The 100 Year History of the San Pedro Commons
2018 marked the hundred-year anniversary of the privatization of the San Pedro Land grant, the place where I was born and still call home. It is an arid piece of high desert, covered in piñon and juniper, located in the eastern and northern foothills of the Sandia Mountains in central New Mexico. It was an anniversary no one marked publicly, not even the heirs to the land still living in San Antonito, the village just down the road. It is part of a story lost, for the most part, to so-called progress.
Portraits of the Agrarian Trust Collective: #Inktober
This October, Agrarian Trust is spotlighting the farmers and ranchers who put food on our plates, the advocates who support equitable land tenure and community commons based ownership, and the collaborations that are creating the local Agrarian Commons across the U.S.
For a Greener New Deal and Cooler Climate, Focus on Food and Agriculture
A successful Green New Deal will integrate what we know about carbon, emissions, and pollution into policies related to agriculture and land use.
Nos Robaron La Tierra / They Stole the Land From Us
by Vanessa García Polanco What do you want the future of your land to be? “Nos robaron la tierra,” they stole the land from us, exclaimed my great aunt Tia […]
Let’s talk about the land!
by Vanessa García Polanco When you’re driving in rural America and pass a farm, do you ever wonder how it came to be or do you just assume it has […]
Going Beyond Diversity and Inclusion in Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources
by Vanessa García Polanco In many of my roles as a food, agriculture, and natural resources practitioner, student, and researcher, I have noticed my uniqueness in the spaces to which I […]
How Making Reparations Can Remake This Land
Republished with permission from The New Farmer’s Almanac (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2019) by Jean Willoughby and Douglass DeCandia The cause of reparations is having a moment of resurgence in the […]
This Land Is Your Land
June 16th-23rd is #RefugeeWeek and June is Immigrant Heritage Month #CelebrateImmigrants by Vanessa García Polanco Imagine arriving in a new country as a refugee after spending years in a refugee […]
Los Herederos de la Tierra, The Heirs of The Land
By Vanessa García Polanco “The land should always be there, you should always own some. Money goes away and you can spend it really fast. I don’t like to sell […]
Truthout: A Green New Deal Must Prioritize Regenerative Agriculture
“Agrarian Trust, a nonprofit committed to supporting land access for the next generation of farmers, is experimenting with community-controlled land commons to collectively and democratically own the land, while giving 99-year leases to regenerative farmers. This model prioritizes broader community involvement and investment in local farms, while giving farmers long-term land security and equity interests so that they can fully commit to restoring the land over many decades.”