Radical Black Farming, Black Farmers Resistance, and Representation In Media

My question when starting may blog post was, "What are black farmers doing now?" I couldn't just dive right in to modern Black farming practices without looking back a bit. Check out this article about 7 contributions of Black farmers to agriculture. 

7 Contributions of Black Farmers to Agriculture

https://www.farmproject.org/blog/2017/2/4/hikqys8igvv0bo368aco3mrb1rv

Check out their website!

http://www.nationalblackfarmersassociation.org/about_us

In addition to farming, Black Farmers have had to look out for each other which is why the National Black Farmers Association w created

Check out this video about the founding of Hydroponics! Did anyone know a lack man created this technology?

Philson Warner, Cornell University Cooperative Extension associate, founded the Cornell Hydroponics, Aquaculture and Aquaponics Learning Labs at Food and Finance High School, an Eco-School in Manhattan.

"Our greenhouse—with its mutually sustainable hydroponic and aquaculture systems—is used for teaching, food production and as a science hub for the New York City area. Using minimal energy, it may even contribute to the city's power grid," says Warner.

http://www.cornell.edu/video/hydroponics-aquaponics-scientist-philson-warner-nyc

Our system is broken, we know that. Here are some things Black farmers do to help out each other and finesse when  they have to to make a living. 

Mapping existing pieces of the value chain to locate missing links

Gap 1: Get certified! To sell to larger buyers, farmers need USDA certification that they are following best practices. This takes time and costs money, both scarce for low-income farmers. DSCAN coached them through it. In just one year, 22 Alabama farmers working with The Cottage House became Global GAP certified, the highest certification level.

Farmers got needed labor; local youth gained new opportunities in agriculture. Photo ©Kertis Creative

Gap 2: Produce more and better. Supplying higher-volume markets means using the land as productively as possible. Experts from Tuskegee University helped Network farmers adopt growing protocols and practices to meet buyers’ standards, increasing crop yields by at least 40%, along with their value.

Gap 3: Capture more value. Farmers earn more for produce that is cleaned and packaged. Mississippi’s MileSton Cooperative worked with local youth to turn an old gas station/convenience store into a facility to wash and bag peas and other produce. In Alabama, TUCCA secured space for an aggregation and production facility that now employs 13 people.

Gap 4: Find workers. Producing vegetables requires lots of people and partners struggled to find workers to meet growing demand. The solution? Engage young people. Farmers got labor at a fair price and 47 local youth in 2015 alone gained new opportunities in agriculture. Another value chain is tapping the prison reentry program to find willing workers.

Black Farmers in Oakland California reconnected with the earth, and farming practices through growing Cannabis. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDbeD5TCyGRTg&v=beD5TCyGRTg

The food movement in Detroit is bussing! Check out this video 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFJsXev3eU0

Questions: 

1. What did you know about black farming contributions before this class? 

2. What didn't you think about Black Farmers / farming practices that shocked you. 

3. How do you think these ideas come into play when thing about our food moment on campus? 

4. How can we make the food movement on campus more inclusive? 

5. The growing of legal cannabis is expanding quickly, I want you to imagine yourself as the one person who dictates how this new industry will work. 

Who gets to grow? Who will actually be doing the hard labor? How much will a gram cost? How many plants can a single household have? How many plants can a farming household (like Amy who also trades and sells produce)? Who gets to smoke? What else will the hemp be used for? What will happen to people in prison because of weed charges?, and any other questions you can come up with to create your perfect industrial cannabis industry. 

Week 10 on the Farm: Final reflection

Weather Forecast: Mid-70s, mostly cloudy.

It's been a delight working and learning with all of you this quarter! This week is crunch week on the farm, when we need to finish up most of our planting, so we're going to ask you to help us with that. We'll also take some time to walk through the gardens to see how things have grown over the past two months and maybe even harvest a few things to share during our Wednesday class.

 

I know that we've covered a lot of interconnected topics this quarter, so I hope this final reflection will be an opportunity for you to pause and think back over the course to what has had the most impact on you and what you most want to remember. This final reflection will be 10 percent of your grade, so please spend a little time thinking about it. You can post your reflection in the comments section or email it to me by this coming Friday, June 7.

Before you start writing, read back through the comments that you've made on this blog to refresh your memory about the ideas and questions that came up for you during the course of this class. (This will also give you the opportunity to note how many blog comments you have posted. If you had difficulty with technology during the quarter and find that some of your comments did not post, you are welcome to rewrite them and email them to me for credit by June 7.) You may also want to browse back through some of your classmates' comments that you didn't have a chance to read earlier.

  

Then, write a reflection on your experience in this class that addresses the following questions:

 

What questions, themes, and/or ideas from this class have been the most interesting for you to consider? What new ideas are you taking away from this course? What new questions do you have?

 

What do you think you’ll remember most from this class one year from now?

What is one thing you’ve learned in this class that you hope to put into practice in your life after graduation?

Throughout this quarter, John and I have shared with you some of the ways we are working to make a positive difference in the world through experimenting with and teaching small-scale, localized farming. Following our passions, talents, and curiosities has led us to this way of giving to the world. What passions, talents, and curiosities will you be pursuing after graduation and how might these lead you to ways you can make a positive difference in the communities in which you’ll be living and the world at large?

