By On the Road to FARMLANDIA | February 08, 2012 at 01:17 AM EST | No Comments
On January 31, 2012, I shot the rally at Foley Square organized by Food Democracy Now!, Occupy Wall Street Food Justice, and Occupy Big Food. Inside a Federal courtroom nearby, Judge Naomi Buchwald was hearing oral arguments by the lawyer representing the plaintiffs, including the Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association (OSGATA) and some 82 other farm/food associations, and the lawyers representing Monsanto. The suit started last March when the Public Patent Foundation filed claims challenging the validity of some of Monsanto's GMO patents. Monsanto responded by filing a pretrial motion to dismiss which was the purpose of the hearing taking place. The judge heard the arguments and promised a decision by March 31, 2012 about whether or not the suit could go forward. Meanwhile, supporters from all over the region and beyond rallied in support of the plaintiffs.
By On the Road to FARMLANDIA | December 06, 2011 at 11:06 AM EST | No Comments
On Sunday, December 5, farmers from as far east as Maine, from as far west as Colorado, and from Wisconsin, smack dab in the middle, joined their fellow farmers from as far north as 138th Street in the Bronx and as far east as East NY, to converge in an East Village community garden to share their outrage against the corporate machine that has turned agriculture into a factory production line and farmers into serfs on their land. Dave Murphy, Food Democracy Now! joined forces with Occupy Wall Street to bring urban farmers and rural farmers together to show solidarity with their fellow 99%-ers.
A gorgeous day, perfect for a rally and powerful speeches. Mike Callicrate had the crowd of about 400 on their feet when he told them how he had sued the giant meatpackers who squeezed him and other small cattlemen out of the market and won! (many cheers from the crowd), only to have it overturned (boos from the crowd), then on the the Supreme Court (many cheers from the crowd) only to have the Supremes choose to hear the Anna Devere Smith family feud case instead (an explosion of outrage). The message: We have to restore fairness to the marketplace so farmers and ranchers can stay on their land and make a living. We have to take back agriculture from corporate control. And there were more before we set out on the long Farmers March from the lower east side, downtown to Zuccotti Park where Jim Goodman, an organic dairy farmer from Wisconsin reminded me of the anti war protesters of the 60s when he said: "This morning I was milking my cows...tonight I'm joining you: there is no difference between us and the labor unions...the corporations want to take us down, and we say No!" Watch him on Youtube: http://youtu.be/7Yuh6II3eqk
I shot for 7 hours and am still downloading and backing up media, so there will be more. The relationship between farmers and their counterparts in the Occupy movement are clear. A woman from upstate NY yelled "I am a farmer! And I am part of the 99%" a message that rippled through the human mic at Zuccotti, over and over and over, until everyone there got the message. Like I said, it was a gorgeous day!
By On the Road to FARMLANDIA | December 06, 2011 at 11:05 AM EST | No Comments
On Sunday, December 5, farmers from as far east as Maine, from as far west as Colorado, and from Wisconsin, smack dab in the middle, joined their fellow farmers from as far north as 138th Street in the Bronx and as far east as East NY, to converge in an East Village community garden to share their outrage against the corporate machine that has turned agriculture into a factory production line and farmers into serfs on their land. Dave Murphy, Food Democracy Now! joined forces with Occupy Wall Street to bring urban farmers and rural farmers together to show solidarity with their fellow 99%-ers.
