photo by Jason Taylor
Our food system is
b r o k e n.
The most critical challenge of our time is feeding the world. Today, more than 1 billion of the world’s 7.2 billion people don’t get enough to eat—and global population is expected to increase to more than 9 billion by 2050. Those who produce our food are not immune from these challenges: Of the 800 million people living in extreme poverty around the world, over half are engaged in agriculture. Our agricultural system has also strained our natural resources to the breaking point--and is responsible for an estimated one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, 75 percent of water quality issues, and extreme losses of biodiversity. Something is wrong with this picture.
A Growing Culture (AGC) is a global coalition that empowers farmers to fix our broken agricultural system--using ecologically sound methods that are already working on the ground. It is time to change how we grow our food and how we treat the people who grow it. From the drought-stricken fields of California to the barren pebble mines of India, farmers around the globe are finding new ways to feed the world. But all too often, this innovative work happens in isolation. Focused on nurturing their own crops and community, farmers have little ability to join together in solidarity with others to collectively inspire global change. A Growing Culture is creating a global platform that will make it possible for farmers everywhere to connect with each other - and with the resources they need to build a stronger, more sustainable food system.
It’s time to bring farmers back to the table.
Let’s fix it together.
E c o l o g i c al A gr ic u lture i s the Sol uti on. Ecological Agriculture is a whole-systems approach to farming that works with nature rather than against it. This approach has been shown to regenerate natural resources, increase crop yield, and improve nutritional benefits. By integrating Indigenous and local knowledge with sound science, ecological agriculture maintains a sensitivity to local cultures while reversing the top-down model that has become all too common in today’s agricultural system.
BENEFITS OF ECOLOGICAL AGRICULTURE: • According to the UN, farmer-led ecological agriculture is the only way to feed the world, especially the farmers themselves, within the limits of a finite planet. • Ecological agriculture increases and protects biodiversity, making these systems more resilient in the face of climate change, diseases, and pests. • Through building soil, ecological agriculture can increase productivity by 100–300%. • Ecological agriculture improves rural livelihoods and farmer autonomy.
Fa r me r s de s e r ve p a r i ty , n o t ch a r i t y.
photo by Jason Taylor
“With AGC, something as simple as planting a bean becomes an awakening of consciousness and ultimately a road to freedom.” Rocio Olive Cabeza - Director Neema Women’s Group, Kenya
Civilization depends on agriculture. Given that the first seeds sown by our agrarian pioneers laid the groundwork for thousands of years of societal and intellectual development, it should come as no surprise that today’s farmers—who are our leading entrepreneurs, knowledge-managers and problem-solvers—are already blazing a new path in fields and furrows around the world. Yet many farmers do not have a seat at the table when it comes to shaping the future of our food system. Industrial agriculture has marginalized farmers, removing their voices from research and policies. Corporate-driven research ignores farmers on the ground and is biased toward promoting the very inputs these companies market. Farmers deserve to be the architects, leaders, and facilitators of their own communities, and of the wider movement toward a new food system based on ecological agriculture.
AGC: Bringing Farmers Back to the Fore “The food movement desperately needs organizations like AGC. Its focus on farmer-to-farmer relationships inevitably produces dynamic, practical, thriving, communal enterprises that (can change) our local and global food systems through knowledge, innovation, and commitment to the flourishing of place.” Fred Kirschenmann - Farmer, Distinguished Fellow for the Leopold Center and President of Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture
photo by Sarah Holcombe
As a global coalition connecting farmers to each other and to the resources they need to create an ecologically-sound food system, A Growing Culture is dedicated to bringing farmers back to the forefront of agriculture. The mission is carried out through three pillars: Information Exchange, Outreach, and Advocacy.
Information Exchange
Outreach
advocacy
INFORMATION EXCHANGE: The Library for Food Sovereignty (LFS), launching in 2016, is the world’s first democratic, digital library platform dedicated to connecting farmers to collectively learn from each other’s successes and challenges. In the knowledge-intensive field of ecological agriculture, the LFS will provide an accessible “living” database of materials by and for farmers.
