Bioneers: Food Justice Bioneers

The number of Black Farmers has declined dramatically in the last 100 years and the USDA's racist lending practices hastened that decline. J.L. Chestnut, the chief attorney for the Black Farmers class-action discrimination lawsuit against the USDA, won the largest civil rights settlement in U.S. history, opening the door for restitution for Native American, women and Hispanic farmers.

"Fighting on behalf of women, on behalf of minority people of color, fighting on behalf of the environment and the planet are all one big battle. It is all about a struggle for the soul of America."

This talk took place at the 2001 Annual Bioneers Conference and is part of the Ecological Food and Farming, Vol. 1 and Democracy, Human Rights and the Rights of Nature, Vol. 1 Collections.

Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges.

To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

In this dramatic depiction from the front lines, farmworker organizer Lucas Benitez sheds light on the most unsung heroes of the food system: exploited farm workers. He portrays the protracted road to victory over Yum Brands, owner of Burger King. This landmark triumph caused a domino effect with other giant food companies to pay farm workers decent wages and provide better working conditions.

This speech was given at the 2008 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Re-Imagining Labor in a Green Economy Vol. 1 Collection.

Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges.

To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

In the next 20 years, farmland ownership will shift on a continental scale—400 million acres, yet 70% of American farmland is owned by people 65 and older. How can we help young, motivated agrarians survive daunting structural obstacles and become successful farmers to whom retiring organic farmers can transmit their wisdom? How can we invest in the democratization of our land base? These questions drive Agrarian Trust, started by Greenhorns founder Severine v T Fleming, one of the most dynamic leaders in the young farmers’ movement.

Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges.

To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Winona LaDuke, the renowned indigenous rights leader and two-time Green Party U.S. Vice Presidential candidate highlights the struggles of indigenous peoples to protect their food sovereignty, restore their food systems and protect their cultures and foods from genetic modification.

This speech was presented at the 2007 Bioneers National Conference in San Rafael, CA.

Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges.

To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Unlike in the lower 48 states, Alaska Natives were not corralled into circumscribed reservations, but rather became incorporated into the Native Claims Settlement Act, making them shareholders of their “corporation.” Dune Lankard describes his monumental achievement in preventing the proposed clear-cut of over 700,000 trees in the wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill by suing his people – the Eyak Corporation – for the right to vote for conservation over development. Lankard’s many conservation triumphs are driven by his innate care for all creation, inspired by his childhood memories of a subsistence way of life in an unparalleled paradise.

This speech was given at the 2008 Bioneers National Conference.

Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges.

To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

LaDonna Redmond tells her very personal story of searching for answers in her struggle with her son's food allergies and finding a need for the African-American voice in the food and farming industry. She also discusses the difficulty of finding healthy food in her neighborhood, linking food and racial justice.

This speech was given at the 2004 National Bioneers Conference.

Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges.

To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).