A gorgeous day, perfect for a rally and powerful speeches. Mike Callicrate had the crowd of about 400 on their feet when he told them how he had sued the giant meatpackers who squeezed him and other small cattlemen out of the market and won! (many cheers from the crowd), only to have it overturned (boos from the crowd), then on the the Supreme Court (many cheers from the crowd) only to have the Supremes choose to hear the Anna Devere Smith family feud case instead (an explosion of outrage). The message: We have to restore fairness to the marketplace so farmers and ranchers can stay on their land and make a living. We have to take back agriculture from corporate control. And there were more before we set out on the long Farmers March from the lower east side, downtown to Zuccotti Park where Jim Goodman, an organic dairy farmer from Wisconsin reminded me of the anti war protesters of the 60s when he said: "This morning I was milking my cows...tonight I'm joining you: there is no difference between us and the labor unions...the corporations want to take us down, and we say No!" Watch him on Youtube: http://youtu.be/7Yuh6II3eqk
I shot for 7 hours and am still downloading and backing up media, so there will be more. The relationship between farmers and their counterparts in the Occupy movement are clear. A woman from upstate NY yelled "I am a farmer! And I am part of the 99%" a message that rippled through the human mic at Zuccotti, over and over and over, until everyone there got the message. Like I said, it was a gorgeous day!
By On the Road to FARMLANDIA | September 16, 2011 at 07:01 PM EDT | No Comments
I never did catch a dust devil in Texas, though I tried. But just as they whirl up suddenly iike miniature tornados, they disappear--illusive and ephemeral as the dust they are made of. They aren't dangerous in and of themselves, but they do warn of danger: with each big blow and small whirlwind across the bone dry land of Texas comes the loss of the soil that can never be replaced. The drought and blistering heat have turned great swaths of Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma into near desert (not to mention the fires that have destroyed millions of acres). By all accounts, it is the worst drought in memory and has knocked out both cotton and grass for cattle. It's hard to visualize this part of Texas without white cotton, and black Angus grazing--but neither are there.
I visited Eric Herm and his family, Allison and the boys, Wyatt & Donovan, who generously opened their home to me for a stay in Ackerly, TX. I could not come sooner than this past week because it was just too damned hot; my equipment can only take 104 degrees before it shuts down (or melts). Eric took me around to learn something about a part of the country I knew little about, and in particular, about cotton, a crop I knew nothing about. It isn't all disaster, as the cotton farmers who drip irrigate do have a crop, though it's about a foot shorter than it should be and water is dear. (What little water there is is shared with the oil industry, whose pumps are more plentiful than cattle these days.) The dryland cotton farmers have nothing but dry land; just as Eric lost this year's cotton, so have all the others. We visited the local cotton gin in Big Springs where they have hunkered down to a very bad year. The place looked deserted; there is so little cotton to gin. Jeff Watkins told us that the affects of the drought on the crop has already been felt across the state in small towns like Big Springs all the way to Lubbock. It's pretty much a disaster both for the economy and for the land itself.
My last day we could see a dark sky in the distance. The forecast had a 60% chance of rain, enough for Eric to set up his rain catching system on a note of great optimism. The next morning, it was there: rain. At last. Not enough to save this year's crop, but there's always next year......
By On the Road to FARMLANDIA | September 10, 2011 at 10:10 PM EDT | No Comments
It's been awhile, but I'm now up to 4,350 miles on the road, and I don't know exactly how many in the air, so there's been little time to share the experience (as the experience itself takes up all my time). Since my last blog entry, I've traveled from the floods and mostly misery of western Missouri, across the entire state of Kansas to St. Francis, on the border of Colorado. There I visited rancher, meat processor, and food entrepreneur Mike Callicrate at his ranch in St. Francis where he corn-finishes cattle for his meat company and retail outlet in Colorado Springs. He also has a USDA approved mobile slaughter unit where I was actually able to suit up (USDA required hardhat, hairnet & white coat) and observe the humane kill and slaughter of a beef cow. It's not as gruesome as it sounds. In my opinion, if I'm going to eat meat, I should know how a cow becomes meat. The USDA has tremendous oversight and is there at every slaughter to make certain that the kill is humane and the slaughter is clean, as indeed this was. Mike's guys know what they are doing.
