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Starting a Conversation about Food Justice
“Coffee is a conversation about justice,” said Jana Joramo, co-owner of Copeka Coffee. “The people who are growing food in our fields right now, in the United States, come from the areas that prepare the coffee in your cup. We need to remember it and protect each other.” From sourcing the product, to respecting…
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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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The Importance of Community Supported Agriculture: The Produce Peddler
Zay & Leah López are first-generation farmers. Together, they own and operate The Produce Peddler. On 26 acres at the west end of the Grand Valley, they grow a large variety of vegetables, melons, and raise chickens and sheep for eggs and meat. Zay and Leah believe that healthy food begins with healthy soil.…
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The Role of a Rancher:Kathryn Bedell
Above: Kathryn Bedell at her ranch in Fruita, Colorado. Ranchers today find themselves needing to do more than ranching to be successful. Ranchers often take on extra roles as stewards of the land, business people, and advocates. Dr. Kathryn Bedell finds herself taking on all of these roles and then some to make her…
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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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Ernest Weston:Thunder Valley CDC
Above: Food Sovereignty Program Coordinator at Thunder Valley, Ernest Weston, stands in a newly built green house on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. “I remember the morning I left for school. I loaded up the Dodge pickup at 4 a.m. and then went inside to say goodbye to my family. We all…
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Judy McCullough:Fighting for Ranchers
Above: Rancher Judy McCullough at home at Empire Ranch, in Moorcroft, Wyoming. Ranchers aren’t born, they’re honed in competition. On the ranch, you’re competing against everything. Competing against the elements, against frostbitten winters, blistered summers and drought. You’re competing against time and age. You’re competing against other producers, sometimes your neighbors and you’re always…
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Christina Stucker-Gassi:Connection through Activism
“My name is Ayisha Christina Stucker-Gassi, everyone knows me by Christina. I grew up in the Treasure Valley and I love Idaho.” Christina lives in Meridian, Idaho. She mentors youth transitioning out of juvenile correction centers. Christina has been a member of Idaho Organization of Resource Councils (IORC) since 2014. She is co-chair of…
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Mabel Dobbs: Fighting for Fairness in Agriculture
Mabel Dobbs sat at her kitchen table with her hands folded neatly on a stack of papers. The room is sprinkled with family portraits and ranching memorabilia. A wedding portrait of Mabel and her late husband Grant from 1984 hangs to her left – “Bull Rider” is written in rope below the photograph. “I…