Bioneers: Ecological Food and Farming

Access to healthy food reduces the risk of disease. White neighborhoods have, on average, five times as many supermarkets as Black neighborhoods. The Food Project in Boston engages inner-city youth in personal and social change through meaningful work in sustainable agriculture. Wil Bullock joined the organization as part of a new generation of leaders. He blends his passion for food justice with his talent as a singer/songwriter, leveraging his music to engage listeners – especially youth – to address access to nutritious food. This speech was given at the 2005 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Food Justice Vol. 1 Collection. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

LaDonna Redmond tells her very personal story of searching for answers in her struggle with her son's food allergies and finding a need for the African-American voice in the food and farming industry. She also discusses the difficulty of finding healthy food in her neighborhood, linking food and racial justice. This speech was given at the 2004 National Bioneers Conference. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Nikki Henderson (now Nikki Silvestri), founder of People's Grocery in Oakland, CA, explains how we can use food to create conversation and community. "One of the things I love about food is that it is grounding. It calls for presence." Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

What does the future hold for organic agriculture? Fred Kirschenmann, a respected leader of the sustainable agriculture movement discusses the history of organic farming. Can organic agriculture survive in our industrial food system, or do we need to make sweeping changes to our whole approach to food production and consumption? This speech was presented at the 2003 National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, CA. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. Learn more about Bioneers' Restorative Food Systems program here http://www.bioneers.org/programs/rest... and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

One of the most penetrating critics of technological abuses, this leading lawyer-activist for local and sustainable food takes on the destructive and toxic system of industrial agriculture. Author of the classic book Fatal Harvest, he shows how reconnecting with the land, farmers and our food can heal the distortions born from our separation from the Earth and psychological distance from each other. He warns us to be alert to the manipulations of corporate food giants who seek to take over the organics movement and debase organic standards with genetically modified foods and other poorly conceived technologies. This speech was given at the 2002 Bioneers National Conference. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Miguel Santistevan, an ethnobiologist and farmer from Taos, New Mexico, explains how farming has connected him with Mother Earth. "I measure my success by how many different living things are benefiting from what I am doing." Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience more conversations like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. For more information on Bioneers' Food and Farming program, please visit http://www.bioneers.org/programs/rest... and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Malik Yakini, Executive Director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, will explore how the current industrial food system that supplies most of our food creates inequities, based in part on the social construct we call “race.” He will share wise perspectives on addressing racism, thinking beyond the logic of capitalism and how we might create a more just, sustainable food system. Introduction by Greg Watson, Schumacher Center. This speech was given at the 2015 National Bioneers Conference. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. Learn more at http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

One of the world’s most brilliant and accomplished Permaculture designers describes how “Regrarianism” can reverse the destruction and usher in a new regenerative future for our food systems and communities. This speech was given at the 2013 Bioneers National Conference. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. Learn more at http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Winona LaDuke, the renowned indigenous rights leader and two-time Green Party U.S. Vice Presidential candidate highlights the struggles of indigenous peoples to protect their food sovereignty, restore their food systems and protect their cultures and foods from genetic modification. This speech was presented at the 2007 Bioneers National Conference in San Rafael, CA. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. Learn more at http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

In the next 20 years, farmland ownership will shift on a continental scale—400 million acres, yet 70% of American farmland is owned by people 65 and older. How can we help young, motivated agrarians survive daunting structural obstacles and become successful farmers to whom retiring organic farmers can transmit their wisdom? How can we invest in the democratization of our land base? These questions drive Agrarian Trust, started by Greenhorns founder Severine v T Fleming, one of the most dynamic leaders in the young farmers’ movement. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. Learn more at http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

