Recently read: Farmer Jane

 

Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat, by Temra Costa

Farmer Jane introduces various approaches to creating and supporting sustainable agriculture, that can be taken whether you are an eater, a farmer, or working in the food business. The book profiles 30 women across the USA who are farmers, social advocates, entrepreneurs, educators, and innovators working to change the way food is grown, distributed, and consumed. The book focuses on women in order to show the influence femininity is having on an industry that is typically thought of as male-dominated, and to show the enormous impact that women as caretakers have on making food decisions and setting directions for the food industry.

But regardless if you are a woman or a man, if you are looking for recommendations of steps you can take to contribute to the growing sustainable agriculture movement, this book will give you inspiration and concrete actions on everything from getting financial aid to start a farm, to starting a CSA point for your area of the city, creating a farm to school program, how to get into urban farming, as well as comprehensive lists of organizations involved with everything from policy advocacy to educating children.

Some quotes to ponder, and hopefully hook you into reading the book:

"We need to become independent of the world market economy because the world market economy is ultimately controlled by interests which seek power or profit and which do not respond to the need of the world's peoples."

Native American (Haudenausaunee) saying

The true cost of food: This cost is the real monetary value that is required to produce food that is free of pesticides, that pays a fair working wage to farmers and farm workers, and that produces food on the land with future generations in mind. What we see in conventional grocery stores hardly reflects conventional food production, whose "negative externalities" of excessive water use, soil erosion, pollution via shipping and chemical application are not equated for. 

Building New Farm-to-Eater Relationships, p. 35

...we don't really understand the value of our ecological systems and food is the basis of this. "If we care about our local ecosystems and our local economies, we have to be willing to make real food a priority... People kick and scream, saying that local or organic foods are too expensive. But what about cell phones, cable TV, fancy cosmetics and all these other things that we spend tons of money on in this country? Paying $2.50 per pound for peaches is branded 'elitist', but for some reason paying $250 for tennis shoes is not. Why? I would argue that food is something that is completely essential and these other things aren't. They're optional."

Jessica Prentice, Three Stone Hearth cooperative food business

Promoting Local and Seasonal Food, p. 104

The sounds of crop planes were omnipresent in the sky as the workers would watch them sweep low and release their poison. Milly remembers the first time it happened to her while in the fields. "I tried to run away; it was terrible. There was sulphur in our eyes and they would get irritated. There were other chemicals that were sprayed and smelled worse, those experiences and memories will never go away," says Milly... Today the negative health impacts of pesticide exposure--including asthma, various cancers, and birth defects in children--are well documented, yet workers continue to be exposed to chemicals and aerial spraying.

Milly Trevino-Sauceda, Founder, Organizacion de Lideres Campesinas

Networks for Sustainable Food, p.147

Food desert... 1 grocery store to serve 23,000 residents (more affluent areas average 1 grocery store per 4000 residents). Food that is sold [in these areas] is largely processed junk food easily accessible in liquor stores (1 for every 625 residents), with only a handful that carry any sort of fresh fruits or vegetables.

Urban Farm Women, p. 174

"...and [the greenhorns, ie. young farmers] all have the same story. They are fierce and they all had naysayers, but they all did it anyway. It gives me a lot of courage. There's a certain amount of ballsiness that goes along with it and you feel driven to make change and initiate like a pioneer. I really cherish that sense of independence."

Severine von Tscharner Fleming, Filmmaker, The Greenhorns

The Next Generation of Sustainable Farmers, p. 192

"To be a good diversified farmer you have to be a systems thinker and that's something that doesn't come easy. Farming is one part intellect, one part intuition, one part muscle, and one part heart. And beyond that, it's mostly out of my control."

Zoe Bradbury, Farmer Valley Flora Farm

The Next Generation of Sustainable Farmers, p. 201

For more, check out the website and blog on the book here: http://www.farmerjane.org/book.html

• Books on sustainable agriculture and learning about where our food comes from are on the rise, have you read a good book on this topic that you would recommend?

• Likewise, films and documentaries on this topic are also increasing. Which would you recommend and why?