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Queer Farmers Are Changing the Landscape
Queer beekeepers, urban agriculturalists, and rural livestock workers are challenging not only conventional farming and food production practices, but also the image of farming itself Get to know the businesses rethinking queer hospitality and community for a new generation.
When Lee Hennessy talks about farming, he talks about choosing happiness. For years he had been living in LA, working in media and Hollywood and advertising and hating it. He figured joy would come once he became successful enough. But one day, he just couldn’t anymore: “I was miserable. So, eventually, I was like, ‘What if I focused on happiness first, and then worried about success afterward?’” He’d always loved animals and the idea of farming. So he put all his money into learning about agriculture, worked on some farms, and then started his own: Moxie Ridge Farm in Washington County, New York.
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Azuré Kauikeolani Iversen-Keahi holds up an enormous head of lettuce in the greenhouse. (All photos courtesy of Iversen-Keahi.)
Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in
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I grew up with parents who keep a garden that can produce just about anything. I’ve helped plant lettuce seedlings, tie-up tomatoes and dig bright carrots and pearly potatoes from the ground. To this day, their asparagus bush is the stuff of (Viroqua, Wisconsin) legend.
Meet the inspiring leaders using food to challenge conventions, empower their communities, and make positive change.
America’s food culture is at a turning point. Pandemic-related shutdowns proved just how fragile the restaurant ecosystem has always been, while last summer’s protests put a spotlight on the work still needed to dismantle white supremacy in all aspects of American life, especially in an industry built on a history of racism and inequity. And addressing hunger, an everyday reality for millions of Americans, became even more urgent as food banks struggled to keep up with the overwhelming need due to the pandemic’s devastation of the economy.
If there’s one thing the pandemic has brought to light, it’s the rampant inequalities that exist across our food systems. One in four households experienced food insecurity in 2020, and food pantries and mutual aid networks have struggled to keep up with demand. The question of who can eat, and eat well, and who can’t has never been more urgent.
Soul Fire Farm in Petersburg, New York, which is dedicated to “equity in access to land, sustenance, and power in the food system,” is working to fix those inequalities. With an eye toward Indigenous and Black rights, its food sovereignty programs help feed and teach more than 10,000 people a year, whether by providing raised garden beds to city dwellers, delivering free “solidarity shares” of produce to local residents, or working on land-return initiatives for northeast farmers. And when it comes to inspiring others to join in the mission, Soul Fire Farm relies on Kiani Conley-Wilson.
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It was my great pleasure and privilege to participate in another Council of State Governments Eastern Regional Conference (CSG ERC) webinar on Friday and Saturday, this one titled âCarbon Sequestration from the Ground Up: Opportunities in Northeastern Farms and Forests.â This is a topic the Vermont House Agriculture and Forestry Committee has been working on for several years that excites me because it reveals the roles that agriculture and forestry can play in climate change mitigation that, at the same time, may benefit our farmers and forest owners.
The panel that I moderated on Friday was the Roundtable on State Healthy Soils Legislation/ Programs. We heard presentations from speakers from Vermont, Maryland, and New York. Given that Earth Day was the day before the webinar and having watched a PBS special program on Greta Thunbergâs work the night before, it was very interesting to hear what other states are d