#169: Barbara Gemmill-Herren shares her views on listening to farmers first and foremost as policies and support systems are developed, the need to pay attention to the social workings of agricultural communities, and the immense pressure applied to African farmers by global chemical companies to purchase amendments.
Barbara Gemmill-Herren serves as an associate faculty member at Arizona's Prescott College and as a Senior Associate at the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. From 2004-2015 she worked as a Global Pollination Project Coordinator and Agroecology Programme Specialist for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
To watch a video version of this podcast with access to the full transcript and links relevant to our conversation, please visit:
https://www.realorganicproject.org/barbara-gemmill-herren-big-chems-eyes-on-africa-episode-one-hundred-sixty-nine
The Real Organic Podcast is hosted by Dave Chapman and Linley Dixon, engineered by Brandon StCyr, and edited and produced by Jenny Prince.
The Real Organic Project is a farmer-led movement working towards certifying 1,000 farms across the United States this year. Our add-on food label distinguishes soil-grown fruits and vegetables from hydroponically-raised produce, and pasture-raised meat, milk, and eggs from products harvested from animals in horrific confinement (CAFOs - confined animal feeding operations).
To find a Real Organic farm near you, please visit:
https://www.realorganicproject.org/farms
We believe that the organic standards, with their focus on soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare were written as they should be, but that the current lack of enforcement of those standards is jeopardizing the ability for small farms who adhere to the law to stay in business. The lack of enforcement is also jeopardizing the overall health of the customers who support the organic movement; customers who are not getting what they pay for at market but still paying a premium price. And the lack of enforcement is jeopardizing the very cycles (water, air, nutrients) that Earth relies upon to provide us all with a place to live, by pushing extractive, chemical agriculture to the forefront.
If you like what you hear and are feeling inspired, we would love for you to join our movement by becoming one of our 1,000 Real Friends:
https://www.realorganicproject.org/real-organic-friends/
To read our weekly newsletter (which might just be the most forwarded newsletter on the internet!) and get firsthand news about what's happening with organic food, farming and policy, please subscribe here:
https://www.realorganicproject.org/email/
Glenn Elzinga Pt 1: Good Grazing On Public Lands
Kat Taylor: Funding The World We Want
Hans Herren: Controlling Pests With Biology
Alice Waters: Organic Food In Our Schools Now
Zephyr Teachout: Today's Antimonopolist Movement Has Legs
Hugh Kent: How The USDA Supports Bad Agriculture
Seth Godin: No Society Thrives With Monopolies
Allan Savory: Desertification's Causes, Problems + Solutions
Austin Frerick: Modern Day Robber Barons Rule Our Food
JM Fortier: Envisioning A Hyper Local Small Farm Revolution
Zephyr Teachout + Dave Chapman: Live Panel w/ Matt Sheffer At Churchtown Dairy
Dave Chapman + Anna Jones-Crabtree: Notes For The Climate Underground
Eliot Coleman: Denying Our Understanding Of Real Organic Practices Robs The World
Errol Schweizer: Consolidation, Greenwashing, And The Growing Myth Of Local Food
Vandana Shiva: False Claims Of The Green Revolution, Then And Now
Tim Bowles: Climate Smart Agriculture Includes Tillage
Tim Bowles Part 1: Digging Into The Rhizosphere
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin: The Need For A Real Regenerative Movement
Patrick Holden: Organic Needs Top Down, Bottom Up, And In-The-Middle Action
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Plant People
Regenerative Agriculture Podcast
Weather with Cliff Mass
Forestcast
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens