On this episode we travel to the future — A Small Farm Future. That’s the title of a new book from farmer and social scientist Chris Smaje.
Let’s be honest, the future doesn’t look great. Our climate is changing rapidly, our soils are being depleted through industrial farming methods and deforestation, the global population is surging, our health is falling apart and despite some progress with renewable energy sources we’re still very much addicted to cheap fossil fuels.
It’s a bleak picture that Smaje paints in his new book. And while he doesn’t offer an optimistic Pollyanna vision for our future, Smaje does believe that humans can continue to thrive — if only we’re willing to radically reshape the way we think about communities and economies.
For the last 15 years, Smaje has run a small farm in Sommerset, England. Before that, he worked as a social scientist at University of Surrey and Goldsmiths College. His focus is the practice — and politics — of agroecology, and he’s written about that subject for publications such as The Land, Dark Mountain, Permaculture Magazine, Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems and the Journal of Consumer Culture. Smaje writes the Small Farm Future blog and is a featured author at resilience.org. He has a new book out with Chelsea Green Publishing. It’s called A Small Farm Future: Making the Case for a Society Built Around Local Economies, Self-Provisioning, Agricultural Diversity and a Shared Earth. I was really impressed by the amount of thought Smaje has put into actually working out some of the ideas we in the regenerative agriculture world take for granted.
Tractor Time Episode 37: Dr. Zach Bush on Farming, Glyphosate and Human Health
Tractor Time Episode 36: Kathleen Merrigan on the Future of Food
Tractor Time Episode 35: Marty Travis, Super-Farmer
Tractor Time Episode 34: Paul Dorrance, from Top Gun to Top Grazier
Tractor Time Episode 33: Doug Fine, Author of Hemp Bound
Tractor Time Episode 32: Bob Quinn & Liz Carlisle, Authors of Grain by Grain
Tractor Time Episode 31: Rodale Institute’s Pigs, and Cathy Payne, author of Saving the Guinea Hog
Tractor Time Episode 30: Carey Gillam, Environmental Journalist, Author
Tractor Time Episode 29: Glen Rabenberg, Soil Expert
Tractor Time Episode 28: Dr. Paul Dettloff, V.M.D., Author, Livestock Specialist (from 2007)
Tractor Time Episode 27: Jodi Helmer, Author, Protecting Pollinators
Tractor Time Episode 26: Will Winter, Matt Maier, Thousand Hills Beef Cattle in Minnesota
Tractor Time Episode 25: Fred Provenza, Author & Animal Behavior Expert
Tractor Time Episode 24: Jeff Moyer, Rodale Institute, 2018 Eco-Ag Award Winner
Tractor Time Episode 23: The 2018 Eco-Ag Preview Special
Tractor Time Episode 22: On Assignment, the Tropical Agriculture Conference in Belize
Tractor Time Episode 21: Daniela Ibarra-Howell, CEO of The Savory Institute
Tractor Time Episode 20: David Montgomery & Anne Biklé, Authors & Scientists
Tractor Time Episode 19: Judith McGeary, Founder of Farm & Ranch Freedom Alliance
Tractor Time Episode 18: Charles Walters, Then, Today and Tomorrow (from 2006)
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