Agrarian Futures

So far in this mini-series, we've looked at community-owned land and why that is important in a world where land is ever more financialized. This week we're talking about farmer cooperatives and in particular an in an incredible farmer cooperative called 'Ulu Coop in Hawai'i.Hawaiʻi today imports around 90% of its food but It wasn't always this way. For a thousand years the islands fed themselves. Then came colonization, and the sugar and pineapple plantations which  turned all of that into an export economy, growing food for somebody else. The last pineapple plantation closed in 2016 and left behind degraded land, little  processing infrastructure, and a population living on imported food.Which brings us to ʻulu - or breadfruit. A canoe crop, carried across the Pacific by the first Polynesian settlers, and culturally significant to Hawaiians for generations. It should be the perfect staple for the islands but for most of the last century it has been commercially worthless.Today, we are talking to one of the founders and CEO, Dana Shapiro. In 2016, she and nine other farmers started a cooperative. Ten years on, the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative has more than 220 farmer-owners across four islands and close to 10,000 trees.Learn more about 'Ulu at the links below: Their 10 year anniversary blog: https://ulu.coop/celebrating-10-years-of-growing-together Shop ʻulu products: https://eatbreadfruit.com/collections/shop Their cooperative model: https://ulu.coop/the-cooperative-structure Their impact story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYCBfz6oy7I IG, FB & YT: @hawaiiulucoop————-Agrarian Futures is produced by Alexandre Miller, who also wrote our theme song. This episode was edited by Drew O’Doherty.

This week we go to Germany to learn about a cooperative called Kulturland who has been working on solving the farming land access problem for over a decade. Kulturland raises money from everyday people and uses that capital to buy farms, take them off the speculative market, and provides farmers with a secure lease. In return, the farmer commits to farming organically and keeping the farm open to the community.Today, Kulturland holds 53 partner farms, owned by almost 4,000 cooperative investors. In this episode we talk to Thomas Kliemt, who spent 8 years as their Commercial Director. We discuss land financialization in Germany, why a cooperative, and touch on his new work: starting an incubator farm network to train the next generation of farmers.-------------------------More about Thomas and Kulturland:As Commercial Director of Kulturland-Genossenschaft, Thomas helped grow the cooperative from 7 partner farms to over 50, membership from 250 to 3,000, and a tenfold increase in the balance sheet to nearly €20 million. Now, he is coordinating Germany's first agricultural incubator network — creating infrastructure so new farmers can access land, mentoring, and business development.He is also the chairman of my local Green Party and serve on the steering committee of the European Access to Land Network, shaping policy that makes farmland accessible for the next generation.Resources to learn more about Thomas and his work:Website: Https://www.thomaskliemt.deSubstack: Https://substack.com/@thomaskliemtFarm Incubator Project: https://thomaskliemt.substack.com/p/incubator-farms?r=1ntyb6&utm_medium=ios————-Agrarian Futures is produced by Alexandre Miller, who also wrote our theme song. This episode was edited by Drew O’Doherty.

If we're serious about building a better food system, we have to start with land.Across the world, land is getting more and more expensive. In the United States, farmland values have nearly doubled since 2011. What we're witnessing is an unprecedented land rush — one that's driving prices to levels simply unattainable by farmers and ranchers and  the people we're actually asking to grow our food. As land is sold to development, we are losing an estimated 2000 acres of farmland every single day.But the bigger story is what's coming. More than 40% of American farmland is owned by people over the age of 65. What this means is that roughly 370 million acres, an area larger than Texas and California combined, is expected to change hands over the next twenty years. Who ends up owning it will shape our food system for decades.This mini-series is about what a food system built on cooperative principles could actually look like. In a world where land is becoming a speculative asset owned by distant investors, what would it look like to take land back - to hold it in common, to make sure the people actually farming it can afford to be there?We need alternatives. And one of the clearest working answers I've come across is Fordhall Community Farm. It’s an almost unbelievable underdog tale that has a lot to teach us about the future of land access in our food system.More about Charlotte and Fordhall Community Farm:After having fought hard to save their family home from development, Charlotte settled into her dream job managing the FCLI as their General Manager.Charlotte is passionate about communities connecting with nature, our landscape and the nutritious food it provides. Her work guiding the Fordhall Community Land Initiative as the General Manager, supports this journey for us all. In-line with the FCLI's commitment to inspire others, Charlotte offers consultancy to other land-based community groups across the country who want to learn from Fordhall and follow in our footsteps.With this in mind, Charlotte and Ben published a book in 2007, The Fight for Fordhall Farm, which charts their lives at Fordhall from childhood to community-ownership. The book was sold in bookstores across the country and there was even a musical based on it, which toured Shropshire in 2008.Charlotte is also one of the Community Leaders driving forward the campaign for a Community Power Act.————-Agrarian Futures is produced by Alexandre Miller, who also wrote our theme song. This episode was edited by Drew O’Doherty.

