But bullying your critics and worried consumers is not always the best public relations strategy. Sometimes you need to cultivate the softer sell.

That must be why commodity growers’ lobbies have launched fresh campaigns aimed at polishing their tarnished reputation. How? By showcasing female farmers as the fresh, new faces in their public relations toolbox. The latest campaign by the National Corn Growers Association and the United Soybean Board is titled Common Ground.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Common Ground “will attempt to put a more feminine, friendly and empathetic face on large-scale agriculture by using women farmers to appeal to suburban and urban grocery shoppers–most of whom are women themselves.” As the paper reported:

“We’re a unique voice because we’re also moms. We’re the ones getting the food on the table,” said Chris Wilson, president of American Agri-Women and lifelong farmer, who is originally from Illinois. “We make a good connection with consumers.”

But as usual, even the most cursory analysis of Big Ag’s PR claims shows that they obscure a very different reality. Environmental Working Group (EWG) took a look at the board membership of five of the largest organizations representing corn, soybean, wheat, cotton and rice growers. They also happen to be the five crops that together collect 90 percent of federal farm subsidies.

What we found is that female representation on these boards amounts to a staggeringly meager 1.3 percent. By comparison, women on the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s (NSAC) Organizational Council actually outnumber men (55 percent).

The new $30 million public relations campaign by Big Ag groups would just as soon keep these numbers out of sight. We believe they deserve center-stage attention.

2010/2011 Board Membership at Five National Commodity Organizations

And since we’re keeping score, the leaders of all three national organic food and agriculture organizations are women: The Organic Center is lead by Joan Boykin, the Organic Trade Association is helmed by Christine Bushway and Maureen Wilmot runs the show at the Organic Farming Research Foundation.

Looking deeper into the gender statistics around farming, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that women now operate 14 percent of the nation’s 2.2 million farms. More important, though, is how these women farm the land and conserve natural resources. The Organic Farming Research Foundation reports that 22 percent of organic farmers are women. They, and their fellow male organic farmers, follow practices that  conserve soil and biological diversity by rotating crops and avoiding synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, hormones and genetically-modified seed.

The Foundation also notes that “women… are far more likely to allocate land to vegetables and herbs (male = 33 percent, female = 47 percent of acreage). They are likewise far less likely than men to devote land to field crops (male = 44 percent, female = 28 percent of acreage).” Women are also more likely to manage smaller farms. The average farm held by women is only 40 acres, while the average spread farmed by men is more than three times as large–149 acres.

It’s not surprising that in the 1960s one of the leading voices against traditional farming practices was Rachel Carson. She spoke out against the long-term effects of misusing pesticides and in 1962 published the groundbreaking “Silent Spring.” Before losing a battle with breast cancer, she called for new policies to protect human health and the environment.

EWG echoes her call today and urges farmers and non-farmers alike to question how our food is grown, not who is showcased in a public relations campaign. In this cause, we are delighted to be in the company of women like Leigh Adcock of the Women, Food and Agriculture Network (WFAN) in Iowa, as well as Temra Costa, author of Farmer Jane:  Women Changing the Way We Eat. Both are in the vanguard of the movement to build “a more healthful, sane, and sustainable food system for present and future generations.”

“It’s clear to those of us who have been working in the movement for many years that women have always been the primary drivers behind the sustainable agriculture and healthy foods movements,” Adcock said in an email to EWG. “WFAN will be working even harder this year to make sure that the voices of these women are heard in the media and in positions of leadership at all levels.”

Big Ag can showcase women in its new public relations campaigns, but the reality is that women really have almost no voice on the boards of the national commodity organizations. Women like Adcock and Costa don’t need fancy PR campaigns because their sustainable farming practices speak for themselves.

