On My PlateAs the local food movement gains traction, new issues related to food policy and legislation arise and need to be addressed. Edible Chesapeake’s online column “On My Plate” provides both “experts” and “ordinary” people a forum for adding their opinions to the conversation about laws and policies related to food and agriculture. Read the latest contributions below. |
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About Our Guest Author - Mike Tabor
Veteran farmer and food activist Michael Tabor is a veritable energy ball who loves to raise questions and challenge the status quo to find answers. A part-time resident of Takoma Park, Maryland, Tabor also lives at his certified organic Licking Creek Bend Farm in Pennsylvania, where he has been farming since 1972. Tabor grew up in low-income housing in Brooklyn, and attributes his interest in farming to a program of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden that distributed seeds to school kids and fostered school gardens. “I’m absolutely certain that my connection to the earth came from that,” he says. “I still remember the taste of the carrot that I harvested that I had planted.” He hasn’t forgotten those who are still in limited economic circumstances. His activist roots stretch back . . . |
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THE FARMER AND CONSUMER AS FOOD ACTIVISTS
by Michael Tabor Farming for more than 35 years, I have learned a lot about the land. As a product of the tumultuous 1960’s who lives near the nation’s capital, I also have a lot of experience with political activism. As it turns out, farming and activism make a good match, although far too few farmers see it this way. At times, cynicism, resignation and anger can seem like our only alternatives. Otherwise, we may just feel overwhelmed or paralyzed into inaction. As farmers, so busy with crops and animals and weather and labor, we often feel we don’t have time for political engagement. Consumers also often assume some government agency is protecting their health and keeping their food supply safe, or that they don’t have any real influence, so their voices don’t matter. Too few of us even know who our elected state and county officials are. (Do you?) However, activism—community, electoral and spiritual activist involvement—is a better option. It’s a path that can be rewarding to the individual as well as the community. We have the power to make change happen, and—given our nation’s struggles with health problems like obesity and diabetes, environmental degradation, and poverty—food is a good place to start. If we aren’t paying attention, we can easily end up with . . . |
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