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Inspiring and Moving Stories Shared at Farm Aid News Conference
"We want to be feeding as many people as we possibly can. We bend over backwards to make that happen, and so that kind of is what keeps us going, is that we feel like we're doing something, something good, something important. And it's really, for me, about about feeding people good food."
So said Brian Denison of Denison Farm in Schaghticoke, New York. He and his wife Justine Denison were among the "farmer heroes" faatured at the news conference that preceded the Farm Aid Festival held Saturday, September 21 in Saratoga Springs, New York.
It was a sentiment undoubtedly shared by the highly diverse group of farmers who spoke — either on-stage or on videos because their farm obligations prevented them from attending in person — of the challenges and rewards of growing food on small farms in the host state of New York.
The following are the highlights of their remarks, starting with those who were present at the event, which were inspiring and moving.
ANGELA FERGUSON, Onondaga Nation Farm (located on the Onondaga Nation Indian Territory south of Syracuse, New York)
From video:
Food is the universal unifier. Our ancestors have always preserved seeds for us with the thought of seven generations in mind. So when we're planting and harvesting, we're not just thinking about ourselves here today, we're thinking about the next seven generations that are coming after us.
All of our food that we grow here at the farm is distributed to community members for free. We put in the labor and the love to the foods, and then we have that reciprocity of returning the foods back to the people.
Every single time I plant I feel like I am honoring the work of my ancestors and the survival methods, tactics and everything they had to do to survive, because nothing will stop that seed from growing once you put it in the ground. Our community supports our work financially so that we can have employment, and that's part of our sovereignty, is that we are able to feed ourselves, and that we are able to provide ourselves with our own resources, that we're not reliant on any outside sources.
Since we started the farm, I've seen a lot of our young people now are really getting into culinary arts. They are wanting to prepare indigenous foods and put that back on the tables.
Live comments:
I was listening to a lot of the farmers here, and I realized that we're all coming full circle. People are realizing how important are the original stewards of the land, that relationship that we have with it, and everybody else's farming has that same relationship.
So we have that commonality. And now we're realizing that we have to go back to the original teachers, and a lot of that has an influence, like regenerative agriculture, organic farming, all of those things are our initial practices. What was our entire culture based around that?
And that's where that word came from, agriculture, because it is a culture. It's everything you do in your life, and everything that surrounds you and tells your daily mind, your activities. Our philosophy to everything we do is one fish, one spoon, and that means every collective resource that we have as indigenous people is a responsibility, and we share that equally.
There must be justice in that role. And so that's why our food is distributed for free, because the collective resource was invested in us to grow the food.
The next two featured farms are located at the Chester Agriculture Center (CAC) in Chester, New York, an incubator farm with the mission to provide affordable land access to a diversified set of producers.
OMOWALE and NADIA ADEWALE, Liberation Farm
From video:
Nadia
The more you know, the better decisions you make of where you're buying produce, who you're supporting. When you’re supporting the farmers that look like you, you’re bringing your culture back into your community, because we bring the produce that we identify with.
Growing and being a part of that change and developing a new food system is important to our community.
Omowale
It's quite different to grow something for yourself, to actually toil in the field for yourself. That resonates with every farmer.
This is unique for us, because we the only 100% Black farm in this particular space, and at this time, we are trying to really rebuild a food system to make sure that we distribute the right resources to our community. For us, we look at that as an obligation.
Live comments:
Omowale
This is the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, and so the politics is so incredibly important. It's interwoven into how we farm, when we grow food. When the Black community grows food, we essentially are trying to be able to create that sovereignty in our community.
Without food sovereignty, there is no food justice, and you can't have food sovereignty without land sovereignty.... We want you to know our story, know our struggle and know that we're going to continuously lead with our work on our farm and within our community. But we require support. Not just equality. We need equity, equity in the land.
Nadia
We have to work together. We've heard that a lot this week. It sounds great, but working together, it's recognizing the wrong that is done and rectifying it.
CHRISTINA CHAN, Choy Division Farm
From Video:
One of the major benefits of being here at CAC is just the wealth of knowledge around me. Farming is the ultimate way to connect with food and to work with land. To grow the food that my ancestors once grew feels really powerful.
Our farm is on something called the Black Dirt, which is a very, very special type of soil, also known as muck soil. It is incredibly fertile, incredibly rich. Some parts of the soil are 40% organic matter.
My advice to anybody who's getting into farming is that it is a lifestyle, not a job, and you put the farm first because it's a labor of love.
Live comments:
It's been a real honor for me to be able to grow culturally relevant food for my community. In New York, there aren't a lot of farms like mine that focus on growing these foods, despite the fact that there is the largest population of Asians outside of Asia in New York City...
To me, that is a continuation of the story of Asian Americans in the U.S., where we have been consistently erased throughout history, our contributions and our presence, and it was the same with the local food system here. So it has been my role, really, to bring that representation back and to show them that we do belong here, and we are part of the society here, and we are not foreigners, and we are not perpetual strangers.
it's not just the growing of food that has been really powerful, but it is the use of land as a gathering space. I've used the farm as a way to create healing and a space of belonging and home for all of those who grew up like me here as a third-culture kid, where you are Chinese at home, we were American outside. So who are you really and where do you belong? But here on the farm, all of us belong, and we all love the same food, and we share the same background, and that has been the most powerful thing.
