Mary Berry of The Berry Center:

The urban excitement around local food is not matched by farmers in the countryside. This is a serious debit and an economic one. We have several problems, not the least being that the demand for local food going up in cities has met the rural culture coming down. The economic lives of the people who grow our food and do the work of getting it to our tables must no longer be ignored. I think we know this now. We need more farmers. They need to know how to farm well and to be able to afford to farm well. And, they need to be able to have land to farm on. Land that is not so debt-encumbered that they are instantly in an emergency…

…If what has happened to our farmers and to our country’s rural landscapes is the result of decisions made in places of power far removed from the places harmed, then different decisions can be made.

John Berry Farmer Collateralization Fund

An earlier blog post of mine links to one of my fav opinion pieces from Mary Berry that everyone in food systems should check out.

And also makes me think of a post I had written about refraining from jumping to new “solutions” in food system work and the need for balance in food organizing.