Family Farming
(see also Corporate Farming)
Basics
On the Web: Articles
NY Farmer Cheryl Rogowski Receives MacArthur "Genius Grant" for Work in Innovative Family Farming (9/04).
The Mexican Farmers' Movement: Exposing the Myths of Free Trade. Laura Carlsen, Americas Program (3/03).
On the Web: Specialized Sites
Agriculture, Food, & Communities (Cornell U).
Bioneers Visionary & practical resources for restoring the earth.
California Certified Organic Farmers.
California Sustainable Agriculture Working Group.
Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (U of California, Santa Cruz).
Churches' Center for Land & People,
Community Alliance with Family Farmers.
Community Food Security Coalition.
Ecological Farming Association.
Equiterre. Canadians at work for fair trade, ecological agriculture, sustainable transportation & energy efficiency.
Farm Aid. Musical artists working in support of strong rural communities, safe food & a healthy environment.
FIAN - For the Right to Feed Oneself ~ Por el Derecho a Alimentarse.
Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy.
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.
Local Harvest. Helps people anywhere in the US find local family farmers producing organically grown food.
National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture.
Organic Consumers Association.
Organic Farming Research Foundation.
Rural Renewals & Economic Justice.
Sustainable Agriculture Network.
UN Food & Agricultural Organization (FAO).
Willing Workers on Organic Farms California. Links workers with organic farmers to promote educational labor exchange & build global community conscious of ecological farming practices.
In the Library: Articles
Henretta, James. "Families & farms," William & Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser. 35 (1978):3-32.
Jackson, Donald Dale. "Aldo Leopold: a sage for all seasons," Smithsonian 9,6 (9/98):121-31.
Kummer, Corby. "Back to grass," Atlantic Monthly (5/03):138-142. Grass-fed beef, a new way of raising cattle.
__________. "Big organic, small organic," Atlantic Monthly (10/03):143-46. Yogurt producers in Vermont.
Paulson, Amanda. “Down on the farm no more,” Christian Science Monitor (10/9/03):11
Pollan, Michael. "Eater's choice: taking a bite out of 'big organic'," Orion (8-9/03):?.
Rosset, Peter. "The parable of the golden snail," Nation (12/27/99):22. Third world farmers see in biotech crops a first world disaster.
Smiley Jane with Scott Strazzante. "Promised land," Mother Jones (1-2/03): 64-68.
Ward, Diane Raines. Chap. 4: "Dry, drier, driest: greening the desert," in her Water Wars: Drought, Flood, Folly & the Politics of Thirst (NY: Riverhead, 2002). Sound family irrigation farming in Wyoming's Bighorn Basin.
In the Library: Non-Fiction Books
Anderson, Terry L. & Bruce Yandle. Agriculture & the Environment: Searching for Greener Pastures (Stanford: Hoover Institution, 2001).
Barnes, Donna A. Farmers in Rebellion: The Rise & Fall of the Southern Farmers' Alliance & People's Party in Texas (Austin: U. of Texas, 1984).
Burkey, S. People First: A Guide to Self-Reliant, Participatory Rural Development (London: Zed, 1993).
Davidson, Osha Gray. Broken Heartland: The Rise of America's Rural Ghetto (NY: Free Press, 1990).
Fry, John J. The Farm Press, Reform & Rural Change, 1895-1920 (NY: Routledge, 2005).
Funes, Fernando. Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance: Transforming Food Production in Cuba (Oakland, Calif. : Food First, 2002).
Goering, Peter; Helena Norberg-Hodge & John Page. From the Ground Up: Rethinking Industrial Agriculture (Atlantic Highlands NJ: Zed, 1993).
Gorelick, Steven. Small is Beautiful, Big is Subsidized: How Our Taxes Contribute to Social & Environmental Breakdown (Dartington, Devon: International Society for Ecology & Culture, 1998).
Hemenway, Toby. Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture (White River Junction VT: Chelsea Green, 2001).
Imhoff, Dan & Roberto Carra. Farming with the Wild: A New Vision for Conservation-Based Agriculture (San Francisco: Sierra Club, 200?).
Jackson, Wes. Altars of Unhewn Stone (?: North Point, 1988).
Jensen, Joan M. With These Hands: Women Working on the Land (Old Westbury NY: Feminist, 1981).
Klinkenborg, Verlyn. The Rural Life (Boston: Little, Brown, 2003).
Kraybill, Donald B.& Steven M. Nolt (eds.) Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1995).
Kurzweil, Jenny. Fields that Dream: Journey to the Roots of Our Food (?: Fulcrum, 2005).
Long, Robert E. (ed.) The Farm Crisis (NY: H.W. Wilson, 1987).
Norberg-Hodge, Helena; Todd Merrifield & Steven Gorelick. Bringing the Food Economy Home: Local Alternatives to Global Agribusiness (Bloomfield CT: Kumarian, 2002).
McWilliams, Carey. Small Farm & Big Farm (NY: Public Affairs Committee, 1945).
Rasmussen, Wayne D. (ed.) The Family Farm in Historical Perspective (Lubbock TX: International Center for Arid & Semiarid Land Studies, 1990).
Shideler, James H. Farm Crisis, 1919-1923 (Berkeley: U. of California, 1957).
Smith, Frederick D. & Barbara Wilcox. Family Farm (London: A&C Black, 1942).
Thirsk, Joan. Alternative Agriculture: A History from the Black Death to the Present Day (NY: Oxford, 2000).
Wirzba, Normon (ed.) The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture Community & the Land (Lexington KY: U. Kentucky, 2002).
Yoder, Rhonda Lou. Amish Agriculture in Iowa: Indigenous Knowledge for Sustainable Small-Farm Systems (Ames: Iowa State U., 1990).
In the Library: Fiction
De Soto, Lewis. A Blade of Grass (NY: Ecco, 2003).
Haruf, Kent. The Tie that Binds (NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1984).
__________. Plainsong (NY: Vintage, 2000).
Martin, Lee. Turning Bones (Lincoln: U. of Nebraska, 2003).
Nelson, Kent. Land that Moves, Land that Stands Still (NY: Viking, 2003).
Ozeki, Ruth. All Over Creation (NY: Viking, 2003).
Shivers, Louise. Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail (Winston Salem NC: J.F. Blair, 2003).
Smiley, Jane. A Thousand Acres: A Novel (NY: Anchor, 2003).
In the Library: For Young Readers
In the Library: Poetry
In the Library: Drama
In the Library: Photography
CD & Audio
Film & Video
"Green Blood, Red Tears: A Documentary" [1999], dir. Joel Terrence Gray, 86m. From CineStream. Explores macroeconomic & technological pressures surrounding suicide of a Kentucky family farmer, & thousands of others worldwide.