Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Numerous studies have shown that small farms are not only more productive per hectare of land, but that they also protect biodiversity better, produce more diverse and more nutritious food, create more jobs and keep more people on the land.
You can be an omnivore that eats grass-fed beef and lamb, or a vegetarian enjoying plain yoghurt or go vegan and veg out on veg – just don’t make your staple diet one of ultra-processed junk food.
These paradigm shifts are not always easy. It’s hard work to debunk stereotypes. But the Marion and Benjamin’s determination show us that it can be done.
By collaborating with our community members and fellow growers, and sharing a variety of crops throughout the landscape, the diversity of food will expand beyond what we’d be able to manage singlehandedly.
Our wants will never be satisfied in a capitalist economy, and the demand for work will never cease. They are both prerequisites for and results of the expansion of capital.
Community gardens like Harambee are becoming increasingly popular, with more than 29,000 garden plots in city parks in the 100 largest U.S. cities.
Argus Farm Stop opened in August of 2014 with a mission to grow the local agricultural economy by creating a year-round market for locally produced foods. Since then, Argus has returned over $10 million in sales revenue to local producers while building a loyal community following.
For Carlos Duarte, the chief science adviser behind Oceans 2050, seaweed farming looks like a vital contribution to saving the planet from climate change and restoring ocean life.
What we find emerging at Agraria and quickening in the midst of uncertainty and historic change is a commitment to inhabiting patterns of growth and evolution—a commitment to the shape of things to come.
We’re back on Shane Casey’s farm in the Burren, Ireland, where it’s nearly time for the reverse transhumance cattle drive – or ‘winterage’ as it’s known locally.
This whole idea of the ‘land of the free,’ this idea of democracy and triumphalism, is false,” Farmer says. “So both on a symbolic level and a material level, it’s very hard to reckon with, because [making reparations] means undermining white supremacy.”
Anyway, as governments wrestle with the increasingly impossible predicaments of our times, it seems to me likely that this space of publics versus governments will become a lot more politically diverse. And that’s the point at which the question of ‘public ownership’ becomes a really live issue.