References:

1. http://www.ncga.com/ncga-corn-board-2011
2. http://www.soygrowers.com/about/board.htm
3. http://www.wheatworld.org/wp-content/uploads/about-2010-2011-NAWG-Committee-Assignments.pdf
4. http://www.cotton.org/about/leadership/index.cfm
5. http://www.usriceproducers.com/aboutus

Originally published by EWG

We featured Lisa’s ideas back in July [Work with Passion: Four Reasons Why Blending Business and Life Rocks for Women in Agriculture] as a part of our support of Farmer Jane. As the work of women farmers continues to gain attention, we wanted to learn more about this dynamic woman who champions the voices of women farmers and ecopreneurs from her bucolic Wisconsin bed and breakfast. Lisa is also a Kellogg Food and Society Policy Fellow specializing in the role of women in agriculture and speaks on the subject frequently.

What issues have you been focused on?

I work on a diversity of issues under the sustainability umbrella. My family and I run Inn Serendipity, a diversified farm and bed and breakfast and grow our own food and food for the business. We specialize in a 10-feet breakfast, from the garden to the B&B plate. We have a lot of fun creating seasonal offerings featuring seasonal garden abundance and local Wisconsin cheese. We run the farm on renewable energy and do a lot of educational outreach around sustainability and green design issues. We retrofitted an old grainary into a strawbale greenhouse, for example.

I also work in the growing movement of women in sustainable agriculture and direct the Rural Women’s Project with the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) where we do workshops , farm trainings and policy work. Next spring we’ll have the first national summit on women in sustainable agriculture, organizing around developing a collaborative platform.

My writing focuses on green business start-ups and how to craft a livelihood around your values. In addition to co-authoring ECOpreneuring and Rural Renaissance with my husband, John Ivanko, I write for publications like Urban Farm and Hobby Farm Home.

What inspires you to do this work?

I see food as the low hanging fruit of social change. We all eat. We all do it regularly. It’s actionable and tangible. And everyone can relate to it. For my family and I, it was a way to fundamentally change our lives. We were living in Chicago, we said we valued food, but most of it got moldy in the refrigerator because we were so caught up in the corporate career track that we were never home to eat it, much less cook or garden. We started being weekend tourists in rural Wisconsin, and falling in love with the countryside. Eventually we bought a farm and jumped into the world of sustainable agriculture. Now we’re inspired to help others do the same, to create a livelihood around what you’re passionate about.

The more we can help others, whatever their path may be, the better… that serves as a strong root to our inspiration for the last 14 years now since we moved to the farm and started Inn Serendipity.

What’s your overall vision?

We need to fundamentally shift our society so that we no longer support one based on fossil fuels. Food is an easy entry point for people.

What books and/or blogs are you reading right now?

This time of year, post harvest, we actually have a big movie-watching session. Last night, we saw The Road, which was amazing and motivating. I’ve been watching a lot of cooking shows on DVD. The classic Julia Childs shows, which I’d never seen, are both entertaining and inspiring. I’ve been watching 1970’s Little House on the Prairie series with my son. So interesting how those stories and visuals influenced me when I was growing up.

This is also my time of year to read cookbooks and re-fresh my ideas. I’m really into a new book called Winter Harvest all about creative cooking through the winter … getting funky with those turnips.

Who’s in your community?

My super immediate community is my husband and our son, Liam. One of our goals of moving to the farm is to generate our income on-farm and therby base our daily lives here. We home school Liam and John and I work together on a lot of projects; which connects us in ways that we didn’t have when we were commuting in Chicago.

My local community’s interest in sustainable agriculture continue to grow, which I’m thrilled about. Next week we are starting an informal Green County Women in Sustainable Agriculture group, which considering where I live, very conventional farm country, is a really cool step.

What are your commitments?

My priority commitment is to my family, my circle of friends, and the people I engage and collaborate with on these shared visions. Time with them needs to be prioritized regularly. We call it plate management in our family: How to manage the projects and priorities on our plates and balance that with savoring the beauty and bounty of farm life.

What are your goals?