In this far-ranging, acutely insightful overview, Michael Pollan depicts the profound societal transformation underway in how we eat and grow our food. It’s a “Sunfood” agenda that takes our food system off its petrochemical dependency and unhealthy “food-like substances.” It brings farming back to local communities with human-scale agriculture. He identifies the food system as the single most important determinant of public health and the health-care crisis. This is a genuine food revolution, he observes, and it’s growing much bigger and faster than you may think. Introduction by Kenny Ausubel, CEO and Co-Founder of Bioneers. This speech was given at the 2009 National Bioneers Conference. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. Learn more at http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Michael Pollan, author of the Omnivore's Dilemma, encourages us to put our faith in relationship rather than technology and regulation. Pollan is perhaps the foremost critic of the American and global food system and advocate for transforming that system. "Local food economies are our best hope for checking the drift toward the total global economy. And with food is where these economies begin. A revolt is underway across this country -- a revolt of the small producers and consumers. And some of the most important politics today as I said, are happening at farmers markets." This speech was presented at the 2006 National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, CA and is part of the Ecological Food and Farming Collection, Vol. 1. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. Learn more at http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Democracy is eroding because the damage caused by the corporate elite is legal, but that may be changing because of Tom Linzey and his allies. He has shown true genius at devising creative strategies to achieve democratic control over corporations. He has worked with local communities to demand and assert their rights over corporate rights. This speech was given at the 2004 Bioneers Annual Conference and is part of the Food and Farming, Vol. 1 and Democracy, Human Rights and the Rights of Nature, Vol. 1 Collections. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. Learn more at http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Percy Schmeiser was targeted by Monsanto’s gene police, who claimed he was using Monsanto’s patented genetics, even though Schmeiser had never used any Monsanto products. His crop, unbeknownst to him, was genetically contaminated, ruining his 50-year-old seed-breeding program. Refusing to capitulate, the victim was charged with the crime. But Monsanto picked on the wrong guy. Schmeiser took the case to the Supreme Court and became an international spokesperson against the injustice and bio-vandalism of genetic engineering. This speech was given at the 2003 Bioneers Annual Conference and is part of the Ecological Food and Farming Collection, Vol. 1. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Because agriculture is the single most environmentally destructive human activity, transforming our food and farming systems is central to restoring both the environment and human health. Kirschenmann has been at the forefront of identifying the challenges to agriculture and the course needed to build a more adaptive and resilient food system. His bird’s-eye view has informed a new ecological farming model that is steadily gaining traction, one local watershed at a time. This speech was given at the 2003 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Ecological Food and Farming Collection, Vol. 1. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Peter Warshall gives a guided tour of this ambitious initiative -- a dream that asks, "How do we want to be nourished in the next 15 to 25 years?" Dreaming New Mexico's (DNM) on-the-ground surveys gave way to vibrant maps that illuminate the state's agro-ecoregions. "It was to remind people, as the Navajos say, that when you walk into the future, you must walk in beauty." This speech was given at the 2010 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Ecological Food and Farming Collection, Vol. 1. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. Learn more at http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

The number of Black Farmers has declined dramatically in the last 100 years and the USDA's racist lending practices hastened that decline. J.L. Chestnut, the chief attorney for the Black Farmers class-action discrimination lawsuit against the USDA, won the largest civil rights settlement in U.S. history, opening the door for restitution for Native American, women and Hispanic farmers. "Fighting on behalf of women, on behalf of minority people of color, fighting on behalf of the environment and the planet are all one big battle. It is all about a struggle for the soul of America." This talk took place at the 2001 Annual Bioneers Conference and is part of the Ecological Food and Farming, Vol. 1 and Democracy, Human Rights and the Rights of Nature, Vol. 1 Collections. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. Learn more at http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Michael Pollan, author of the Omnivore's Dilemma, encourages us to put our faith in relationship rather than technology and regulation. Pollan is perhaps the foremost critic of the American and global food system and advocate for transforming that system. "Local food economies are our best hope for checking the drift toward the total global economy. And with food is where these economies begin. A revolt is underway across this country -- a revolt of the small producers and consumers. And some of the most important politics today as I said, are happening at farmers markets." This speech was presented at the 2006 National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, CA and is part of the Ecological Food and Farming Collection, Vol. 1. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges.