Grass-fed Beef, Free-Range Chicken, and USDA Organic: Language and the Sustainable Revolution

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Beyond the “free-range” label, humane pig stewards must provide pigs ample space to root and wallow, and, for sows, a place to farrow and nurse.
Beyond the “free-range” label, humane pig stewards must provide pigs ample space to root and wallow, and, for sows, a place to farrow and nurse.
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Joel Salatin shares the exuberant message of Earth stewardship and sustainable farming with thousands of Mother Earth News Fair attendees every year.
Joel Salatin shares the exuberant message of Earth stewardship and sustainable farming with thousands of Mother Earth News Fair attendees every year.
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Organic farms multi-crop; cover-crop; and opt for traditional fertilizers and weed suppressants.
Organic farms multi-crop; cover-crop; and opt for traditional fertilizers and weed suppressants.

Members of the MOTHER EARTH NEWS tribe have a long, illustrious, and storied reputation as stewards of the Earth. I grew up with the magazine during the Vietnam War, the hippie movement, and the Watergate scandal. Through it all, our tribe remained politically bipartisan and religiously diverse. One thing we have always fervently agreed on is stewardship of this planet. We feel a sense of deep responsibility toward breathable air, healthy soil, and potable, plentiful water. We feel personally assaulted when public and private interests desecrate, pillage, and attack these precious resources upon which we all depend.

Over the years, our tribe has developed a vocabulary to promote and explain our views on the environment, self-reliance, and sustainability. We’ve fought for 100 percent grass-fed beef, free-range chickens, pasture-raised pork, USDA Organic veggies, and so much more. But today, powerful interests threaten to change the meaning of our language. Well, folks, our communication depends on preserving these vibrant words. Just like our land, our language needs to be fostered.

Define and Defend the Language of Sustainable Food

Pay attention to any food recall, and you’ll see a dozen brand names coming out of the same processing plant. As the food industry continues to centralize, this product and brand-name homogeneity only escalates. Finding and using a vocabulary of specificity will become more and more important for our tribe. We need to know our terms, own our terms, define our terms, and defend our terms.

A defining commitment of our movement is that we use organic fertilizers, such as compost, instead of synthetic fertilizers, and we mulch, cover crop, and weed to avoid using herbicides. We can be thankful that clever people have given us an ecological vocabulary. Think about the gift of Elaine Ingham’s “soil food web” to describe the complex relationship among organisms in healthy soil. Such a pregnant phrase stops simplistic chemical-pushers in their tracks and demands respect.

  • Published on Sep 29, 2016
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