Student Organizations

Sustainable Agriculture: The Philosophy and Politics of Food and Farm

From site: Wellstone House of Organization and Activism

This talk, reading and discussion with author Gary Holthaus is Saturday, September 29 at 2:00pm, during HarvestFest at Parr House (next to Farm House). Baked goods will be provided by the girls at Dacie Moses. This event is sponsored by Food Truth. Hear Holthaus talk about how the WTO and NAFTA have changed the face of agriculture and local control, how your food choices matter and why telling these stories is so important. For his book "From the Farm to the Table: What All Americans Need to Know about Agriculture", Holthaus interviewed over 40 southeast Minnesota farm families who talk about their farming practices and their values. "This began as a book about farming in southeast Minnesota," Holthaus says, "but it became a story of agriculture not only here, but globally. Everything is connected now: what the WTO does in Geneva affects the farmer in Altura, Olivia and Wadena," according to Holthaus. "It became impossible to limit the story of farming to a small locale. It did become possible to show that our regional agriculture represents a microcosm of the larger picture of agriculture, wherever it is practiced." Of Holthaus's book, Fred Kirschenmann, Distinguished Fellow for the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, said, "Farmers all over the world have begun to choose a new path--a way of farming that is enjoyable and profitable for the farmers, leaves a small footprint on the planet, and makes a beneficial contribution to rural communities. Gary Holthaus has taken the time to listen to, and share with us, the stories of such new farmers, most of whom live near his own community in Minnesota. Then he contends that these wonderful farmers may be the harbingers of the future."