\nthe same name. Here’s her no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners perspective on the
\nyoung farmers movement. Make no mistake, this woman is dedicated and smart—and
\nshe’s recruiting.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Q. What is <\/p>\n A. It’s about the community of young farmers in this <\/p>\n Q. Did it <\/p>\n A. The whole thing started with the film, with the <\/p>\n Q. What are <\/p>\n A. Last season, my friends Michelle, Anya, and I, with <\/p>\n Farming is pretty much the love of my life. Back in <\/p>\n This coming season I’ll be working on my friend <\/p>\n Q. I did <\/p>\n A. Access to land is a major issue! In our guidebook<\/a>, we <\/p>\n Q. Advice?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A. First step: manufacture some magic! You’ll soon <\/p>\n Here in the Hudson Valley of New York where I live, <\/p>\n Q. Are the <\/p>\n A. Think globally, farm locally. Dominated as our food <\/p>\n It took Monsanto 20 years to consolidate their hold <\/p>\n Q. Any <\/p>\n A. Thanks to Matt Russell and Drake University Law <\/p>\n As proud as I was to raise my voice on the same <\/p>\n Secretary Vilsack said, “It’s not just that <\/p>\n Q. You’re a <\/p>\n A. Well, our first order of business was getting the <\/p>\n Q. When I <\/p>\n A. Yes indeed. And Greenhorns is actually getting <\/p>\n Q. What plans <\/p>\n A. Our main task is to help with networking and <\/p>\n Q. The map<\/a> at the Greenhorns site is a nice way to see where new farms\/farmers are popping <\/p>\n A. Our plan for the map is quite ambitious, but we’re <\/p>\n Are you a young farmer? Join the map!<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q. What’s <\/p>\n A. Jefferson knew. Washington knew. The new agrarian <\/p>\n Farmers make sugar from sunshine. Farmers work at the interface of the wildness in <\/p>\n Q.Young <\/p>\n A. We have the advantage of youth. Brave muscles, a <\/p>\n We <\/p>\n The Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n Ask Umbra chews the fat with Moby<\/a><\/p>\n For the food industry, has organic surpassed its sell-by date?<\/a><\/p>\n Websites that connect would-be farmers to land are blooming<\/a><\/p>\n
\nGreenhorns<\/a> all about?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\ncountry. We are a nonprofit organization that works to promote, recruit, and
\nsupport young farmers. Mostly what we do is produce media—print resources, new
\nmedia, and programming for young farmers. Recently, there has also been an
\nemphasis on events<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\ncome about before or after the film?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nidea that we’d better document this glorious and burgeoning movement, and share
\nthe excitement with more young people who might be inclined to enter
\nagriculture professionally. But soon we realized that making a movie takes a
\nlong time, and that we’d better start communicating in other ways as well. So
\nwe started a wiki<\/a> for relevant resources, a blog<\/a> for news
\nand video ephemera, then we got a weekly radio show and podcast<\/a> on
\nHeritage Radio Network, we began to tweet<\/a>, etc.<\/p>\n
\nyou growing, and where? What got you going in ag?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nhelp from my little brother Charlie, ran our own farm, smithereen farm<\/a>, in the
\nHudson Valley of New York. We planted an
\norchard, raised pigs, rabbits, laying hens, a few fowl, and about three-quarters of an acre
\nof vegetables, flowers, and herbs.
\nWe sold to three fancy restaurants, an organic grocery store, and a farmers
\nmarket. We also dried 2,000 marjoram plants and sold them to Formaggio Kitchen,
\na fancy food store in Cambridge, Mass.<\/p>\n
\ncollege I was part of a posse starting the Pomona College Organic Farm<\/a>, a very
\nguerilla project, a permaculture fruit orchard with permanent raised beds. We
\nhad such a wonderful time building that farm, hustling hoses, hauling mulch,
\nhosting work\/harvest parties—but we had quite a trouble convincing the
\ncollege of its merit. Goes to show the changing climate for agriculture
\nwithin the groves of academe, because the farm is now on the college’s admission
\ntour!<\/p>\n
\nDina Brewster’s farm The Hickories<\/a> in Connecticut. It’s a 200-family member organic CSA with fruit, vegetables,
\nand meat. Dina is a bad-ass young farmer, ex-poetry teacher, and sage
\ngreenhorn.<\/p>\n
\nseveral farm apprenticeships in the 1990s, but was unable to figure out how to
\nget some land of my own that I could afford. Is access to land still an issue?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nhave a list of 20 different pathways to tenure and some institutions that deal
\nwith the legal details. There is also a report put out by Farmlasts<\/a> with relevant insight.<\/p>\n
\nfigure out the particular troubles accessing land in the community you want to
\nfarm—but basically it’s a lot easier to find land in smaller towns away from
\nmajor cities. It’s of course a lot easier if you have cousins or uncles who own
\nsome land, and it’s also a lot easier if you are friendly, responsible,
\nhardworking, and lucky!<\/p>\n
\nmany young farmers face “land drama.” As a result, Greenhorns is
\npartnering with our local County Extension to host a meeting and produce a
\nseries of papers about expectations and “best practices” in leasing
\nbetween non-farming landowners and beginning farmers. In this valley and in
\nmany other metro-foodsheds, we’ve got to figure out how to navigate the relationship
\nbetween real-estate value and farm business viability.<\/p>\n
\nnew young farmers you know thinking about the macro or micro? Do they want to
\nfeed the country, feed themselves, or is it both?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nsystem has become by the mega-consolidation of poultry, beef, dairy, and hogs, the
