Passionate Community Builders
All of the producers we spoke with were very passionate about the work they were doing and committed to the reasons motivating them to farm for a living. Though financial sustainability was important to our producers, as discussed in the next section, they were not motivated to pursue this line of work in order to gain fame and fortune but rather to help strengthen the health of their communities and surrounding environment. In the words of P12, “You’ve got to love it, this isn’t the get rich quick scheme.” P3 also touched upon this when he said “I wouldn't be farming if I was just putting it in a box and shipping it,” illustrating the importance of the connection to people and intimacy created by family farming over greater financial gain often created by industrialized farming.
This commitment and motivation was often reflected in the producers’ personal definition of success within their line of work. P14 said that “being a successful farmer means that you have developed relationships with your customers that have in turn made them healthier through being customers at your farm and buying fresh produce and incorporating it into their diet.” Also A1 said that part of P7’s “moral, his ethics” was that “he wouldn’t grow anything he wouldn’t want to eat himself.”
Another producer, P8, said that “feeling like what you’re doing is making a difference, that is what success is...in the community and on the planet,” highlighting the importance of not just people’s health but also the health of the environment surrounding them. P1 also highlighted this dual philosophy, saying "Ecologically sustainable, financially sustainable, community sustainable. Those three things are important." A2 said he was motivated by knowing that “people are getting fed the best food that is possible to grow and we’re doing it in a sustained manner;” emphasizing the same dedication to the well-being of the entire community ecosystem including both people and place.
A2 referred to this philosophy as “embedded agriculture” meaning agriculture “embedded in communities.” This idea of embedding their work within the community reflected the outlook that many of the producers we spoke with shared. Their work was important to them and they were extremely dedicated to it. It was not just a job but a passion and a way of life. They were motivated during challenging times because they knew their work was a way to nourish the community around them, made up of the people they loved – their families, their friends, their friends’ families, and so forth. A2 said, “the thought of spraying all your food that you’re going to feed to your best friends’ children” was why he felt it was “impossible to spray with pesticides.” He believed that it was essential to have people, like himself, in touch with the land and “connected to the natural cycles,” otherwise, communities would “lose grounding when they are disconnected from the earth as a life-giving, dirty, rich, beautiful, complex, pulsing thing.”
A few of the producers we spoke with, like P2, also illustrated the underlying tension between pursuing their line of work and what ‘society’ as a whole deemed valuable, through statements like "The strength that the plants get and the nourishing that it gives everybody, this is what we were more meant to be rather than sitting in an office."
This commitment and motivation was often reflected in the producers’ personal definition of success within their line of work. P14 said that “being a successful farmer means that you have developed relationships with your customers that have in turn made them healthier through being customers at your farm and buying fresh produce and incorporating it into their diet.” Also A1 said that part of P7’s “moral, his ethics” was that “he wouldn’t grow anything he wouldn’t want to eat himself.”
Another producer, P8, said that “feeling like what you’re doing is making a difference, that is what success is...in the community and on the planet,” highlighting the importance of not just people’s health but also the health of the environment surrounding them. P1 also highlighted this dual philosophy, saying "Ecologically sustainable, financially sustainable, community sustainable. Those three things are important." A2 said he was motivated by knowing that “people are getting fed the best food that is possible to grow and we’re doing it in a sustained manner;” emphasizing the same dedication to the well-being of the entire community ecosystem including both people and place.
A2 referred to this philosophy as “embedded agriculture” meaning agriculture “embedded in communities.” This idea of embedding their work within the community reflected the outlook that many of the producers we spoke with shared. Their work was important to them and they were extremely dedicated to it. It was not just a job but a passion and a way of life. They were motivated during challenging times because they knew their work was a way to nourish the community around them, made up of the people they loved – their families, their friends, their friends’ families, and so forth. A2 said, “the thought of spraying all your food that you’re going to feed to your best friends’ children” was why he felt it was “impossible to spray with pesticides.” He believed that it was essential to have people, like himself, in touch with the land and “connected to the natural cycles,” otherwise, communities would “lose grounding when they are disconnected from the earth as a life-giving, dirty, rich, beautiful, complex, pulsing thing.”
A few of the producers we spoke with, like P2, also illustrated the underlying tension between pursuing their line of work and what ‘society’ as a whole deemed valuable, through statements like "The strength that the plants get and the nourishing that it gives everybody, this is what we were more meant to be rather than sitting in an office."