OUTREACH: AGC promotes farmer innovation to further ecological agriculture through on the ground support. AGC collaborates with existing organizations to ensure access to the Library, while strengthening its impact through participatory workshops on experimentation and documentation.
ADVOCACY: AGC’s research and communications arm promotes farmer-centric approaches to agricultural development by ensuring their inclusion in government, academic, social, and institutional arenas. By elevating reports, studies, and editorials written by partners, advisors, and community members, AGC connects farmers to relevant decision-making processes.
The Library for
photo by Jason Taylor
The movement toward ecological agriculture is hindered by cultural, linguistic, and geographic barriers that keep innovations isolated.
As the only digital information platform dedicated to
farmer-led innovation, the Library for Food Sovereignty will allow farmers to document and share their innovations.
This multimedia, cross-cultural farmer-to-farmer exchange, facilitated by
advanced search and translation capabilities, will create a living database that takes worldwide solidarity to the next level. The unprecedented free exchange of information it will allow among farmers will not only increase the reach of each farmer’s innovations, it will also cultivate new ideas and act as an archive of farmer achievements. To ensure that the platform is truly by farmers, for farmers, it will be governed by a rotating committee of farmers and farmer-centric organizations, and all submissions will be peer-reviewed. AGC’s ongoing outreach to farmers and grassroots organizations will ensure accessibility and relevance; online and on-the-ground knowledge will be mutually reinforcing.
Food Sovereignty “AGC is capturing the immense wisdom of farmers at the Grassroots. Imagine Indigenous farmers from across the world meeting virtually to support each other and to expand their collective capacity for innovation. This is the extraordinary platform that AGC is about to launch.” Dr. Ernesto Sirolli - Sustainable Development Specialist The Library for Food Sovereignty will grow from AGC’s current library, which hosts over 120 articles with more than 335 comments contributed by farmers and advocates from around the world. Since the current collection launched in 2011, it has received over 180,000 visits from around 180 countries.
Stages of Development for Library
start
step 2
CURRENT WEBSITE
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT
• 130+ articles featuring farmer profiles, technical essays & opinion pieces
step 1 MIGRATION TO DIGITAL REPOSITORY • Editorial services • Peer review • Digital preservation • Data enrichment • Social spaces
step 4 ADVANCED DEVELOPMENTS
• Launch beta version • Form Steering Committee • Solicit content • Start farmer documentation programs • Raise awareness
• User experience / User interface • Crowd sourcing • An application • Linked Open Data • Participatory translation technologies
step 3 IMPROVEMENTS • Collect user feedback (survey) • Test new technology & multimedia • Review platform (report) • Analyze user statistics
The Library for Food Sovereignty will become a key tool in catalyzing the global ecological agriculture movement by amplifying and connecting the voices of the underrepresented. Innovation will regain its position as the norm among farmers, releasing them from the dictates of practices alien to their culture, soils, and communities.
AGC in the Fields
photo by Jason Taylor
After witnessing ďŹ rsthand the negative impacts of industrial agriculture, Loren Cardeli founded AGC in 2010 and embarked on a journey to reframe the role of agrarians around the world. Searching for the innovations that have allowed societies to feed themselves for countless generations without using harmful chemicals, Loren has visited over 2,000 farmers, from the Himalayas to the Mekong Delta to the Great Rift Valley. Alongside founding board member Asher Wright and countless passionate volunteers, he has learned that agriculture cannot be formulated, but instead must thrive as a complex system where even the most basic organisms are valued. The innovative farmers he has met are working every day to reshape our food system, and to build a sustainable future.
Vietnam - Living Beds Nhu Trang Pham, a Vietnamese farmer, developed techniques to ferment locally-available absorbent materials such as wood chips, bamboo dust and straw to use as bedding for hog production. After she inoculates the bedding, it becomes alive and actively breaks down hog waste. This odor-free technique has enormous health benefits for the hogs, allowing them to naturally “root”, and eliminates damaging pollution and runoff.
