Food connects us all.
Let’s explore how colonialism and its ideologies imbedded in society are impacting modern-day farming practices.
Accessing food is quite literally life sustaining, why should growing food destroy life? and why is food wasted by some while others go hungry?
Plantation Agriculture
Degrades soil and soul.
Practice and method of farming that began with colonizers in the 17th century in Latin America. It relied on the exploitation and enslavement of people and the planet and sowed many seeds for both monoculture and perpetual injustice.
Monoculture
Depletes nutrients and nourishment.
The practice of widely growing one single crop across large tracts of land. Grew out of plantation practices. Often involves heavy use of machinery, pesticides, and hard working conditions that can harm workers’ bodies. Depletes soil, reduces biodiversity, and harms pollinators.
Sustainable culture
Nourishes the planet and people.
There are many ways to grow food to sustain our bodies and environments that have existed for centuries. Colonizers destroyed and disregarded many of these practices that have grown out of indigenous knowledge and ways of tending the earth. Permaculture methods, biodynamic farming, subsistence agriculture, community gardening, urban farming, organic, the list can go on.
Sustainable culture existed before colonization and it has continued to grow and morph throughout history. Although dominant societal forces have led it to seem dormany, its reemergence is crucial for regeneration to occur in the face of climate change.
