water resources and wildlife habitat through biodynamic farmland and wildland conservation. Native American Tribes, state and local governments across the country are eligible to participate in this program. […]
Unbroken Ground: A Patagonia Provisions Film
Patagonia Provisions, Patagonia’s newest project, is focused on challenging our current food system through providing an alternative model to the conventional way that we grow and consume food. Unbroken Ground, a short film directed by Chris Malloy, provides insight into four sectors of restorative agricultural practices including regenerative agriculture, regenerative grazing, diversified crop production and restorative fishing in […]
Rosalinda Guillen: A Future of Food Sovereignty through Farm Workers Rights
Born in Texas, and after spending her first ten years in Mexico with her family, Rosalinda Guillen entered the ranks of American farm workers at the age of 10. After growing up molded by that experience, Guillen was politicized during the 1988 Jesse Jackson presidential campaign. From that moment forth, she has served as a […]
Water Laws Crash Course: The History of Acequia
Since the dawn of agriculture on this planet, humans have been finding ways to get water to their crops. Creative solutions in what is now the Southwestern United States have harnessed the waters of the Rio Grande and other areas rivers to bring water to the once parched soils of this arid region. But when […]
Help Make Our Story Hill a Farm for Good
The Organization for Refugee & Immagrint Success (ORIS) has worked since 2012 to build a program for resettled refugee farmers to continue their agricultural careers on American soil. The group has been farming land in New Hampshire for almost 5 years and now, with collaboration from the Russell Foundation, has the opportunity to purchase the 57 […]
New structure for OAO could mean more access for underserved farmers
In an announcement from the USDA this past week, the promise of the Office of Advocacy and Outreach (OAO) has come closer to fruition. The OAO was created by the 2008 Farm Bill to give voice and opportunity to beginning, minority and underserved farmers. Most notably, OAO administers the USDA’s Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged […]
Black Agrarianism: Resistance
Food First continues to break down walls in their Dismantling Racism in the Food System series in their newest piece, Black Agrarianism: Resistance. The piece serves as a study of the historical context of black farming, how slavery and freedom influenced the Black Agrarian Liberation Movements of the 1960’s and 70’s, and the declaration of sovereignty of […]
We Shall Not Be Moved: A history of the Tillery resettlement community
We Shall Not Be Moved is their song, and it means they “ain’t going nowhere!” That’s the spirit of the Tillery, North Carolina resettlement, product of a New Deal program offering landless sharecroppers a chance to buy their own farms. Roanoke Farms was one of only a handful of resettlement projects for African Americans. Its […]
Congreso de las Acequias
There is a great event being put on by our friends at the NM Acequia Association in Taos, NM right after the 2016 OURLAND2 Symposium. “The NMAA is preparing for the annual Congreso de las Acequias as we celebrate another growing season and the bountiful late summer rains. The Congreso is the only statewide gathering […]