JUSTIN BUTTS, Black Wind Farm, Berne, New York
From Video:
When I was younger, my family had lost their home in the housing crisis in the early 2000s. I couldn't garden. I would see other farmers, and they could cut all their own wood and they could grow all their own food. They had a lot more self-sufficiency than people that aren't farming. They could do things to help themselves without actually having money. That kind of like put a light on for me.
I would love to have a farm incubator here eventually, where other farmers can be here and to learn about farming and have access to something. I have 106 acres, and I don't think I'd ever realistically need all of it. So I could probably have 10 farmers at one point.
I just want it to be a profitable, functional farm where people are helping them learn and spend time in nature, that has also expanded to add new enterprises to the farm. Each new enterprise on the farm provides an opportunity for someone to be employed, but also provides an opportunity for people to come and learn.
The goal is to be a full-time farmer and to be on the farm all the time. To never have to leave this place that I love to be. It's hard work, and I won't ever stop saying it's really hard. It's one of the hardest things you'll ever do, but it's absolutely worth it.
Live Comments:
Farming is not easy. You have to network. You have to meet other farmers, meet people that have similar interests here, but you have to be willing to go into spaces where you may not feel comfortable.
I was the only Black person that was farming in my county when I was in Pennsylvania, I'm the only Black person that's farming in my county in New York. And I think you have to be willing to give people a chance, give them the opportunity to know you and get to know them, and try to work with communities and build connections. Because I wouldn't be where I am now but for a lot of farmers that went out their way to make sure that I stayed in farming.
D COOPER, Rock Steady Farm, Millerton, New York
[Note: D Cooper owns Rock Steady Farm with Maggie Cheney and Camille Braswell. It is a cooperative farm that provides "affirming training and support to enable queer, trans, Black, Indigenous and people of color (QTBIPOC) farmers to thrive."
From video:
We're trying to cultivate the beginning farmers to see a way that they can really envision themselves doing this work and doing it not in isolation, but tap into a community that has distribution, cooler storage and cold storage and this and that, all these markets, and set up that they can also envision longevity.
We should be able to have these experiences that bring us joy and connectivity with either our culture, our people, our friends, our family, right? It should be available to everybody, and we're just working really hard to try to make that happen any way that we can.
Live Comments:
Rock Steady has been a farm for nine years. I think in the development of our story, our voice, our experiences as queer farmers, and often as queer farmers of color, there are places where we're uncomfortable and we don't feel well known, we feel unsafe. And I think collectively, all of us always want to feel safe and secure, no matter where we're at, but especially in places that are meaningful, such as our work and working with the land and being in relationship with land as well.
I feel that what we've been able to cultivate at Rock Steady is create a place that queer farmers, trans farmers, farmers of color can feel whole and safe. Rock Steady is a place to discover yourself and understand yourself on a journey with a connection to your own ancestors and lineages of food and your identity. And we want to have fun, we're a bunch of people and who work really, really hard to motivate our community and to live in good principles and integrity with ourselves and grow food for an incredibly rich community, both locally and down in New York City.
The following are excerpts from the videos of owners of two farms who were unable to attend the live event.
BRIAN AND JUSTINE DENISON, Denison Farm, Schaghticoke, New York
From video:
Brian
We farmed in Maine for 18 years... The whole family got sick to some degree or another. We did find out we had some chemical contamination in our well, which was very shallow, either from our farming or from our neighbor's farming. All of our thyroids were compromised and other health issues and possibly related to adding chemicals in our drinking water. So we packed it up, just started heading west from Maine, we wanted a fresh start, and we did want to farm organically.
Justine
The change from farming in Maine conventionally to farming here organically in retail, where we really knew our customers, was extremely different. Here, every customer was precious. Growing things in a way where we were really enriching the land rather than just taking from the land was important to me.
Brian
Twenty years ago, weather was not a big concern. It is the main concern now. Every single year, we have some really devastating weather that is the most difficult thing now about making our living on this farm.
Good farming practices help with the extreme weather events. We farm in raised beds, so the entire farm isn't what I think of as permanent beds. So when we get modest rains, the plants are not sitting in water.
MADELINE and BRUCE POOLE, MK Dairy, Owego, New York
From video:
Madeline
We have a dairy farm. We've been organic since 2007. My grandparents started this farm in 1943.
Bruce
When we decided to come take over the farm, we came here with nothing. We needed additional support. We were just starting out. We were only 22, 23 years old, three weeks married. Go to the bank and tell them you want a $500,000 loan to purchase a dairy farm, and they're gonna look at you like you're crazy. They did. They denied us.
Madeline
It was a 10-year plan for us to buy the farm. We smashed that and got it in five. One bad financial decision or one bad sickness with the cows, it's like almost you can't catch your breath.
Bruce
One year, we finally broke it even, it was great. It was a great feeling. There's a lot of loss in organic farming. It costs us a lot more to produce a lot less milk. The milk we produce is purchased by a co-op, who processes it and distributes it to stores across the country.
Madeline
We would work literally all day, and then sometimes, like 10 o'clock at night, we still find ourselves sitting out in the calf barn, like watching the calves, look what we've done. Hopefully we can somewhat pass it down to the children, yeah, they're gonna have to work for it, or somewhat pay for it. But we don't want to have to pass down the debt where they can't get a leg up.
Bruce
Even after a hard day, or a stressful day, you get excited. It's like you still did something, you still accomplished something.
Click the button below to view all of the Farmer Heroes videos on the Farm Aid website.
Click the button below to read takeaways from the legendary musicians on the Farm Aid Board of Directors — Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, and Margo Price — and from Farm Aid staff leaders.
And click below to watch the video of the full Farm Aid 2024 news conference.
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