We often talk about how the food system is broken, but what would it look like to build one that is better?In Season 3 of Agrarian Futures, we reimagine a food system rooted in cooperative principles. What if we didn't live in a winner-takes-all economy, but one where cooperatively owned enterprises worked in partnership with each other across the food supply chain?Through deep dives into examples on the ground, we'll chart a path from our present moment to a better food future. Launching October 2nd!

Hi everyone - Emma here. We're deep in prep for our new miniseries on Agrarian Futures where we will be exploring the potential for a better food system rooted in cooperative principles.In the meantime, we’ve got a special announcement: Agrarian Futures is joining the World Within Studios Podcast Network!World Within is a non-profit that invests in solutions and stories that are building an economy that's owned by the many, not just the few. We are delighted to be adding Agrarian Futures to that effort!Today, we’re cross-posting an episode of our fellow World Within Studios show: the How to Change the World Podcast.In this episode, my friend Rostam Zafari sits down with Cooper Hibbert, co-founder of Old Salt Co-Op - a cooperative of Montana ranchers pushing back against big beef. His co-founder Cole Mannix was on a previous episode of Agrarian Futures and I think this conversation today adds even more to the picture of what it will take to build a better food system.-------Agrarian Futures and the How to Change the World Podcast is produced by Alexandre Miller, who also wrote our theme song. This episode was edited by Eve Weston and Martin McGreevy.

Our guest today Will Potter’s new book, Little Red Barns, started as a tale about censorship in journalism around industrial agriculture, but became something much bigger: a 10 year investigation look at how factory farming, an ages old mythos of family farms, and the rise of authoritarian politics have all worked in tandem to produce social, economic, and ecological disaster.Will is an investigative journalist and author of Green Is the New Red. In this conversation, we talk about what he found writing Little Red Barns, from the industry's efforts to keep cameras out of factory farms to what that secrecy is really protecting.In this episode, we explore: The story of the “little red barn” that masks a darker truth about industrial agriculture What led Will to spend a decade investigating factory farms and how the project grew beyond ag gag laws How ag gag laws work, and how they've been used to prosecute journalists and whistleblowers Competing visions for what comes next: What role animals play, and should play, in our food system How Will connects factory farming to the broader rise of authoritarian politicsMore about Will:Will Potter is an award-winning investigative journalist and TED Senior Fellow who exposes political repression and the erosion of civil liberties. His reporting and commentary have appeared in The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, and Rolling Stone, and has helped overturn prosecutions and challenge censorship laws. He has been invited to testify before the U.S. Congress, the Australian Parliament, and the Council of Europe, advocating for protest rights and press freedom. His landmark book Green Is the New Red revealed how governments and corporations have labeled nonviolent activists as “terrorists.” Counter Terrorism Unit surveillance documents described it as “compelling and well-written.” His new book, Little Red Barns, is the result of a 10-year investigation into factory farms and rising fascism, and was recently named one of Publishers Weekly’s most-anticipated releases and a starred review.Will’s journalism and scholarship have been heavily influenced by growing up in the hardcore punk scene, and he has collaborated with bands including Rise Against. He was previously a Knight-Wallace Fellow and visiting professor at the University of Michigan, and was named the distinguished journalist-in-residence at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. He was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas.————-Agrarian Futures is produced by Alexandre Miller, who also wrote our theme song. This episode was edited by Drew O’Doherty.

