How to relocalize agriculture and inspire a new generation of farmers
An Ode to a new beginning and the creation of the celebrity farmer
Written by Tara Gupta
We are facing a food crisis. Our land is growing weaker, and globally, the small farmer has been thwarted and downtrodden.
The small farmer is an essential part of our society’s foundation. Yet farming has not been given the importance or elevated pay of a doctor or engineer, though they still provide essential services. The small farmer needs both more respect, and a more stable income, because she is about to become one of our most valuable tools in fighting off climate change’s effects.
So how do we elevate the small farmer, to a position of power and authority? We need to focus on celebrating the small farmer, and one way we can do this is by utilizing social media celebrity.
Millennial & Gen-Z farmers have learnt to connect to tech and social media, and support small business activities with this independent press outlet. This allows them to draw attention to land in need of restoration and more energy-intensive care, such as the tropical hills subjected to slash and burn agriculture. One such farmer is Zoe St. John.
Zoe is a great example of how we can employ our best practices from old and new. She is the Director of Agriculture at Kalu Yala, an off-grid farm in the Panamanian jungle celebrating the diverse ecosystem of Panama by bringing international visitors to the jungle, and educating them on the biodiversity of the area, sustainable agriculture methods, and the conservationist efforts of both Kalu Yala and their many neighboring communities.
The educational content developed by Zoe and delivered at Kalu Yala covers the comprehensive range of techniques, theories, and ideologies behind Kalu Yala’s approach to conservation and restoration as a burgeoning town. They employ machetes, tools that have been used traditionally for farming in the region, and create fresh, biophilic spaces such as their food forest, full of jackfruit, guava trees, banana trees, and more.
At this nexus in farming, we have the opportunity to mix old methods and knowledge with new technologies and innovations. Rotational grazing draws on best practices from the past, while carbon sequestration broadens our horizons for how we can continue to grow and sustain the masses that need food in this era.
We have many challenges ahead, including relocalizing and de-industrializing our food system, bringing back rains to dry, cracked lands, and distributing food fairly to create a shared abundance, despite economic inequalities amongst groups of people. But we believe that the farmer, through their passion for food, and innovation in their space, can help us tackle these mountainous issues.
Today, we celebrate Zoe, one of our favorite farmers, and hear her thoughts on the direction farming must take in order to fulfill its role in the coming century.
An Interview with Zoe St. John.
How did you get started farming?
To be totally honest, it’s a weird story and not one borne of a long lived passion for growing food, like lots of my farmer friends. When I get asked this question I always find myself telling people two stories; one of how I literally started farming and then another that is much more romantic. The love story. And I adore them both. Essentially I started farming due to lots of confusion and a love of cheese. After graduating from college with a degree in colonial history I didn’t have much of a life path in front of me. What I did have was some cash saved up. So I did what many young people do if they are able to, I travelled. Though, what still perplexes me is how I decided to travel. I decided I would travel through Ecuador by working on farms via WWOOFing. Now keep in mind, this is why I am still a bit confused, I had never set foot on a farm. I studied my fair share of environmental classes like all environmentally conscious students do, but embarrassingly didn’t ever consider food systems or agriculture at all. I think I made butter on a farm during a field trip in the fifth grade once.That was about it. For some reason, I booked a solo, one way ticket to Ecuador, and set out on my first farm. I slept outside, worked physically harder than I ever had in my life, rose with the sun and laid my head down at night feeling tired and accomplished. I have to give a lot of credit to my first host family. They taught this gringa with no knowledge of anything food related with such kindness and patience. And after a few months I was almost addicted to working in the fields. But I wasn’t actually too concerned with the environmental impact of the work I was doing. Like I said, I was just trying to travel and try something new. I very luckily just happened to really like growing and harvesting food. Honestly I feel like it’s the luckiest accident that ever happened to me. Had I not stumbled into this endeavor, I may not have found what I truly consider to be my life calling. But here is the fun part. One day I was walking through a village market and my 20 year old self just burst with excitement. It was beautiful. Really traditional. Bright and vivid colors everywhere. Pigs heads hanging from hooks along the streets. Vegetables of all colors hanging from booths while children bagged food behind their tables as orders were placed. I was completely enamored. As I started walking around this large cacophony of a market I saw something that I had to have. Goat cheese. Every local at the market told me that this goat cheese was the best in the region. I had to try it. One bite of the hand crafted basil and garlic goat cheese, and I was a changed woman. I’m not even being dramatic here. It changed my life. My first question to the Ecuadorian woman running the booth was, “did you make this?” To my dismay she responded, “no”. I desperately wanted to meet the person who made this goat cheese. Even more so the goats. She quickly told me that if I came back at the same time the next day she would guide me along the slightly grueling and rather steep hike, straight up into the cloud forest of the Andes to meet the goats and the man who made the cheese. And full disclosure, it is when I met those goats that I fell madly in love with farming. After spending all day with this small community of lovely people on their farm, I asked if I could work for them. It’s hard looking back at that moment without laughing at myself. I mean honestly to just show up to a total stranger’s home in the middle of nowhere and ask to live with them? It’s a bit absurd. I promised to do all of the dirtiest jobs (which I did), not complain, and help whenever asked with whatever task. Not but 24 hours later I was living completely off the land in a community of 11 people whose sole purpose was to restore soil, live simply, and grow food. I spent three months with no electricity, reading voraciously, learning everything I could about sustainable farming practices, getting shocked by electric fencing while holistically rotating goats, restoring soil, planting, harvesting, and cooking all of our own produce. For the first time in my adult life, I felt truly happy. I was able to comprehend not just food security but the devastating lack of it. I was also tasting food like I never had before. People say food grown organically is better, and it’s true. I was constantly exhausted, completely out of my element, at one time was even pushed off the side of a very steep mountain by stubborn horses, and I couldn’t have been happier. My hands were constantly covered in calluses and blood and it was invigorating because I grew the food that we would be eating that day. I cared for the animals that produced the most delectable food I have ever tasted. I lived on the land. I learned the skills. I grew the food. I ate the food. I cooked the food for my friends. And food never looked the same again. I couldn’t believe that it took me 20 years and a rash decision to travel alone with no plan to understand the beauty that is farming. I was hooked and from there I never looked back. I knew I wanted to be a regenerative agriculture expert and spend my life working land. I became beautifully obsessed with finding innovative solutions to our climate and food security crisis. It wasn’t until years later that I decided I wanted to be a collaborative part of changing the world through our food systems. Also planting trees is just plain old satisfying. I’ve done a lot of questionable things in my past, but it’s hard to feel bad when you’re planting a tree.