\ngovernment has got to crack the monopoly. Our role is to replace that monopoly
\nwith a mosaic of small and medium-sized farms and food businesses. That means
\nmore new processing plants, cheese makers, butchers, bakers, candlestick
\nmakers, more locally owned grocery stores, more entrepreneurship at all levels,
\nand more protagonism within those businesses.<\/p>\n
\non our seed supply, and it’ll probably take us 20 years to shake that monkey,
\nbut that is only half a professional lifetime for my generation.<\/p>\n
\nhighlights from the recent Drake Forum on Beginning Farmers<\/a> in D.C. to
\nshare?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nCenter for providing such a resonant national venue for a conversation about
\nbeginning farmer issues. I presented about the National Young Farmers’ Coalition<\/a> and
\nGreenhorns, and on Saturday night got to screen a sneak peek of our film<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nstage as Agriculture Secretary [Tom] Vilsack and Sen. [Tom] Harkin, I was prouder still
\nof the strong community of young farmers, activists, and organizers that
\nswirled the lobbies and corridors. The beginning farmer posse, the folks of my
\ngeneration who have staked their lives on rebuilding our food system, seeing all
\nof their twinkling eyes all together was my highlight.<\/p>\n
\nwhat we’ve been doing the last few years to support farmers and rural
\ncommunities hasn’t been working. It’s that what we’ve been doing for the last
\nfew decades hasn’t been working.”
\nHe also said that 45 percent of the armed services are folks coming from rural
\nAmerica. Translated: Our agricultural system has become broken to the point
\nwhere the opportunity to serve in uniform is more promising than the opportunity
\nto serve your country food<\/a>. My
\nquestion for Vilsack: If people born in rural areas can’t afford an education without
\njoining the Army, how about the USDA providing educational debt forgiveness for
\nfarmers?<\/p>\n
\ncharter member of the newly forming Young Farmers’ Coalition<\/a>. What excites you
\nabout it?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nlegal framework set up. Our website is up and now we are recruiting young
\nfarmer leadership from all the states in the union to represent. I’m especially
\nexcited at the idea of getting a sponsor so we can hold a national congress
\nwith loud music.<\/p>\n
\ntook a beginning farm business course in the late 90s, it was the first time I’d
\never heard of such a thing. Now farm training programs<\/a> are all over the place, and
\nthe USDA is stepping in with $17 million in grants to 29 such programs as part
\nof its Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program <\/a>(BFRDP). So it
\nseems like a great time to get into in ag! Have you plugged into these sorts of
\nopportunities or programs?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nmoney from the BFRDP! Amazing that punky grassroots ninjas like us would
\nqualify. But we do, because we provide services, communication, marketing, and
\ntraining resources to beginning farmers and have become a snappy little node in
\nthe beginning farmer world. Here in the Northeast, our partnership with Cornell
\nSmall Farm Extension, Farmlink, Farmnet, Farm Viability, Heifer International,
\nNOFA NY, Future Farmers of America, and a few others is designed to enhance
\nregional training opportunities.<\/p>\n
\ndo you have for enhancing educational opportunities to help new farmers get
\ngoing?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nproducing a series of posters for classrooms about farming, generating
\nweb content for even younger aspiring farmers, bringing young farmers into
\nclassrooms, screening the film, brainstorming with partners about how to
\norganize\/map beginning farmer service providers using a GIS framework, partner
\nwith relevant educational groups like Farm-Based Education Association and
\nGrace Foundation to produce materials for K-12 teachers, and just generally
\nmake a cultural ruckus about young farmer rockstars around the country.<\/p>\n
\nup.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nstill fundraising for it so I don’t want to spill the beans yet. Any ninja web
\ndesigners with ideas, please be in touch, farmer@thegreenhorns.net.<\/p>\n
\nthe connection between farming and empowerment?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nmovement<\/a> knows.<\/p>\n
\nour landscape. Farmers are the foundation of our economy. Farmers are fiercely independent, self-reliant, and
\naccountable to their relationship with place. Farmers are good at identifying bullshit.<\/p>\n
\nfarmers face big challenges as they plug into the food system, but what kinds
\nof advantages do they have?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nfierce passion, and probably pretty savvy marketing insights. We have the
\nadvantage of eager eaters, dilapidated (but standing!) barns, plus sophisticated
\ne-networks to access seeds, nursery stock, rare livestock breeds, training
\nopportunities, season extension technologies, etc. We also have the advantage
\nof dozens of institutions founded by our elders like organic certification
\nbodies, regional sustainable-ag groups and networks, and land trusts. We have a
\ngeneration of wise, thoughtful, and experienced mentors willing to teach us.<\/p>\n
\nhave a country that needs us to step to the plate, swing that pick, and plant
\nthe future—now!<\/p>\n
\nGreenhorns site<\/a> is where the young farming movement can be found, and its podcast<\/a> is a great way to hear how new young farmers are making their way in the
\nworld. It’s just one of many solid farm and slow-food podcasts available from
\nthe Heritage Radio Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n