Enjoy Part 2 of Emma and Austin's reflections on 2.5 years of Agrarian Futures. In this episode, they highlight the commonalities they see in the big success stories of the regenerative movement, including cooperative economics, finding the right niche in the food system, learning to tell your story, and much much more.————-Agrarian Futures is produced by Alexandre Miller, who also wrote our theme song. This episode was edited by Drew O’Doherty.

Hi all! This time, we're doing something a bit different. In this episode, Emma and Austin - hosts of Agrarian Futures - sit down to tell their own story, and share some of their key takeaways of 2.5 years of talking with brilliant farmers and thinkers about the future of our food system. Enjoy!————-Agrarian Futures is produced by Alexandre Miller, who also wrote our theme song. This episode was edited by Drew O’Doherty.

In this conversation, Geoff Lawton offers us something rare: a genuinely hopeful and rigorously grounded vision of how humanity can become a reparative rather than destructive force on this planet.As one of the world's leading permaculture designers and educators, Geoff has built demonstration sites and trained practitioners across six continents, from the Jordan Valley to the Australian bush. At Zaytuna Farm in New South Wales, he has spent over two decades transforming bare, degraded land into a thriving food forest with 32 bodies of water, hundreds of tree species, and a model for what regenerative living can look like at every scale.In this episode, we dive into: How permaculture redefines wealth, from money to clean air, clean water, clean food, and community Why the biggest missing element in modern agriculture is trees How soil organic matter holds the key to our water crisis What Zaytuna Farm looks like today after 25 years of regeneration Why our economy needs to shift from extraction to deposition How permaculture projects in Jordan, Hungary, and Spain are proving this works at scale Why Geoff believes humanity may be on the verge of a new kind of consciousnessMore about Geoff Lawton, Zaytuna Farm, and Discover Permaculture:Geoff Lawton is a world renowned permaculture consultant, designer and teacher. He took his PDC in 1983 with Bill Mollison, widely considered the “father of permaculture.” Geoff has specialized in permaculture education, design, implementation, system establishment, administration and community development since 1985. Working in over 50 countries, Geoff has taught more than 15,000 students, he established the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia and Zaytuna Farm which is Geoff and Nadia’s family home. As an award winning Permaculture Designer, Geoff’s main aim is to drive the establishment of self-replicating educational demonstration sites across the globe.Agrarian Futures is produced by Alexandre Miller, who also wrote our theme song. This episode was edited by Drew O’Doherty.

Gabe Brown didn't set out to revolutionize agriculture. He set out to survive it.After four consecutive years of crop disasters left him $1.5 million in debt, he had no choice but to question everything he'd been taught. What emerged from that reckoning became one of the most influential farms in the regenerative agriculture movement, and eventually two organizations working to spread those lessons globally: Understanding Ag, now consulting on over 37 million acres worldwide, and Regenified, a verification company built to cut through the greenwashing.In this episode, we look forward. Where is regenerative agriculture headed? Who's driving it, and what's standing in the way?In this episode, we dive into: How four years of disaster became the foundation of a regenerative farming philosophy What it actually means to farm in synchrony with nature, and why it works anywhere Why farmers care more about the land than they're given credit for How to become a price maker instead of a price taker The role of banks, insurers, and major brands in accelerating the regenerative transition Why Gabe thinks regenerative will be the norm within 25 years What the next generation of farmers looks like, and where they're coming fromMore about Gabe Brown:Gabe, along with his wife Shelly, and son Paul, own and operate Brown's Ranch, a diversified 5,000 acre farm and ranch near Bismarck, North Dakota. The ranch consists of several thousand acres of native perennial rangeland along with perennial pastureland and cropland. Their ranch focuses on farming and ranching in nature's image.Over 2,000 people visit the Brown's Ranch annually to see this unique operation. They have had visitors from all fifty states and twenty-four foreign countries.Gabe and Brown's Ranch have received many forms of recognition for their work, including a Growing Green award from the Natural Resource Defense Council, an Environmental Stewardship Award from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, and a Zero-Till Producer of the Year Award, to name a few. Gabe has also been named one of the twenty-five most influential agricultural leaders in the United States.Gabe recently authored the book, “Dirt to Soil, One Family’s Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture.”Links to Gabe’s Work:Brown’s RanchRegenifiedUnderstanding AgAgrarian Futures is produced by Alexandre Miller. This episode was edited by Drew O'Doherty.