Here's a scary statistic.... The US Census shows that during the past 30 years the average age of U.S. farmers has grown by nearly eight years, from 50.5 years to 58.3 years. (source: Agricultural Census, USDA) Unless society turns that trend around, we're going to be in a world of trouble because eventually our food will be grown by mega-industrialized robotic factory farms manufacturing genetically modified mono crops.
Notice that many of these portraits I've made here are of families... husbands, wives and children together.
So! Support your local farmer's markets -- that's how healthy organic agriculture will continue to survive in our world. This installment of "Heroes of the Farmer's Market" features quotes from past presidents (in honor of when we had intelligent, engaged people in that office). As our founding father George Washington said:
“Agriculture is the most healthful, most useful and most noble employment of man.”
It's more true now than ever. And hey! Today is National Farmer's Day in the US!
Our farmers are threatened by Big Agribiz. They need us.
David Little and his daughter Caressa Willow Mae Little Fox of Little Organic Farm in Tomales.
Alfredo Martinez of Ortiz Farms in Watsonville.
Amanda Price from Crane Creek Growers in Penngrove.
“The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.”
― John F. Kennedy
Gretchen Ceteras of Blue Heron Farms in Rumsey.
Araali and Ivan Dowmers of Hamlow Ranches in Denair.
Stan Devoto and his daughter Cecily from Devoto Gardens in Sebastopol.
“Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bonds.”
― Thomas Jefferson
Ed George and his sons Barrett and Ryan of The Peach Farm in Winters.
Donna Pacheco and her son William from the Achadinha Goat Cheese Company in Petaluma.
Two generations of citrus farmers and hopefully a third.
“Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.”
― Thomas Jefferson
Tyler Thayer, the auditor from Marin Agricultural Institute who regularly visits every farm to make sure that they are truly organic and up to date with their certifications.
Chef portraits of the day. These are two of my favorite people, a true inspiration to me in how they use the organic food from these farmers to create the most delicious creations.
Kendra Kolling of "The Farmer's Wife" in Sonoma.
Chef Roland Passot (middle) of legendary "La Folie" in San Francisco.
Thanks for watching.
I have a long history of inventing tools for animators and also making films and photographs. My wife, daughter and I live at the foot of beautiful Mt. Tamalpais on the San Francisco Bay and I've been using technology to tell complex stories for a long time. My biggest claim to fame? Leading the team that created Autodesk 3ds Max... the most popular 3D animation tool of all time. When I sold the Yost Group to Autodesk at the end of the last century I jumped headfirst into pursing my original love... photography and filmmaking. Now I spend all of my time exploring the mysteries of my world with my cameras, and revealing what I find in my images and films.
You can find my verification post here.
Another great post, I support my local farmers and grow my own veggies too!
Right on! I'm always in conflict between growing my own food vs supporting the farmers, and end up just growing a few things like cherry tomatoes and herbs just to keep my hands dirty a bit. There's a great quote from Wendell Berry about how even if we don't farm, we do.... "Urban conservationists may feel entitled to be unconcerned about food production because they are not farmers. But they can't be let off so easily, for they are all farming by proxy."
love farmers markets and have always supported when I lived in the UK - found my first one and going this Saturday , to one in EGYPT! - organic yipeeeeee ( living here at the moment)
Lots of outdoor markets, but not sure how organic these are, so should be a good trip. Will post about it
Wow, I can't wait to see your post from the Egyptian market this Saturday. (following you now)
This is a wonderful post @yostopia. My family just visited Nebraska. I was talking to my wife's high school friends that have farms there. They talk about how the town failing and the small farms are disappearing. We go there every five years and it seems to get worse and worse every time we go. I talked to a high school teacher there in Nebraska and he says the kids don't want to stay in the family farm after high school graduation. They are all leaving to the city and want to be in computer programming, science, engineering etc... I was in biotech for most of my career but sometimes I think we are creating too many scientist and engineers. All these college grads can't even find jobs. Our biggest client at my company was Monsanto. I don't know what the answer is. I think people like yourself creating awareness. We always support our local farmers markets. Thanks for the post and you portraits/photos are lovely. Cheers.
Yup if we don't take action soon, it's going to be a whole 'nother world around here. Check out some of the posts about farms from @anwenbaumeister ... she went to a conference in Sacramento recently about this and visited some farms that are making great strides in educating the next generation of farmers.
Yes, I had this similar chat with her on her post. Take care.
Great to see these wonderful photos! Thank your from Australia! :-)