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Farmworker-led Solutions for Health Equity in the Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic
In 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to sweep across the United States, the term “essential worker” did not hold the same weight and meaning as it does today. As stay-at-home orders were enacted, for the first time farmworkers were deemed essential and required to continue to work in the fields and food processing…
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Young Roots Farm: Mindful Food for Mindful People
Above: Farmer Amy Young at Young Roots Farm in Baker City, Oregon. Young Roots Farm is a small, ever-diversifying, woman-owned and operated farm raising food mindfully for family and community. In the hills above Sutton Creek, southeast of Baker City, Oregon, a group of Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs trot over sagebrush and bunchgrass filled…
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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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Ellen Hartstirn: La Grande Community Garden
Above: Ellen stands in the La Grande Community Garden. Ellen Hartstirn spends most of her time at the La Grande Community Garden in La Grande, Oregon. “It’s just a beautiful place to be,” said Ellen standing next to her budding brussel sprouts. “I grew up with parents who were gardeners and I enjoyed gardening…
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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…
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Young Roots Farm: Mindful Food for Mindful People
In the hills above Sutton Creek, southeast of Baker City, Oregon, a group of Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs trot over sagebrush and bunchgrass filled pastures towards farmer Amy Young. She stands on a paddock smiling and ready to greet them. “My pigs are the happiest pigs you’ll ever come across,” Amy says, scratching one…
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Susan Boyd: The Green Revolution
Susan Boyd at her farm in Union, Oregon. Today there is enough food produced to feed the entire world. Yet, an estimated 795 million people around the world go hungry. Even in the United States, where the majority of farming is industrialized, large-scale and operated on ideals that “America is feeding the world,” 1…