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Mar 4, 2012

Soil: From Dirt to Lifeline - Fred Kirschenmann - TEDxManhattan




Uploaded by TEDxTalks on Feb 3, 2012
http://www.tedxmanhattan.org/2012talks

Fred Kirschenmann has been involved in sustainable agriculture and food issues for most of his life. He currently serves as both a Distinguished Fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, and as President of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, New York. He also still provides management over site of his family's 2,600 acre organic farm in south central North Dakota. He was recently named as one of the first ten James Beard Foundation Leadership Awards which recognizes visionaries in creating more healthful, more sustainable, and safer food systems. He is the author of a book of essays which track the development of his thought over the past 30 years; Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays by a Farmer Philosopher, published by the University of Kentucky Press.

"Concerning Soil" - Honest and rational discussion of where we are, how we got there, and some of what we can and are doing about it... by a farmer who has evolved in his thinking on soil, like most of us have... Monte Hines
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Related Links and Info:
2012 Talks page - Changinging The Way We Eat!
http://www.symphonyofthesoil.com/ - Symphony of the Soil Web Site
http://vimeo.com/user9584122/videos - Symphony of the Soil's videos - 24

Amazon --> Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer
Theologian, academic, and third-generation organic farmer Frederick L. Kirschenmann is a celebrated agricultural thinker. In the last thirty years he has tirelessly promoted the principles of sustainability and has become a legend in his own right.

Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher documents Kirschenmann's evolution and his lifelong contributions to the new agrarianism in a collection of his greatest writings on farming, philosophy, and sustainability. Working closely with agricultural economist and editor Constance L. Falk, Kirschenmann recounts his intellectual and spiritual journey. In a unique blend of personal history, philosophical discourse, spiritual ruminations, and practical advice, Kirschenmann interweaves his insights with discussion of contemporary agrarian topics. This collection serves as an invaluable resource to agrarian scholars and introduces readers to an agricultural pioneer whose work has profoundly influenced modern thinking about food.

Editorial Reviews
""Fred Kirschenmann may not be as well known as Wendell Berry or Wes Jackson, America's other indispensable farmer-philosophers, but the publication of this superb collection of essays should fix that. These essays make clear to all what some of us have long known: that Fred is one of the wisest, sanest, most practical, and most trusted voices in the movement to reform the American food system."--Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" --

""There's almost nobody in America more entitled to write about farming than Fred Kirschenmann. We're past the moment when agriculture was something we could forget about -- in a warming world, there's no more crucial topic, and here's the short course in how to think about it!"--Bill McKibben, author of Earth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet" --

""Fred Kirschenmann is a rare seasoned elder always ready to display good sense on matters agricultural, cultural, historical, ecological, religious, and more. Who among us can match his experience, gained from a combination of work in the academic world plus another successful life at work on his North Dakota farm?"--Wes Jackson, president of The Land Institute and author of Consulting the Genius of the Place: An Ecological Approach to a New Agriculture" --

""Fred Kirschenmann's life and thought lie in the fertile and practical intersection of theology, farming, and science. He is a practitioner, thinker, and visionary of extraordinary power. This collection is immensely valuable as a collection of his writings, but even more so as a portrait of the possible union of ethics and agriculture as the foundation for a durable relation to the land."--David W. Orr, author of Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect" --

""Folks who care about farming and the land will enjoy this book.... You can't go wrong!"--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign" --

""Describes food production as part of resurrection process, with death providing life a natural and theologically necessary part of creation's existence."--Land Stewardship Letter" --

""In a unique blend of personal history, philosophical discourse, spiritual ruminations, and practical advice, Kirschenmann interweaves his insights with discussion of contemporary agrarian topics."--University of Chicago Magazine" --

""An impressive analysis and reflection of the art and science of agricultural.... This work is a window into a life well-lived and deeply examined."--WFAN NEWS" --

""Lays out an agrarian philosophy that is part science, part faith, and part firsthand experience."--University of Chicago Magazine" --

""More than a collection of writing that spans over three decades, this book is a treasure that should reside on a nerby shelf for ready reference for any person concerned about the future of food and the environment."--Journal of Sustainable Agriculture" --

""A unique read into why, what, and how an ecological revolution is needed... [Cultivating an Ecological Conscience is] accessible and appealing to the (academic) philosopher as well as the farmer reader and everyone in between."-- Forthcoming in Environmental Ethics" --

""[Writing of] the material world... technical ag fixes.... [and] the potentials of urban agriculture...seems doubtful we've heard the last of Fred."--Wapsipinicon Almanec" --

""The philosophy here is sophisticated and exceedingly clear.... Kirschemann's ideas should be of intrinsic interest to anyone concerned with agriculture or the fate of the planet."" --

""Cultivating an Ecological Conscience is an absolutely essential read for all those unfamiliar with the direction of cutting edge agriculture and a positively uplifting read for all those who are already there and seeking ways to connect environmental concepts with the production of food in the twenty-first century."--Energy Bulletin" --

""Sprawling and magisterial, Frederick L. Kirschenmann's collection of essays... expresses an erudition that encompasses reflections on everything from the philosophical implications of castrating calves, to the unseen ecological threats of integrating biotechnology into the process of food production, to seriously considering the role of marketing for the small-time organic farmer." -- Tom Jacobs, New York Institute of Technology"

http://newfarm.rodaleinstitute.org/depts/iowa_pioneers/1102/thompsons/index.shtml - Dick and Sharon Thompson's Farm 

Oral History Interview Series. This is a specific question of interest that Dick Thompson answered in his interview with Jane Gates. Interview by Jane Gates and produced by Jayne MacLean, February 1991.
Description:
Presents how Dick Thompson became a proponent of organic sustainable agriculture, how he teaches other farmers and how he uses his own farm to practice and test the organic methods which he teaches.
Series: Alternative Farming Systems Information Center Oral History Interview Series
Note(s):
Interview was conducted February 13, 1991. 60:00 mins.
AGRICOLA Record: http://agricola.nal.usda.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&CNT=1&CMD=CAT91951562

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