To continue to help support and inspire people, particularly women who are looking to launch enterprises that champion change in the food system. I’ve made such a fundamental change from the way I used to live, had I never had that type of support myself, I would not be where I am now. Support can happen in different ways, from people coming to the B&B and having conversations around the campfire, to the written word, to trainings and education programs.

What does change look like to you?

It happens when we are constantly able to look forward and vision and act for a better future. For example, here in Wisconsin, 20 years ago, there were renegade visionaries that created what are now inspiring sustainability leaders in the Midwest, like Organic Valley, MOSES, and the Midwest Renewable Energy Association.

We need to keep that momentum going and identify the new crazy ideas we need to instigate now. Change is based on creative innovative and being open to crazy-big thinking, or we are going to be just dog paddling in the status quo.

Regarding the practicalities of enacting change, what planning is involved? What kind of outreach?

A challenge for me is to constantly step back and assess priorities. All of us working in this realm have limited resources, be it time or money or both. We need to really take time for big picture idea visioning and planning. And, we need to continue to stress a diversity of views. Women are a great example, because if all views aren’t represented, we won’t have a comprehensive agenda. We need all priorities present to create an inclusive vision we can move on.

What projects are affiliated with yours?

MOSES. MREA, The Women in Food and Agriculture Network. IATP. The National Sustainable Ag Coalition – I’m doing farmer training and connecting the farmer voices with the media. Renewing the Countryside – they champion positive stories in rural revitalization and microenterprise. The WhiteHouseProject.org is a bi-partisan group that conducts leadership training for women. I’ve been partnering with them to get more women involved in leadership and agriculture.

What projects and people have you got your eye on or are you impressed by?

Something we’ve been tracking is the Transition Town Movement. I’m intrigued and impressed that it’s catching on at a very grassroots level; that people are curious about peak oil and post-peak oil and are getting things done in creative ways. Another growing trend I’ve been watching is cottage food legislation. These state-specific laws enable individuals and businesses to sell things made in home-based, non-commercial kitchens. In Wisconsin this legislation is informally known as the “Pickle Bill.” It could inspire a whole renaissance of food artists in various places, encouraging these businesses to more easily sell at farmers markets and community events. Michigan just passed theirs last week. I think we’ll see more impacts from the success of it in the coming year.

Where do you see the state of agriculture/food policy in the next 5-10 years? Is real policy change a real possibility?

Yes. I think we live in a very hopeful time because this movement keeps growing in ways I don’t think the industry or Capital Hill expected. I think we’ll see growth of people supporting a healthy food system and with that comes economic growth; that needs to happen before broader policy change. We see the impact of these seeds of change, especially in rural communities. And, they will only continue to grow in the next 5-10 years as a movement and a voice.

What does the food movement need to do, be or have to be more effective?

We continually need to broaden our inclusion factor with communities, cultures and people. We must remember and celebrate that fact that there is a diversity of ways to get things done and there is no one road or high road for that matter. I think we can get mired in the details and miss the broader picture that we all have a passion for good healthy food. I may put cheese on mine and you may prefer yours fried. But, those details don’t matter. We need this diversity to stir up the pot for change.

We also need to remember the fun factor in food. When we get too caught up in legislation minutia or specifics, we often lose the fact that we are all passionate about food because we love the joy of it. Which can be celebrated in a variety of ways, each of which need to be celebrated more.

What would you want to be your last meal on earth?

A good classic Wisconsin answer: One of our fabulous Wisconsin Friday night fish fries. So, I’d have to leave this world on a Friday! Local beer in the batter and accordion music on tap.

We’ll gather Wednesday night, June 9, in the Port Commission Hearing Room at the Ferry Building, 2nd Floor at 6:30 pm. The event is free though donations are always appreciated. Please RSVP here to reserve your seat.

Kitchen Table Talks is a joint venture of CivilEats and 18 Reasons, a non-profit that promotes conversation between its San Francisco Mission neighborhood and the people who feed them. Space is limited, so please RSVP. A $10 suggested donation is requested at the door, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Farmers’ market-sourced food and refreshments will be provided, courtesy of Bi-Rite Market.

Temra Costa is a sustainable food and farming advocate and author of Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat. Civil Eats will feature her profiles of some of America’s women farmers and food advocates over the coming weeks.

Farmer Jane caught up with newly appointed Executive Director of People’s Grocery, Nikki Henderson, to get the inside scoop on what brought this dynamic woman to the West Coast from Brooklyn. As Executive Director, Nikki will be spending her time working to address one of the most important questions of the food movement: How can the sustainable food movement increase the health and well-being of economically disadvantaged people? In Nikki’s case, the people of West Oakland.

TC: Nikki, describe what brought you to the People’s Grocery (PG) and some of your plans for your first year as Executive Director.

NH: Food brought me to People’s Grocery. Sounds cliche, but I really believe in the profound ability of food to heal and empower communities. Because of that, I’m looking forward to my first year because of our resident-driven and opportunity-driven work. We’ve always tried to get feedback from residents, and we’ve always taken advantage of larger opportunities. So we’re planning on ramping up that work [of connecting residents with opportunities] in the next three to five years.

TC: What inspires you most about the food movement? Are there opportunities for food organizations to further their momentum with the emerging Green Economy?

NH: The food movement is a sleeping giant. The food system is so ridiculously unjust in relation to farmer’s compensation, the interests controlling farmland and seed, etc., that any movement hoping to change the situation inspires me. Food organizations should develop language and messaging about our relation to the Green Economy, because we truly do belong to it. There’s just been some debate about our ability to actually produce jobs (which is the backbone of the Green Economy, employment and industry). We must show our sophistication and understanding of these kinds of complex issues, and make space for ourselves.

TC: What is your definition of sustainable food? Food justice?

NH: Sustainable food is food grown with care to the environment, the people eating the food, and the people growing the food. Food justice refers to the agency and ownership of a group of people around their food choices and food system.

TC: In your words, why is working with communities with limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables so critical to the future of our food?

NH: Limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables creates health problems that become serious human rights violations. The fact that people born of a particular ethnicity, in a particular location, are categorically more likely to die earlier due to diseases is a blight on this country. It’s our duty and obligation to make sure that the detrimental health impacts due to an unhealthy diet are corrected.

TC: You worked with Green for All and Slow Food prior to coming to PG; how did your career evolve to become food-focused?

NH: Before Green for All, I had a sneaking suspicion that I would end up working primarily on food-related issues. I was in the climate movement prior to and during my time at Green for All, because climate change and energy was the “sexy” issue of the day that could teach me how to interrelate social justice with mainstream issues. Once I learned those skills, and Lady Obama started putting gardens on the White House lawn, I thought it might be time to make the moment that I focused on food ‘now!’

TC: What is one of your earliest food memories? Your favorite dish?

NH: My earliest food memory is watching my foster brother stir peanut butter and jelly together in a bowl, and eat it with a spoon. I was very young, maybe three or four, but it left a lasting impression on me because I thought it was so strange! My favorite dish is any and all kinds of sushi. LOVE sushi.

TC: If you could make one political change to make our food system more sustainable, what would it be?

NH: Retract the law that made patenting life, thus seeds, a legal pursuit.

TC: As a woman, you are part of a group of dynamic, passionate, and innovative creators that are seeing more solutions than obstacles. Do you have any other thoughts that you’d like people to know about as a woman working for food justice?

NH: Any woman connected to her cultural heritage (no matter what color you are, because we all came from deep-rooted cultures a few generations back) knows that women are the carriers of life, love, and the soul of community. One of the many ways that we pass this along to future generations is through food. The grandmothers cook with the daughters who in turn cook with the granddaughters, and the stories in our food keep our communities rich and vibrant. Women, remember your heritage, remember the grandmothers. They still speak to us, and we must listen so we can heal the way food and farming work in our communities.

