I research food: More specifically, I research how people - citizens and councils -make local-level food policy, and what people think sustainability means when it comes to locally produced food. Previously, I did research on rooftop urban agriculture. You can read all about it on my academic profile. I promise you, it's all very exciting stuff. I have a lot of books with impressive academic jagony titles, written by people with exceptional academic brains, cultivated over long academic careers. I've read most of them, even.
But starting a farm means a different kind of research. Me and The Boy have accumulated a little library of a different style of food books now - often quite hands on, but sometimes still very technical in their own way. Botany and soil ecology are not for the lazy reader.
Like in academia, you start to realise there are a core group of 'experts' recognised in a particular field (oh, puns). They're oft-cited, and they all know (or at least know of) each other, or have been inspired by some of the same 'elders'. Sometimes they even Vlog. Some of the farmers who have been really helpful in developing our thought process so far (along with their books) include:
Jean-Martin Fortier & Maude-Helene DesRoches of Ferme La Grelinette in my home province of Quebec. More recently, due to the success of the initial farm, JM has taken on a large-scale experimental project backed by a big funder called La Ferme Les Quatre-Temps. Their intensive, no-till approach, with a focus on soil ecology and day-to-day efficiencies has really inspired us. His book, 'The Market Gardener' has been hugely helpful in our design process.
Curtis Stone in British Columbia started Green City Acres and is a very active video blogger on YouTube. His video tutorials are instructive, and he really seeks to promote and showcase what other farmers are doing. His book, 'The Urban Farmer' explains how he has developed his farming approach in an urban setting, often using small parcels of rented land.
Richard Perkins of Ridgedale Permaculture in Northern Sweden is our third big inspiration. Again, very present on YouTube illustrating how a larger-scale, mixed-farming approach can be profitable, ecologically-focused, and efficiently run. What has struck me most about Richard's videos is the level of detail that he goes into very specific activities, showing a really impressive level of knowledge, be it on making bio-char, raising hens, or planning the development of the business for the next few years.
Recently, Curtis Stone and fellow BC farmer Diego Footer sat down to do an interview listing their top ten farmers to follow. Perkins and JM Fortier were both on there, along with several others who we've drawn on (Eliot Coleman, for one, alongside Barbara Damrosch), but one thing I noticed was the lack of attention to female farmers (only 1/10 on the list!). I'm going to be doing more research to feature (and connect with) the really exceptional and diverse group of female farmers out there - because they are there. The idea that female farmers remain invisible as 'farmers' wives' seems extremely out of date to me, so that shouldn't be it - could it be simply that women venturing out into this entrepreneurial effort for some reason aren't getting as much attention as they should be? What's going on here?
More research needed.