Agraria_Journal_WINTER_2022

20 AGRARIA JOURNAL 2022 ‘We Are All Josephs’ TOWARD A REGENERATIVE HARVEST KELLY HAGER The George Washington Carver Farm aims to strengthen bioregional resilience by providing educational space for Agraria’s farmer training program, incubation plots for beginning farmers, a high tunnel for food production, and areas for research and demonstration of regenerative farming practices. BY SUSAN JENNINGS Where and by whom food is grown — and how it’s shared and prepared — is at the core of a society’s ethics and health. Resetting the foundation of an equitable and healthy food system was the subject of our recent Black Farming conference. Resonating throughout was the revolutionary understanding of the possibility — and the necessity — of all of us to heal each other and the planet through growing with our own hands and lands. One of the keynote speakers, The Rev. Dr. Heber Brown of the Black Food Security Network, described using the church as the cornerstone of a regenerative food system, prompting one attendee to exclaim, We are all Josephs! Many of us learned as children about the biblical Joseph and his multi-colored coat being sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. Years later, Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams and predicted a coming famine. Put in charge of managing harvests to avert disaster, Joseph saved not only Egypt but the surrounding tribespeople, including his brothers’ families. Yes, conference attendees agreed, we are all Josephs, and we need to prepare people for what is coming. WE ARE ALL DUTCH FARMERS The recent protests by farmers in the Netherlands that spread to Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and elsewhere are emblematic of the challenges for farmers — and the entire population of the planet — at a time when we are pushing against the limits to growth in terms of land use, energy generation, water availability and food production. To meet stringent new EU climate goals, the Dutch government has implemented policies that could close as many as 11,000 dairy farms and significantly reduce the herds of 17,000