The more I travel and the more farmers and ranchers I met and farms I see, the more I know I am on to something. People are creating alternative food systems that are truly amazing, like Jeff & Jenika Downs of Kinikin Farms in Montrose where they grass fee & finish Devon cattle along with sheep, some pigs and turkeys (which are actually wild turkeys come to roost). They market everything themselves and are making a go of it. Check out their website. There's also the Austin Orchards in Paonia where Glenn & Tina Austin and their son Tim and all the grandchildren work the orchards to produce organic fruits that are simply gorgeous. I'm eating one of their peaches as I write this, hoping the juice doesn't wreck my computer. There's hope on the land. Even though the industrial agricultural complex is flourishing via Monsanto and WalMart and Tyson, it is beginning to sputter in some parts, and I've been able to document both good and bad. Today, I've traveled due south from Colorado Springs, following the Santa Fe Trail along I25 to Raton, New Mexico. Tomorrow 'll continue south toward the Texas Panhandle to my final destination with cotton farmer Eric Herm & his family in Ackerly, Texas, At least, i think it's my final destination. Eric is going to introduce me to some farmers in the area, so who knows? The trip has been full of surprises and the trip back home will no doubt hold some as well. I have already traveled nearly 5,000 miles already and that doesn't count the time in the air crossing the rockies (at 15,000 feet) to Montrose and Paonia and back to Colorado Springs in a plane piloted by Mike Callicrate. Without his help and unbelievable hospitality and guidance I could not have had such great opportunities to meet folks who are growing things right & have created small & successful local and regional food systems. It's an inspiration. At the base of it all the visits I've made, from the very first in upstate NY to now has been the very ground under my feet, that is, the dirt, the living soil from which everything emanates. I'm thinking, maybe the very earth that all of these farmers are working is what this documentary is all about..... It's late; more later.
By On the Road to FARMLANDIA | September 03, 2011 at 11:02 PM EDT | No Comments
It's already September and 3500 miles on the road with, according to Google Maps, almost an equal number of miles to travel before I get back to Brooklyn. My original estimate of 5,000 miles is obviously an underestimate. It's a big country, and I've only flown over it before--there's much to be learned on the ground, and it's more than how long it takes to get from the corn of Iowa to the cotton of Texas.
Today, I got to the banks of the Missouri River, well actually, the banks of what once was the Oswald farm in NW Missouri. It has been under water for 2 1/2 months and the water is still in the process of receding. In June, where one of the best crops in years was growing, there are whorls and rivulets of brown water covering completely any hint of corn or beans. The only sound is the sound of water flowing fast. Richard Oswald took me out on his tractor, through water and muck to a small island where we could see his homeplace, still under water, roads and fences, still under water, and carp jumping where his soy beans used to be. Reminiscent of Katrina, this was part nature, but mostly man-made in the form of the Corp of Engineers force-flooding and inundating the farmland of families who have been on this land for generations. These folks are expendable, it seems, and without the leverage or power to to save their farms, even though they are major contributors to our food supply. Richard and his family have moved to high ground, and there they wait until the water pulls back and they can start cleaning up their home, a home they will most like never return to. An agronomist says the soil will most likely survive if they can get some soil refurbishing grasses planted, which looks pretty tough considering it's September and the water is still there. Who knows. I'm the only one who weeps; they do what they have to and push on. I admire them so.
By On the Road to FARMLANDIA | August 22, 2011 at 09:06 AM EDT | No Comments
Thirteen days and 1788 miles later, I am leaving Dyersville, IA, home of The Field of Dreams movie site, and headed a bit north to Waukon. This part of Iowa, on the bluffs and in the valleys along the Mississippi, is about as beautiful as it gets. I've spent two days with Jude Becker, sixth generation farmer who raises organic pigs, no easy task. He raises some 350 sows and their progeny on pasture and in well-bedded hoop houses, and crop farms most of their feed on acreage that's an organic island in the middle of Iowa corn country and conventional farming. His family has been on the land since the 1800s, and he tells the story of a small stone building on the property that was built by the early Beckers. The family was attacked by Indians who were looking for food and so starved they were ready to kill for it. The family traded their way out of their predicament by offering what they had: a ham. And, as Jude put it, hams have been sustaining the family ever since. Jude markets his own pork, selling into upscale restaurants in northern California, the farmers' market in chicago, and to La Quercia in Iowa. Before I met Jude, I was buying his La Quercia prosciutto in a store called Stinky Brooklyn in Brooklyn, (of course). Who knew that one day I'd meet the guy who made it. Reminds me of when I first went out to Iowa in 2001 and the night before leaving on a month's shoot, had a Niman Ranch pork chop at Saul's in Brooklyn (of course). It was such a taste memory of what pork should taste like that I had to find out the source. The trail led to Paul Willis in Iowa, and three days later I was on the Willis Farm, admiring Paul's pasture-raised pigs. I am so thankful for that pork chop as it set me on a track that continues to this day.
Jude, like Paul, thinks in terms of raising animals for quality not quantity, for excellent food, not as dis-assembly line, anonymous nubs of "protein" favored by the meat industry. More on the comparison later.
Yes, someone built it (a movie set) and they continue to come. I could not resist visiting the Field of Dreams, which is still a tourist destination in the middle of a corn field. People come there to play baseball and hope for the spirits of ye olde baseball to come out of the corn. When I left, they were still waiting.
By On the Road to FARMLANDIA | August 19, 2011 at 12:44 PM EDT | No Comments
Day 10: on the road to Chicago where Tom Arnold will bring his naturally-raised pork, chicken, and beef to a suburban farmers market in the city. It's a 3 hour round-trip (not counting Friday night traffic), so it will be a late night. Tomorrow, I head into Iowa where I'll meet up with Jude Becker, who raises the remarkable organic, acorn-chomping pigs that go into La Quercia prosciutto. I'm very excited to meet him and his gorgeous pigs (most of you know how I do love those pigs.)
Tom Arnold and his family have been so generous, hospitable, and encouraging.Tom has let me shadow him through his day-to-day work, from livestock chores (hogs, chickens, turkeys), to getting them to slaughter and processing, to marketing through email, and finally, delivering orders to individuals across the region as well as to the weekend markets in the city. He is a perfect example of a small scale food system that really delivers the goods to his very loyal customer base. It also demonstrates what it takes to do this which is a combination first, of passion for farming and deep knowledge of and connection to the land and to animal stewardship, then savvy marketing, business-sense, an entrepreneurial spirit and hard work, emphasis on the the hard work. It's not for slackers for sure; you have to have the muscle, energy, and the brains. He's got them all, and it looks to me it is what all of the farmers I've met so far have. The other pattern I've seen is a connection to the farm in their backgrounds. It's a vital connection to farming that is passed along the generations, and it shows up not only in these farmers, but in the small processors, the restauranteurs, and chefs. It seems to feed the passion in a way that "schooln' can't." More thoughts on this later.
As for myself, I had no idea what it would take to travel, shoot, manage media, and at the same time do blogs, Facebook, emails, and set up the logistics and appointments for the next visits. What Tom does on a daily basis, I'm just developing a rhythm for. Bear with me.
By On the Road to FARMLANDIA | August 17, 2011 at 12:39 AM EDT | No Comments
What to say on my one week anniversary? Sorry for the delay, but traveling, shooting, schmoozing (which always precedes shooting), downloading media and so on and so on take a little organizin' of the workflow, as they say in the tech biz. So here I am, the night, ere of my second week: I'm in northern Illinois, near where I grew up in SW Wisconsin. The terrain looks like that and is familiar as is the smell of August in farm country. I'm visiting Tom Arnold, Elizabeth, IL, who has set up a small and successful food system of his own through which he markets his naturally raised pork, beef, chickens, and turkeys. He's also a Niman farmer. I will be spending some three to four days with Tom as he delivers a whole hog to a local restaurant, drops off pork and chicken at selected points in Dubuque, and then on to Chicago, where he is part of a Farmers Market there.
So, where did I start this excellent adventure way back in the dim past of August 10?: first at "Mangia Bene Farm!" -- exclamation point provided by the decidedly Italian proprietors, Joseph and Laura Aiello. Mike and I have been completely taken with their Italian greens at the Saugerties Farmers Market, produce you can't find anywhere else and produced from "old country" Italian seeds. They do all of this on a quarter acre in the tiny village of Glasco. Joe says that if he could get two acres, he would be set. So this is probably the tiniest farm I will visit--followed six days later by what I think will be my biggest: northern Indiana where 30,000 cows are milked three times a day. At 500 cows per hour, 250,000 gallons of milk per day, I'd say that's a lot of milk. And maybe a few small farms down the drain in the meantime? More on that later. In between: a trip to Orangeville, PA,. where the Hopkins family, Forks Farm, raise heritage pigs in the woods, and grass-fed/finished cattle, pasture-raised chickens and turkeys and, would you believe, make a living at it. (http://www.forksfarmmarket.com/) then on to Kim and Dianne Miller's Kananga Farm in Ligonier, IL. They raise Devon cows for their sweet disposition and tender meat. Kim's philosophy in 3 seasy lessons: Good grass, good farmer management, good genetics for cattle that can fatten on grass. They practice the intensive grazing technique call "mob-grazing". The grass is gorgeous as are the Devons. And, I might add, so are they. they put me up for the night, put mints on my pillow, and greeted me in the morning with non-Midwest great coffee and fresh peaches. Life is good. I also stopped off at the Tudors, Weatherbury Farms, where I got a lesson in heritage wheat from Nigel, Dale and Marcy's way-smart son who knows all there is about wheat (and is a blacksmith to boot). All along, I'm getting the feeling that soil & grass are at the heart of all....
So in one week, this is the itinerary in a word poem: Saugerties, NY, to PA; three stops in PA, then on to a slice of West Virginia, to Ohio, where I stayed at a place called the Amish Door--no food after 7:00; no beer ever; closed on Sunday. A bore. Goodbye OHI... then on to Indiana and the Hotel Six, or was it 8--no food but McDonalds--so I ate chips, then the next morning on to Fair Oaks, IN, and the cow amusement park where folks think farming is being done and the cows are amused and neither is much true. After that, on to Illinois and Tom Arnold and the farm as described above, but at dusk, just when the cows look magical, an emergency call from his 17 year old son who broke his collarbone during football practice and could they come and so I went with them to the highschool to drive their son's car home while they rushed him to the hospital. And as I backed out of the farm's driveway, I hit a heavy wire (it was then dark and it was invisible) and ripped the bumper of my spanking new Mazda from Hertz--then I drove back to town in the dark with the emergency brake on. So, first stop was the only local place in Stockton, IL, that has food and, what else a beer! So, that beer is the fuel for this blog tonight and I hope I haven't bored you with my plight--tomorrow: Dubuque!
By On the Road to FARMLANDIA | July 22, 2011 at 12:09 AM EDT | No Comments
Argh! I hate, hate hate asking for money--and this is the first time. I've launched a Kickstarter campaign to cover the expenses of this phase of FARMLANDIA, which will send me cross-country and back in search of not only where our food comes from, but how it gets to us. It's daunting--5,000 miles or so alone in a car--but also exciting. Look at the people I will meet, and the friends I will revisit. It's a joy and a great, great opportunity.
By On the Road to FARMLANDIA | July 06, 2011 at 10:57 AM EDT | No Comments
This is my first blog and it comes on the heels of launching this website. Once I begin this excellent adventure in August, I will report from the road. I will start out in Brooklyn, NY, and from there head south and west. The itinerary is still in development. Any suggestions for farms or farmers who you'd like to see in the documentary, please let me know!