The New York Times ran a special food-themed issue of its Sunday magazine a week back. It was kicked off by a fine piece by Mark Bittman, who observed quite rightly that the conversation being had in the magazine’s pages reflects America’s new, and healthy, interest in what they’re eating.

Indeed, just a few years ago, it would have been difficult to imagine this sort of interest, and even harder to imagine that the New York Times would countenance the sorts of politics espoused in Michael Pollan’s Farmer in Chief essay, or David Reiff’s subtle dissection of the Gates Foundation’s African Adventures.

I like David’s piece a great deal, not just because I appear in it as a reasonable person, but because he captures exactly what’s wrong about the Northern do-gooder in Africa. For the record, a mistake crept in to the piece – I’ve never actually met Raj Shah – but the piece certainly captures how I feel about the Alliance for a New Green Revolution in Africa.

And yet, despite all that, the issue had one or two gaping holes. Labour didn’t really get a look in and, most important, the entire issue was almost wholly silent on the issue of gender. One doesn’t have to look far to see women food producers and food-makers taking on the inequities of the modern food system. Just today, from their meeting in Maputo, the women of Via Campesina released this declaration. And Dan Moshenberg, who sends much of the finest material to me for this blog, took the lead in writing this letter to the editor which, alas, the editor decided not to print.

Dear Editor

The New York Times Magazine October 12th Food Issue is a measure of how far the debate around agriculture has come. A few years ago, it would have been inconceivable that Sunday’s glossy section could be devoted to a mosaic of pieces about the politics of food, from belly to bourse, from private purchases to public policy. We still, however, have far to go. One neglected element would have brought coherence to the disparate pieces: women.

Certainly, women were mentioned in the issue. Mark Bittman noted that cooking is no longer the exclusive purview, burden, or task of those called `housewives’. With women pressured or choosing to enter the waged labor force, men are encouraged or forced to cook for themselves and even, occasionally, for others. In her discussion of the ethical kashrut movement, Samantha M. Shapiro recalls the cultural and religious traditions of her own family, in which men would slaughter, skin and butcher animals, and women would purchase the meat, soak and salt it, and prepare it for the family. Michael Pollan urged the next President of the United States to expand the WIC program for low-income women with children.

There’s much to admire in, and much to debate over, these descriptions of women. But women are more than contemporary household cooks (since they are still a minority among paid chefs), more than the stories of how it was done in our family in the good old days, and more than the recipients of government handouts.

In much of the world, and in particular in the Global South, women are the primary toilers of the earth, even if they are a minuscule portion of the owners of land. For example, while women produce the majority of food consumed in the Global South, the OECD has noted that women own 1% of the land mass of Africa. If that seems a little far away, there are plenty of examples of women producing food closer to home – consider the fate of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, a farmworker who died of heatstroke in May this year while harvesting grapes in California, the latest in a long line of women casualties in our modern food system.

Women aren’t only central to understanding how food is produced – it’s hard to tell the full story of food distribution and food consumption without them either. The food crisis discriminates against women – 60% of those going hungry are women and girls. Michael Pollan almost touched on this when he noted that in recent months more than 30 countries have experienced food riots which are, more often than not, protests that result from planned and coordinated action by women.

All of these stories, and the big story they add up to, is a story of women. Women farmers, women care providers, women wives, women mothers, women daughters, women aunts, women heads of households, women consumers, women workers, everywhere in the world. If food matters, as we certainly agree it does, then women must be accounted for because, when it comes to food, women count. Perhaps in the next food issue, the Times might move a little further to doing this particular piece of arithmetic.

Sincerely
Dan Moshenberg
Raj Patel

Photo: sajla1, women of Chhattisgarh

[Cross-posted from www.stuffedandstarved.org]