What is the most essential thing that we need to transform in agriculture over the next five years?
Oh my oh my pumpkin pie, now that’s a hard question to answer. If I had to give one technical answer it would be to globally redefine how crops are grown and what crops are grown. There are so many new and climate friendly ways to grow food now that the face of agriculture is really changing. And it’s not just food. People forget that agriculture can quite literally redefine the structure of society. Grow trees responsibly for building materials, which will further sequester carbon. There is currently such innovative technology that is opening the door to global food security and climate justice, and that is something I truly believe in. I’m going to get a little nerdy here but I do believe that carbon sequestering agroforestry systems are a great solution that can give us a road map to what is next to come in agriculture. And that’s because this type of agriculture includes every aspect of society. And it’s nuanced! Agroforestry systems look at agriculture as a way to solve so many problems each region faces. They are diverse, no one system is the same. And that is beautiful. We now have the knowledge and scientific data to show that these systems not only mitigate climate change by planting A LOT of trees but can drastically improve socioeconomic conditions globally. The beautiful thing about agriculture is that it is a part of every person’s life on this planet. Whether they are a farmer or not. We all gotta eat. And I would be remiss if I didn’t discuss this, but agriculture is rapidly integrating into cities, using energy efficient ways to grow food without soil! This is AMAZING. In my opinion, the necessary transformations that need to take place in the gigantic industries that make up agriculture are already happening. I’m just happy I get to be a small part of it.
Where do you envision the future of farming heading in the next century?
Let’s be honest here, technology is rapidly changing and I genuinely believe that farming is going to be a completely different profession in the next century. And I think it’s going to be great. We are already growing food with aquaponics, aeroponics, hydroponics, and I mean the list goes on. I think we are going to see a lot of technologies that replace people working long and difficult hours in the fields, and a mass movement toward growing food in energy efficient ways. For example growing food in large warehouses that are powered by wind turbines or solar power, and a hyper focus on water usage and efficiency. I do not at all think farmers are going to lose business but quite the opposite. Basically I think we are about to start farming a lot smarter. I think it’s going to revolutionize the way humanity exists, and damn I am excited.
How is Kalu Yala tackling these challenges in their own way?
The farm here at Kalu Yala is really just starting to take shape but I always hold the triple bottom line near and dear to my heart. People, Planet, Profit. The basic concept is that we want to sequester as much carbon as possible, through planting trees that also provide food and restore soil (they all go hand in hand). When taking on the farm manager position here I was terrified because we are located on a few hundred acres of an old cattle pasture. Meaning the soil was in really bad shape. But through large scale planting with the seasons and using only organic compost built here on the property we are seeing real transformation in soil quality, which of course eventually leads to the soils ability to sequester more carbon. Reforestation baby. It works. Not only are we restoring soil here but we are protecting some of the most biodiverse rainforests on the planet by not allowing deforestation on the primary and secondary forest that we surround. We are building a town that increases biodiversity and how we plant our trees is a huge part of that. One of the interesting things I like to always point out to people is that you don’t have to grow all of your own food to be considered “sustainable”. There are more ways than I can fathom to describe what sustainable is, but I really like ours. We plant thousands of trees, use only natural pesticides (Neem to be specific), and buy a lot of our produce from local markets. That’s where economic sustainability comes into play. Once we have better soil quality we will focus on growing some of the pickier annuals that require really healthy soil, but for now growing large hard wood fruit bearing trees that will sequester carbon is a pretty great start. Everyone has to do their part when working with regenerative agriculture and we have found our niche.
What is your favorite thing to grow?
AGAIN WITH THE HARD QUESTIONS!!! I’ve gotta say it’s a tie between jackfruit and tomatoes. I could go into detail for basically longer than anyone would ever care to know but I’ll keep it short. Tomatoes are simply divine, diverse, and difficult. I call them the annoying yet rewarding teenagers of the annual plant world. Jackfruit is a large tropical hardwood fruit bearing tree that can produce up to hundreds of pounds of delicious fruit each season. If you want to talk about a fruit that can provide food security that’s also highly nutritious, then jackfruit should be a centerpiece of the conversation. Also when barbequed it tastes just like pulled pork so it’s a win for everyone, meat eaters and non meat eaters alike. After all, that’s what food is great for right? Bringing everyone together. We all gotta eat.
