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‘We Take Last Place’: North Dakota Residents Fight Industrial Dairy Threat to Land and Legacy
Above: Mary and David Stahl on their family farm. In the wide open farmland outside the quiet town of Abercrombie, ND, generations of families have built lives reliant on the health of the surrounding land. But today, many of them are staring down a future that feels like it’s being written without them—one where…
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How one Small-Scale Meat Processor in South Dakota found Success in a time of Corporate Consolidation
Even before Lemmonmade Butcher opened in January of 2019, the small-scale processor had three months worth of work lined up and has continued to operate at capacity since. Lemmonmade, named after its roots in Lemmon, South Dakota, has been extremely successful considering corporate consolidation has put 40% of small-scale processors out of business since…
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Urban Food Forests Provide Space for Community Connection, Education and Nourishment
The Sheridan Food Forest sits alongside Big Goose Creek, tucked into what was once a BMX Park in the community of Sheridan, Wyoming. The once weedy, hard packed lot is now filled with plants and trees native to Wyoming, and supplemented with fruit trees and common vegetables. The food forest seeks to provide food…
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Irv Alderson: Country of Origin Labeling
Rancher Irv Alderson leaned against an old post near the tack barn at Bones Brothers Ranch near Birney, Montana. The Bones Brothers Ranch brand stamped proudly on the doors of the barn is over 130 years old. Irv readjusted his hat and looked out across the home pastures. “I grew up looking through this…
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Holding on to the Ranch: Don Lumbardy
Don Lumbardy was born in 1948 in Mesa County, just 20 miles west of the ranch he stands on today. Lumbardy Ranch is nestled north of the Gunnison River, several miles north of the 209,610-acre Dominguez Escalante National Conservation Area, and at the western foot of the Grand Mesa National Forest. Looking out across…
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Frank Wallis: Food Freedom
Above: Frank Wallis at the Downtown Gillette Farmers’ Market, a cooperatively owned market in Gillette. Frank Wallis wants Wyoming to be an example to the country that food freedom works — for producers, consumers, and the economy. Standing at E Z Rocking Ranch in Gillette, Wyoming, Frank explained how the Wyoming Food Freedom Act…
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Landless Farmer: Patrick Certain’s Story
Above: Farmer Patrick Certain at his downtown Billings, Montana apartment. Patrick has been searching for farmland for the last two years. He’s determined to find his own place soon and start planting this summer. Patrick Certain is one of the thousands of new farmers looking for farmland. Patrick sat in his downtown Billings, Montana…
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The Story of one Oregon Mega-dairy is the Story of America’s Ag Epidemic
Above: Former Department of Environmental Quality Acting Administrator Eastern Region, Mitch Wolgamott, at Oregon Rural Action office in La Grande, Oregon. A common adage in agriculture holds that most people don’t really understand where their food comes from. Former Department of Environmental Quality Acting Administrator Eastern Region, Mitch Wolgamott, understands this all too well.…
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Annika Charter Williams: Food Hub
Above: Annika Charter-Williams holds her son, Willie, and daughter, Stevie at their ranch in Shepherd, Montana. Annika Charter Williams helps her 4-year-old daughter Stevie pull on a pair of pink and brown cowboy boots. It’s early morning in late-August. Annika’s father, Steve, rides up to his daughter and granddaughter on a chestnut brown horse.…
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Doug Lewis: Transitioning to Organic
Through education, patience and practice, farmer Doug Lewis has succeeded in keeping his family’s farm in business. Today Doug and his wife Mary run Agristar, an organic farm in North Powder, Oregon. Agristar was born out of the Farm Crisis of the 1980s and the Lewis’ have fought methodically and strategically to be where…