What suggestions do you have for improving future versions of this course?

Technology and Innovation in Farming: "Old" and "New"

Hello Everyone!

So for my presentation this week, I was playing around with ideas surrounding technology/innovation in farming. In one of the earlier weeks (1st Week? 3rd week?) we talked a bit about technology and its good and bad sides. I decided it would be interesting to pursue this further and get some further thoughts/discussion about this.

(Note: I use “old” and “new” as ways of thinking about Indigenous technology/farming practices vs. Modern technology/farming practices in loose terms, emphasizing the way that “old” ways of doing things are still technology/innovation.)

“Old” Technology 

I especially wondered how people grew things in areas that don’t have an environment that is typically thought of as “farmland” (ie deserts, mountainous regions etc.) However, in the midst of newer technology and innovation, I was reminded by Amy that people did farm and survive in many of these areas without these “new” ways of farming.

In looking up articles and material, I thought about the time a friend of mine spent in Australia and how she talked about the food and the bush. Additionally, Australia was also colonized, so much of the traditional knowledge was lost when huge amounts of people died (I’m no expert on Australia or Australian history, but in many ways the way people discussed Aboriginal farming practices reminded me of similar discussions surrounding Native Americans in the United States. Here are a few videos with articles talking about Aboriginal farming practices in Australia. I found them to bring up interesting points. Feel free to look up more information about this, because this is a pretty general overview.

https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/Environment/Biodiversity/Biodiversity-book/Chapter-6 

https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/land/aboriginal-land-care

“New” Technology
In thinking about innovations in farming, I immediately thought about Hydroponics and other methods that don’t use soil. Here are a few definitions to clarify differences in some of these systems and how they work.

“Hydroponics – The plants roots are ‘submerged’ in a continuous flow of nutrient based water. Aeroponics – The plants roots hang in the air & a sprinkler system sprays them with nutrient based water rather than it being submerged. Aquaponics – The plants roots are exactly the same as the hydroponics example. Only difference with aquaponics is how the plant nutrients are created. With hydroponics you manually provide the nutrients into the system. With aquaponics you have a fish tank connected to the plants & the fish wastes are the nutrient source.” (https://originhydroponics.com/hydroponics-vs-aquaponics-vs-aeroponics/)

In thinking about these, it is easy to see how these could be beneficial for areas where the ground is toxic or unable to easily grow things.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/aquaponic-farming-saves-water-can-feed-country https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J9f59usLfI 


One of the major “innovators” in farming is the Netherlands. They use many of these technologies to boost their production and allow them to be one of the largest exporters of food. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNCpEn2csGk 

A video about the Netherlands and how it became an agricultural powerhouse. (Also talks about other places in the EU) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUmP8Tli-Mc 

A short video praising greenhouses in the Netherlands. (Disregards traditional agricultural knowledge…) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CMfPLEtQMQ 

Yet, like most things, there is controversy surrounding using these methods. Specifically, in the organic community, because of the emphasis on taking care of the soil and striving to improve soil quality, because all of the –ponics don’t use soil, many in the organic community are pushing back against certifying –ponics as organic.

Here is an explanation of some of the controversy.
https://www.igrow.news/news/a-growing-battle-in-the-47-billion-organic-food-industry-could-fundamentally-change-the-program-and-some-farmers-are-worried 

Another article about how some farmers are pushing for a separate certification. https://www.winsightgrocerybusiness.com/fresh-food/real-organic-project-creates-new-food-label 


Questions:

In thinking about new technologies in agriculture, there are obviously both benefits and drawbacks. I encourage you to get really specific about what potential pitfalls farms may experience when using technologies like these.

1.I used “old” and “new” as words to classify ideas surrounding technology and innovation in farming. What did you think about “old” and “new” farming practices before this class? (This hearkens back to our discussions surrounding indigenous knowledge) Which do you feel is more sustainable? Would a combination of both be possible? If so, what would it look like?

2. What do you think about not using soil in farming? What are the benefits? Drawbacks?

3. I’m thinking a bit about what Karina shared in class about how she couldn’t find who were working on the farms/in the greenhouses in the Netherlands. What types of systems of oppression could these technologies perpetuate? Would it be different from the way many farms currently work?

4. Would you use one of these systems to grow food?

5. What are some ways that these technologies could be implemented on smaller scales, perhaps in a community near your hometown or Kalamazoo? Do you think it would be beneficial? What are the limitations of this technology?

6. Anything else that the videos/information brought to mind!

Before Wednesday I encourage you to do three things to help bring more knowledge/ideas/perspectives to bring to the discussion:

1. Look up how people traditionally grew food in deserts (Was it the seeds? Was it specific tools? How did they survive?)

2. Look up a specific farming tool/technology and see where it originated (For example, I think the wheelbarrow was originally invented in China. This may relate to the previous research about “old” technology!)

3. Spend a little time learning a little more about –ponics systems. Which one do you think would be the most feasible for you to personally implement (if you wanted)? (You can also answer this in your comment if you like!) 

Thanks! See you all Wednesday.

 (It’s tenth week and it’s crazy…but it also means we are almost done! :D)

Genevieve