India - Building Soil from Scratch An Indian couple purchased an abandoned pebble mine to farm, requiring them to build their own soil using on-site resources. They filled raised beds with microorganism-inoculated charcoal and wood chips made from fallen tree limbs, and began turning a carefully selected mixture of crops back into the soil before they fully matured. This process created enough soil to begin planting vegetables. Today, almost 10 years later, they have a rich, black soil that supports over 120 different varieties. This innovation could be implemented by urban farmers all over the world.
These innovations have the ability to change agriculture and inspire a new culture of growers.
photo by Jason Taylor
AGC Today AGC is a small, distributed global organization made up of farmers, activists, and specialized staff. Its international Board of Directors includes members from varied backgrounds: farming, business, non-profit, academia, and agricultural extension. AGC has earned the support of prominent figures in food and farming including Mark Bittman, Ricardo Salvador, Michael Pollan, Fred Kirschenmann, and Danielle Nierenberg. AGC also has collaborative relationships with PROLINNOVA, the leading international network promoting participatory learning and farmer-led research, and PELUM, Africa’s largest network of small-scale farmers.
Without any major grants, AGC has achieved the following:
• Loren Cardeli began searching for agricultural innovations throughout South Asia • Launched Notes from the Field Library platform
2010
2011
• Trained Jangala and local highland Montagnards on cover crop implementation for coffee production (Vietnam) • Granted 501(c)3 status
• Teamed with Sustainable Product Innovation (SPIN) to build a zero-waste training farm (Vietnam)
2012
“AGC is playing a critical role in the movement by collecting, curating, and archiving the special knowledge of farmers for the benefit of their fellow farmers—which is to say for the benefit of us all.” Michael Pollan
photo by Sarah Holcombe
2013
INITIATED VARIOUS PROJECTS IN KENYA: • Training programs with NEEMA women’s group • Organic Farm at Sunrise Children’s Home • Agroforestry Demonstration Farm LAUNCHED VARIOUS RESEARCH PROJECTS: • Raw milk fertilization of pastures (USA) • Deep straw bedding systems for swine (Vietnam)
• Worked with farmers to develop ecological agriculture innovations (Vietnam) • Teamed with farmer Caleb Osmolo to design a one acre Food Forest (Kenya) • Received financial support from the Springfield Foundation and others in the AGC community • AGC launched SOILS approach facilitating
2014
2015
• Collaborated with Nawaya to promote sustainable agriculture (Egypt) • Visited past projects in Kenya • Expanded staff, Board of Directors and Advisors • Joined Open Access and More and Better Networks • Began development of Library for Food Sovereignty
Stand with the world’s farmers. Please support AGC.
photo by Jason Taylor
AGC is committed to scaling up farmer-led innovation and catalyzing the transition to a global ecological agriculture system. Your support will make it possible for farmers to lead a global reinvention of our food system and to resist a top-down imposition of one-size-fits-all solutions.
Your support will make it possible for AGC to: • Launch the Library for Food Sovereignty, a revolutionary digital platform that will allow farmers around the world to share their innovations and create a better food system • Expand on the ground programs through collaboration geared to promoting local innovation, participatory research, and farmer-led documentation • Facilitate farmers’ transitions to more ecological models through farmer-led training and support • Support and disseminate robust farmer-driven research
Ultimate success will be measured by the sustained capacity of local farmers to take creative ownership over their farms, relate in more integrated ways with their communities, and markedly reduce their dependency on foreign support.
This organization has achieved a great deal with minimal funding in its first few years. Now, with YOUR assistance, AGC can ramp up its efforts to build a more resilient food system—one that doesn’t take nature for granted.
Together, with your DONATION, we can build a new culture of growers:
A Growing Culture
Donate online at www.agrowingculture.org/donate or send your contribution to: A Growing Culture P.O. Box 1286 Asheville, NC 28801 Connect with us on social media, sign up to receive our newsletter, or become a volunteer by visiting our website:
www.agrowingculture.org
For more information, please contact:
info@agrowingculture.org
"Farmers the world over work on the front lines of climate change as more variable weather and extremes increasingly disrupt food production. A Growing Culture provides exactly the kind of global farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange needed to spark ecosystem-based innovations that will put us on the path to a climate resilient food future." Laura Lengnick - Author, Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate
www.agrowingculture.org photo by Sarah Holcombe